The Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre
Shortlisted at the European Union prize for contemporary architecture Mies van der Rohe award 2015.
Quiet Variation/Continuity strategies
The Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre seeks to unite the different scales and times of its parts. It is a transdisciplinary project whose mission is to disseminate, create and produce emerging culture: a space of exchange and interface for people, knowledge and events. The design of Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre – maintains the industrial character of the whole and highlights the dialogue between an existing building (former factory of alcohol / tobacco) and the new construction (arts and culture center, storage facilities, multipurpose hall / performing arts, laboratories, artist studios). The Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre acquires its identity by the quiet variation between the preexistence and the two new buildings. The containment strategy of facilities implementation enhances the spatial efficiency and hierarchical functionality of the different areas of the existing factory complex. The new buildings absorb the required functionalities, with special conditions, not compatible with the spatiality of preexisting buildings. The project of the Arquipélago does not exaggerate the differences between the old and the new buildings. On the contrary, it seeks to unite the different scales and times of its parts throughout a pictorial manipulation of the form and materiality of the buildings - the existing constructions are marked by the volcanic stone masonry and the new buildings are characterized by an abstract form, without reference or allusion to any language, built in concrete with local basalt inert continuously working with the variation of surfaces’ textures and rugosity, complementing the mass of the buildings with the emptiness of the patios.
The design is committed to the quality of what exists, showing the typological variations - new buildings are placed next to the existing ones in a serene manner – underlining the architectonical memory of a given period and the new addition, without damaging or subverting the spatial and constructive structures of the whole. Context and contiguity contribute to the autonomy of the object.
The new program reinvents the existent building, making it a meaningful space in a peripheral region in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre adds meaning to the social and cultural context where it is built. A new Public Space is materialized in a central square/pateo where art feels comfortable and blurs the frontiers between private and public spheres, leisure and work, art and life. The aspects of the sustainable performance of the buildings were addressed through its materiality (structures, infra-structures) and the absorption of the existing handcrafted knowledge enriched by its timeless way of building. The sustainable measures adopted are passive systems that seek to provide comfort for the users: the density of the concrete walls offer inertia and energy efficiency; the rain water is reused.
Francisco Vieira de Campos + Cristina Guedes + João Mendes Ribeiro
Architects
Menos é Mais Arquitectos Associados, Lda. and João Mendes Ribeiro Arquitecto, Lda.
Francisco Vieira de Campos, Cristina Guedes, João Mendes Ribeiro
Project Managers Inês Mesquita, Filipe Catarino
Coordination
Adalgisa Lopes, Jorge Teixeira Dias
Project Team
Catarina Fortuna, Cristina Maximino, João Pontes, Luís Campos, Ana Leite Fernandes, Mariana Sendas, Pedro Costa, Inês Ferreira, João Fernandes, Ricardo Cardoso, Óscar Ribas, Ana Cerqueira, Joana Figueiredo, João Branco, António Ferreira da Silva, Cláudia Santos, Ana Rita Martins
Strcutural Engineering
Hipólito Sousa and Pedro Pinto (SOPSEC,SA)
Electrical Installations
Raul Serafim (Raul Serafim & Associados, Lda)
Security Measures and Fire Consulting
Maria da Luz Santiago (Raul Serafim & Associados, Lda)
Mechanical Installations
Raul Bessa (GET)
Hydraulic Installations
Diogo Leite and Filipe Freitas (SOPSEC,SA)
Gas Installations
José Pinto (SOPSEC,SA)
Acoustics
Rui Calejo (SOPSEC,SA)
Thermal
André Apolinário (SOPSEC,SA)
Landscape Architects
Ana Barroco and Rui Figueiredo
Stage Mechanics Consulting
João Aidos
Programming Consulting
Elisa Babo (Quaternaire), Miguel Von Haff Pérez and Marta Almeida
Conservation and Restoration Consulting
Gabriella Casella (Cariátides)
Competition 2007 (1st prize)
Project 2007-2010
Construction 2011-2014
Area 12.914m2 (9.736m² buildings + 3.178m2 exterior arrangement)
