What comes to mind when one hears the words “architecture” or “architectural heritage”, in the context of Vila Itororó? There are many people who think only of the palazzo, the biggest and most central building of the whole group. But what if we tried to think architecture not only grounded on its buildings (the full volumes), but of the spaces between the buildings (the empty volumes).

In the parlour, a common reason brings all together: a song, a film, a theme or a task to carry out; sometimes, it is just the simple desire to be together with other people. More than a parlour, the meeting room at Vila Itororó seeks to render public the actions and conversations that normally take place in private spaces, restricted to a small group of friends.

Cultural centers usually have restaurants and snack bars; but to what extent could they host culinary activities of their patrons as part of their cultural programming? The inauguration of the Public Kitchen puts the act of cooking collectively as one of the multiple possibilities of use of the public square that is the shed of Vila Itororó.

Every building site in the industry needs machines for carpentry/woodwork. Working in heritage worksites specifically require such machinery, in order to repair windows, doors, floorings and other wooden artefacts. In Vila Itororó Canteiro Aberto this carpentry area is not restricted to restoration work: it is open for the city to use.

A library, be it domestic or public, is always in permanent growth. The book collection available for reading at Vila Itororó is still being gathered and anyone can collaborate by donating publications aimed at all age brackets.

The bedroom is the most intimate place in the house. Perhaps this is why it is the place around which our ways of living are organised – from the most intimate to the most public, from the core to the outside, from the smallest to the biggest. To understand how to inhabit the rooms at Vila Itororó constitutes possibly the most delicate issue confronting us, since our answers will influence the usage of all the other spaces.

Behind the house, the yard is the place where the sun shines on, illuminating the garden and the vegetable plot. An affluent of the Itororó spring runs through the yard. Itororó, in the local Amerindian language, means “noisy water”.