[ MONUMENT TO EVERYDAY LIFE ]

> ATELIER LOCAL
> URBAN GARDEN OF SÃO VICENTE

Between the Andorinhas and the Misericórdia neighbourhoods, in Braga, lies the São Vicente urban garden — a community cultivation space that, like so many other urban gardens, carries a long cultural and social heritage. Inspired by the workers' gardens of the late 19th century in France — where urban workers found not only sustenance, but also a place for leisure, meeting and celebration — Atelier Local proposes an architecture that pays homage to this history: a Monument to Everyday life. A space that offers shade, support and shared time to the gardeners and the community that inhabits the place with them.

Located on the threshold between the vegetable garden and the pedestrian path in the Andorinhas neighbourhood, the monument takes the form of a square wooden structure measuring 4 x 4 metres, with a triangular cross-section that saves material and construction effort. The side facing the neighbourhood features wooden planks painted alternately in pink and blue, from which a circle 1.40 metres in diameter is cut out. This circle rotates on itself, becoming a table or window, and activating the relationship between inside and outside — between the garden and the neighbourhood. Outside, a bench welcomes passers-by; inside, a shelter for the gardeners, creating a space for pausing, meeting and sharing. Between the two, the circular table becomes a point of symbolic and practical contact — where agricultural surpluses can be shared, and meetings and dialogue can take place.

With this monument, Atelier Local is building a sensitive link between everyday practices and community bonds. A transitional space between work and celebration, between producing and sharing — where architecture, more than shelter, asserts itself as a claiming gesture of continuous care in the neighbourhood.

Atelier Local is an architecture studio founded in 2019 in Valongo by João Paupério (Valongo, 1992) and Maria Rebelo (Porto, 1991), both graduates of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP). With previous experience in the Baukunst office in Brussels, the duo has developed a practice that combines design, research and publishing, with a focus on sensitive and critical interventions in the built context. Their works include Casa-Atelier (2015-2022), which received an honourable mention in the Manuel Graça Dias Prize 2023, and Casa em Ancede (2024), which was awarded the Forma Prize in the Emerging Youth category and was a finalist in the Arquia/Próxima Iberian awards. In 2024, they co-edited the book Ceci n'est pas un portrait and published the monographic essay atelier local: after five years of living, published by EXEMPLO books.

INSTALLATION TECHNICAL
CREDITS

ARCHITECTURE
Atelier Local 
(Axelle Van Nuffelen, Elias Schmitz, João Paupério, 
Maria Rebelo, Nora Van Severen)

PRODUCTION AND ASSEMBLY
Carpimestre 
(Pedro Ferreira and Manuel Ferreira)