Building renewal in low income housing estates - A brazilian case study

This paper exposes a design methodology for building renewal, which is oriented towards adding sustainability, value, and flexibility. It considers environmental and economic feasibility based on embodied energy in materials, conventional budgets and hedonic price models. A process of design simulation was developed, focusing on a typical housing estate, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The main results of which indicate that there is potential for increasing their value. Building renewal is a form of recycling and has influence on social, economic, and environmental issues. This work contributes to the discussion of alternatives to the low income housing deficit in Brazil.