The housing, service and commercial complex Terraços de Bragança occupies a parcel of nearly 5000 m2 situated between António Maria Cardoso and Alecrim, which arises in a perfectly consolidated area, like an interval that needs to be filled.

Care was taken to establish a dialogue with the environment to find the first motivations for the definition of the project; as well as to make a conscientious reading of the terrain, its topography, and the footprints left by those who had lived there and given it meaning. Those footprints trace back at least to the beginning of the14th century, the period of completion of the Muralla Fernandina city wall.

The construction of this defense structure clearly defined the border of the metropolis, reinforcing what once was a natural border – the strong existing slope in the terrain, previously assumed as the limit of the wall of the Convent of San Francisco da Cidade, from the 13th century (a Convent whose building still exists today and houses the Escola Superior de Belas Artes). These grounds had gradually been urbanized, on both the inside and the outside of the city walls, building new roads and buildings on the summit of the hillside, such as the palace of the Dukes of Bragança and, later, the Jansen Beer Factory

The demolitions carried out on the site twenty years ago had left a section of the city wall exposed, nowadays clearly visible, along with the tower and the extreme southwest access door to the city, as well as an ensemble of brick foundations which presumably belonged to the Jansen Beer Factory.

This ensemble sensibly divides the terrain in half longitudinally and parallel to the roads which, in the meantime had been opened: Rua António Maria Cardoso, on the inside, above, and Rua do Alecrim on the lower side. This topological, geographical and historical fragmentation which divides the terrain in two, connecting the parts parallel to the access roads, is adopted by the project, both in morphological and programmatic terms.

In this way, an ensemble of three buildings has been built on the terrain which borders the Rua do Alecrim, each facing the street and 15,5m in depth. The program is also similar: the ground floors (1 or 2 depending on the case) are intended for commerce, while the upper floors for offices and housing. On the high part of the site, the area which borders Rua António Maria Cardoso, two residential buildings were constructed. The two buildings contact the ground through columns, separated from each other by a large distance, defined to preserve the existing ruins of the Muralla Fernandina (city wall), historical testimony which greatly increases the value of the terrain. According to the previous inquiries made to IPPARNT, this will become a museum area, integrated in the open space of the housing and open to the public.

All five buildings share the same underground parking area (9002 m2), with three common entrances from Rua do Alecrim, while a circular ramp guarantees the connection between the various floors.

The building has a reinforced concrete structure, made up of columns and continuous, mushroom-shaped slabs.

On the basement level, the perimeter walls will be constructed according to the berlinesque shoring system with drained air cavity and double interior brick wall to avoid eventual infiltrations.

The construction above grade will have brick walls with air cavity and thermal insulation.

The interior partitions will be brick to plaster and paint.

The roofs will be flat, waterproofed and thermally insulated with an inverted roof system.

On Rua do Alecrim, exterior finish of the buildings will be Lioz stone up to the last floor of office or commercial spaces, and the remaining levels, which correspond to housing units, will be finished in tile. The buildings bordering Rua António Maria Cardoso will have a Lioz stone base until the first housing level and balconies of the buildings. The remaining wall surfaces will be finished in tile.

The exterior windows are double, in enameled wood, with interior shutters for solar protection.