Nossa Casa Children’s Shelter – A Space of Hope and Transformation
Nossa Casa Children’s Shelter was born from a collective desire to turn care into architecture — and architecture into an act of care. In a context where social infrastructure often fails, it reveals that change can emerge from within, when a community chooses to act. The project united public institutions, private partners, and civil society in an unprecedented network of solidarity, showing that architecture can do more than provide shelter — it can regenerate, inspire, and heal.
The initiative emerged from an old and deteriorated structure, where children once shared beds, clothing, and bathrooms, with little sense of individuality or belonging. Instead of waiting for governmental reform, Alencar Futuros Possíveis led a collaborative movement that mobilized more than 90 companies, community members, and the municipality in a regenerative funding model. Each participant contributed materials, design, resources, or labor, generating over R$3 million in shared value.
The project materializes a new model for the future — a space where care becomes structure and beauty is understood as a form of dignity — made possible by the union of people and companies who believed in the power of cooperation. Every environment was designed to give back to children and teenagers something essential: a sense of belonging and the possibility to dream again. This collective model overcame bureaucratic stagnation and established a new form of public-private co-governance — an open system capable of being replicated in other municipalities.
Nossa Casa is a living system of solidarity, connecting social, financial, and architectural dimensions within a single ecosystem. It shows that transformation can arise from within — not through opposition, but through regeneration. The project redefines architecture not as a static object, but as a continuous process of repair, where empathy and collaboration become structure.
Watch the project video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK6W-0O2R8Q
