The architectural intervention for the rehabilitation of traditional dwellings is just one of the components of the broader project called 'Project for Touristic Enhancement of Ribeira da Torre Valley', funded by the EU and implemented by the NGO Atelier Mar in 2010. The rehabilitation project is thus, more than the idea of several buildings in a specific place, an intervention also based on architecture and people, in order to be able to transform the place, with the maximum of existing local resources and their self-sufficient solutions.
Ribeira da Torre is located in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, on the north side of the island of Santo Antão. The main access to the valley runs along the riverside and clusters of houses appear on the slopes in a very informal way, inviting people to discover the various routes along these slopes. Based on this morphology of the valley, a new tourist product was created, based on the traditional tale of the Blimundo ox - “The Paths of Blimundo”. This symbolic dimension aggregates the project as a whole, sustaining the metaphor of paths between the houses.
Six traditional houses were rehabilitated, where eight rooms, four 'cuznholas' (firewood kitchens) and two more structures were organized in a 'trapiche' farm (part of the sugarcane grogue manufacturing process) for the Museum Nucleus and associated shop.
For the Museological Nucleus, the design of the program implied that the space could be reinterpreted without interfering with the functioning of the warehouse corral, grogue production processes. The sugar cane syrup house space was rehabilitated where, in addition to witnessing and interacting with those who control the fermentation process of the syrup, it is possible to read these processes through information panels. In a second space, it is through the exposition of some tools linked to this process that the reading is completed. The other structure of this nucleus was practically rebuilt, as it was in a very bad condition. This was transformed into a core support store, responding to the interest in selling some tourist products designed for this project and others already developed, in the area of food design.
In the store, sisal and cement tiles produced in the community of Lajedos, on the other side of the island, were used on the roof. The floor that was used in the Museum Center and also in the rooms of the rehabilitated houses is made of pressed concrete slabs. Pozzolanic plaster was used for the interior lining of all the walls, which, in the case of the rooms, brought another visual comfort to the space, with a huge advantage in terms of thermal insulation, keeping the spaces always cool. In other cases, lime was simply used, a traditional technique that also has advantages in terms of climate control.
In short, in constructive terms, two aspects of the project were interesting to work on. On the one hand, to draw from the practices of vernacular architecture all the constructive knowledge inherent to these constructions, following the local traditions (stone and clay structures, thatched roofs, ventilation) and, on the other hand, to introduce new local construction technologies, based on some experiences already developed by Atelier Mar in other communities, revealed to be necessary and efficient. It was necessary to manage to work these two dimensions in a balanced and sustainable way.
Inspired by the design of old carpentry, all the structural carpentry was redesigned, introducing the half door and a small window, fundamental both for permanent ventilation and for minimal lighting in the spaces.
Location. Ribeira da Torre, Santo Antão, Cape Verde
Date. 2011
Architecture. Ângelo Lopes
Concept. Leão Lopes
Collaboration. Ivo Lopes
Photography. Ângelo Lopes