Ladeira da Misericordia

The Ladeira da Misericordia was an important historical road connection, between the upper and lower parts of the city of Salvador de Bahia (BRA). Now largely abandoned, architect Lina Bo Bardi chose it as the site of a visionary project in the 1980s. She transformed four dilapidated and abandoned buildings into exemplary social housing. A vacant lot next door became the setting for another of the architect's experimental buildings - a restaurant that integrated the new architecture into the existing vege-tation. The Coaty Restaurant became a popular cultural center. The sweeping views of the harbor, Atlantic Ocean and All Saints Bay were reduced to small amoeba-like windows, while the restaurant focused inward on integrated nature in the form of a giant fig tree.