Marinhas Masterplan

Marinhas is a small village located in the intersection between a national road along the coast and two local roads connecting to the inland. This intersection is currently the centre of the village, with its church, civic hall and cemetery – paradoxically quiet and busy. The goal was to free the centre from the pressure of the intersection through a new road system – one new road connecting two existing ones into a ring system. The inside of this ring – the centre – is to be of slow traffic, paved with local granite. Along the central axis, the idea of community is reinforced through a series of public spaces: sports field, playground, community food garden, church and new churchyard. Local features are kept throughout the plan: from the building typologies (low density, single-family houses) to the property walls in granite.