Fine tuning the roof

November is already behind us. There is just two weeks before the end of our stage, and what a better end than taking part of an exhibition ! EXPONOR will be our studio from the 6th to the 9th of december, so come and join us in our container !

Last Friday we were lucky to visit Cobert’s tile factory in Torres Vedras.  We were very impressed with their mechanical systems to make tiles. The coordination is amazing and the precision that these intelligent robots have and the quality of the tiles is guaranteed by a final rigurous examination. 

On this same day, we visited Secil’s concrete factory which is near Leiria. Dimscale team join us for this visit and we had an overview of all the products we can use in our building, and probably try some of their new products too, like a composit material made with cork and concrete. Let’s see if it can be used for the basement ground insulation…

expanded cork and concete mix

On Thursday, after studying what we learned in Cobert tile factory, we had a meeting with 2 Cobert Technicians to ask more questions! The objective was to ensure that the materials were used properly and to know all the technical details of how to mount their systems.

The technicians brought samples of all the materials that could be useful to use in the roof and showed us some very useful videos to explain how they work and how they are applied.  After analyzing how they work and following their advice, we came up with the right solutions.

And we want to share with you our last drawings. Finding more partners allowed us to go further in the detailling of the project. Your opinion is important, let us know what do you think !

First piece of the cake

Hi Arrebitas !

It has been a long time since our last post, and we apologize for that. Lots of good news and interresting visits were keeping us busy these last few weeks.

Last Wednesday we had the great opportunity to visit Jose Barbosa and his company., ‘Idade do Ferro’ or ‘Age of Iron’, His company is the heritage of his father and grand father, and he is helping us realise a number of our design solutions in metal.

We were very excited because the first stone of the building has been completed ! Actually it’s not a stone but our stainless steel system to close the middle door from inside.

Team at the Iron Age company

the first piece of the building !

test for the frame

On Friday, our engineering partners Rita and Daniel introduced us to a couple of their friends who gave us a demonstration of thermal imaging and let us play with their fantastic thermal imaging camera. We love fancy toys as much as the next guy ! But apart from being a lot of fun, the camera was also used to identify areas in the building where water was seeping in.  We are still waiting for the images, but will be sure to post them next time !

thermal vision

After a busy week last week we were rewarded with a visit to Jose’s grandparents in the beautiful Douro Valley, where the nicest company and most delicious portuguese cuisine awaited us! Pilar, one of our architects gave us a tour of her piece of paradise in her family’s olive grove near Mirandela. I think we’re all eager to return this weekend too ! Thank you to everyone for a great weekend !

Otherwise, as you may have noticed , we are at the end of November and reaching the end of this project stage, and our work on site has yet to begin.  There are a number of outstanding aspects of the project which our team must conclude. This week we are set to receive the remainder of the technical projects and conclude the design phase, which we are very excited to share with you at the end of the week !

A te jà !

Arrebitas on wheels

Hi Arrebitas !

Last time we showed you how much fun we had starting the demolition, but before we continue destroying walls and ripping layers of the floor in the building we have some tasks to complete.  For example, waiting for the archeologic report, concluding the neighbours inspection, receiving the last technical project…In the meantime, while this is happening a lot happened this week.First of all we appeared on Biosfera program about sustainability on the Portuguese channel 2 (where you can see us working in the building, and Zé talking about the project) http://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p24778/c97419On wednesday, Tatiana spent the day with DIMSCALE to work on final decisions of material system. It was usefull to spend the day with them because many questions were answed.While this was happening, back in the studio the team was meeting Secil Argamassas, the concrete partner. And soon we will do a road trip to their factory in Leiria.

DIMSCALE meeting

On Friday, Pigma (Conservation / Restauration partner) invited us to a building they are working on : Casa da Prelada, here in Porto. This is building designed by Nicolau Nasoni in the 18^th century. Pigma team are doing a great job there !  We were very impressed by there ability and patience, especially for the little details of the ceilings.

In the afternoon we picked up our new bikes refurbished and supplied by Eco-Riders Banco das Bicicletas! Now Arrebitas are on wheels ! Let see if we manage ride the slopes of Porto !