VILA NOVA DE PAIVA MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
The theme of the new renovated Municipal Libraries led one of the most interesting and improved construction works produced at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries in Portugal. Due to the necessary modernisation of small and medium-sized amenities carried out in many urban areas, linked to growing access by the respective local communities to more active cultural resources – the topic of libraries proved to be useful and frequently came up within the framework of municipal initiatives supported by the State.
The general conception of the work, both in terms of its volumes and its spatial articulation, was carried out in a very specific way, and ended up providing a possible exception to the design path undertaken by the author, with the latter considering that: “this design opened up a new way for me to carry out architecture”. It should be mentioned that, within this perspective, the author has designed various buildings with an external plastic treatment in fair-faced concrete, from the bodies of which glazed volumes emerge, “just like crystals emerging from the grey stone”.
