'The book will [not] kill the edifice' is a storytelling approach to architectural heritage preservation. The project is based in the historic centre of Porto, that since its UNESCO World Heritage listing in 1996 has become a gradually uninhabited, ‘soul-less,’ almost performative city centre: A ‘non-place’ to visit, but not live in.

The chosen site is Rua Escura, an infamous street in the historic centre that once served as Porto’s key trade route and high street. Testament to the street’s past activity is the book by Antonio Louzada, A Rua Escura. The book captures the sense of joy, mystique, and sensuality that Rua Escura used to embody and becomes the backbone for the architectural proposal. The proposal focuses on the domestic activation of the houses’ street-facing ground and on a pre-school and kindergarten program that is injected into the street’s uninhabited plots. The street itself becomes pedestrianized and turns into a play-scape, ‘commoning’ an otherwise very introverted urban fabric.