CENTRO DE ESTUDOS CASA DA PERIFERIA 

Research project dedicated to the study of anonymous single-family dwellings in peripheral context in southwestern European space since the mid-20th century, examined through the lenses of architectural theory. 

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Context:

Architecture, in its broader inclusive term, is not produced only by architects, institutions and centers of power. It is also continuously generated, modified, copied, and transmitted through ordinary practices that need to be studied on their own terms. The anonymous peripheral house is one of the most widespread yet least studied built phenomena when approached exclusively from the perspective of architectural theory. Social sciences, urbanism, and even the visual arts have dominated the study of this subject. Casa da Periferia seeks to become the research project where that proposition is explored, documented, and speculated through a specific framework within architectural theory and typological studies. The research examines how forms persist, mutate, and circulate through processes of repetition, adaptation, and transmission. Furthermore, it tries to understand how common people contribute to shaping the cultural identity of a territory through one of the most expressive representational artifacts: the house. 

Objectives:

1. Identify, interpret, and classify unnoticed, misread, or emerging typological variants of single-family houses implemented in peripheral territories from the post-war period to the present, employing the Type-and-Model theoretical framework specific to architecture.
2. Deepen methodologies of comparative, spatial, morphological, and technical-constructive analysis.
3. Establish parallelisms among southwestern European countries and analyze the causal interconnections between different housing types using a rhizomatic structural approach.

4. Draw on scholarship from the social sciences and humanities to map the cultural, legislative, socioeconomic, technological, and territorial contexts that have driven typological evolution.

Lines of Study:

The lines of study for the peripheral house in southwestern Europe are divided into two major morpho-typological groups:
A. New Folk House (Nova Casa Popular): Anonymous construction in which architects did not participate.

B. Designed House (Casa Desenhada): The widespread emergence, mainly from the 2000s onward, of the mandatory architectural project for single-family houses, coinciding with the massification of the professional figure of the architect and its increased accessibility to a broader audience.

These two categories are not exclusive or definitive, leaving room for new hypotheses and interpretations.

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Publications: 

Cadernos, Vol. 1: 2026
A Casa Genérica
Formato digital, 40 pgs. (PT)

Cadernos, Vol. 2: 2026
A Casa Género-Soutoniana
Formato digital, 40 pgs. (PT)

Cadernos, Vol. 3: 2026
A Híper-Casa Portuguesa
Formato digital, 40 pgs. (PT)

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Archives:

1) 'Casa Genérica, 1960-1986'

Over 500 high-resolution examples of the “Casa Genérica” folk type documented throughout continental Portugal since 2018, arraying all its morphological diversity across the pre-established spectrum.

2) 'New Folk Construction: A Visual Archive of Anonymous Photography on Anonymous Architecture'

Partially funded by the European Union (G.A.P. Ref. no. 2024-51861) with the support of the Goethe-Institut, in partnership with UMAR – Union of Mediterranean Architects.

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Coordination:

Pedro Duarte Bento, Architect-Researcher
PhD in Architecture, FAUL, Portugal

ORCID: 0009-0000-8823-153X

p.bento@casadaperiferia.org

00351 966 030 107

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Legal notice: 

Centro de Estudos Casa da Periferia is a non-profit scientific association under CAE 72200 (scientific research), CAE 58140 (academic publications), and CAE 85520 (education), registered in Lisbon, Portugal. All rights reserved, 2025