Bouça Housing Complex

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Description
The Bouça Housing Complex is a notable example of modernist architecture designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira. Initiated in the mid-1970s under the SAAL (Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local) initiative, a government program aimed at providing affordable housing following Portugal's revolution, the project saw construction halted in 1978 due to the program's termination in 1976. At that point, only 58 of the planned 131 units were completed, leaving the project in an incomplete state with limited access. For nearly 25 years, the site stood as a testament to the unfinished project in central Porto. In 1999, Siza was tasked with completing the complex, finalizing the remaining buildings and renovating the existing structures, with completion achieved in 2006. This reconstruction particularly focuses on the incomplete aspect of the project, specifically at Building D (Bloco D), which was intended to be built in the final phase to house 16 dwellings but was never constructed as originally designed.

Classification
Identifiers Category Type Condition Origin Period
Not specified Single Built Work Affordable Housing
GeoNames: 300137526
Preserved 20th Century::2nd half (1950 - 1999)
PeriodO: 99152

Creation
Year Time Frame Creator Creator ID
1978 Seventies Álvaro Siza Not specified

Location
Address Coordinates City ID
Rua do Melo 2A, 4050-021 Porto, Portugal 41° 9' 25" N , 8° 37' 4" W GeoNames: 2735943

Available sources
Type Holder Author Creation Date Content
Construction design Porto Municipal Historical Archive 1978 Not provided
Photographic documentation Faculdade de Arquitectura Universidade do Porto 1978 Not provided

Digital Reconstructions
Prefix Covered Time Frame Dataset License Authors
BoHCo1978-1979 1978-1979 Attribution (CC-BY) Marco Reschetti
Juan Rojas Piedrahita