teresa heitor
Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior Técnico, Faculty Member
The existing city must be redesigned with the elderly population in mind. This paper aims at questioning the way urban designers, architects and landscapers are forced to rethink the existing city and all new public spaces to fit the... more
The existing city must be redesigned with the elderly population in mind. This paper aims at questioning the way urban designers, architects and landscapers are forced to rethink the existing city and all new public spaces to fit the needs of an active-ageing population. In fact, if we want the elderly to remain living inside the city-centers, we must provide them with urban spaces designed and conceived for their physical and psychological constraints. Rethinking the transportation system will also be an important clue for a population who lives longer without a drivers’ license, therefore depending on easy public transportation. Lisbon is an example of this grey revolution: in 2001 it was already the European capital with the largest proportion of seniors among its residents. And for the first time in History, the elderly outnumbered the young in Portugal during the 1990’s (Machado, 2007). The paper is organized in four parts. The first one reviews demographic tendencies and ident...
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This paper tells the strange tale of a glass chair. Creating a glass chair might seem a perverse ? maybe impossible ? enterprise. After all, chairs are normally held together by moment connections, such as those joining the legs to the... more
This paper tells the strange tale of a glass chair. Creating a glass chair might seem a perverse ? maybe impossible ? enterprise. After all, chairs are normally held together by moment connections, such as those joining the legs to the seat. Glass is a notoriously bad material for forming moment connections; it is brittle, and quickly snaps if you subject it to bending. But there are advantages to such startling formulations of design problems. They force you to challenge conventional wisdom, to ignore standard prototypes, and to ask interesting new questions. How might you design a chair without moment connections? How might you do so without making the result impossibly heavy? How would you built it? And what interesting qualities might such a chair have? These were questions investigated in the design project pursued jointly by students at an American and a Portuguese school, in collaboration with glass and molding fabricators. The students explored many possibilities, and in doi...
In 2001, Lisbon was already the European capital with the largest proportion of seniors among its residents. Living inside the ageing city, the elderly will need urban spaces designed and conceived for their physical and psychological... more
In 2001, Lisbon was already the European capital with the largest proportion of seniors among its residents. Living inside the ageing city, the elderly will need urban spaces designed and conceived for their physical and psychological constraints. The first part of the paper reviews demographic tendencies and identifies the main needs of the elderly in public spaces. The second part discusses the advantage of active ageing neighborhoods, the issue of intergenerational spaces and new design solutions for inclusive urban spaces, focusing on case studies. The paper concludes that in terms of urban space, active ageing means, for the elderly, the possibility of leading a normal life in an urban environment free from obstacles, where they can easily move about, the possibility of shopping in local commerce, working in part-time or volunteer jobs in the community, while keeping the routines of visits from family and friends. KEY WORDS: assisted living / active ageing / accessibility / inc...
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The increase of complexity in school buildings to support user comfort and social and functional demands is changing the resources consumption patterns, namely energy. Users indoor comfort conditions also play a significant role in energy... more
The increase of complexity in school buildings to support user comfort and social and functional demands is changing the resources consumption patterns, namely energy. Users indoor comfort conditions also play a significant role in energy demand in school buildings. A significant number of Portuguese public secondary schools were recently refurbished, under a national modernization program. The present paper shares the main results of a multiple case study, comprising eight secondary schools, regarding resources use monitoring (energy and water) and the observational field work concerning users' attitudes and behaviour.Promoting best practices to enhance school buildings sustainability has a double goal: addressing the environmental impact of a large stock of service buildings and simultaneously raise awareness among the younger generations. Introduction The increase of complexity in school buildings to support users comfort and social and functional demands is changing the reso...
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... Ref 040 040:1 Teresa Heitor Instituto Superior Técnico - IST, Department of Architecture, Lisbon, Portugal teresa@civil.ist.utl.pt Ana Tomé Instituto Superior Técnico - IST, Department of Architecture, Lisbon, Portugal... more
... Ref 040 040:1 Teresa Heitor Instituto Superior Técnico - IST, Department of Architecture, Lisbon, Portugal teresa@civil.ist.utl.pt Ana Tomé Instituto Superior Técnico - IST, Department of Architecture, Lisbon, Portugal anatome@civil.ist.utl.pt ...
