cremascoli, okumura e rodrigues, arquitectos

Renovation of the art centre Graça Morais . Vila Flor

photos: courtesy of cremascoli . okumura . rodrigues

The proposal tries to answer the programme’s demands through a plastic architectural typology inspired in the local geography, its landscape and the materials typical of this region.
The study of the programme and of the project’s location, namely the insertion of contents in two not adjacent parcels, presented the difficulty in building one sole volume which integrated the whole programme. However, the width of the road that separates the two parcels is so narrow that it allows a nearly direct connection between the two volumes.
Analysing the characteristics of each parcel, particularly the need to rehabilitate the house "Sebastião Corte Real", the option was made for a division of the functional nucleus, solution that allows spaces’ autonomy, however requiring 2 areas for the reception/entrance hall.
 

Parcel 1 integrates the service and administration areas since it presents very compartmentalized spaces, with structural and esthetic elements that should be renovated and/or preserved and that demand a controlled occupation.

This proposal is fundamentally based in the interpretation of the building’s growth. The building’s history is the sum of successive transformations resulting from the moment’s needs and different ways of thinking, according to an investments’ process in time’s control. By accepting that fact we assume that today we are in the presence of one more moment of that history in which, with new requirements, we have to "bring up to date" this building. Although we consider that is not our task to exclude or redo any part of its past – whether questionable – and accepting that, nowadays, those transformations are intrinsic to the building’s image.

Parcel 2 comprises the museum’s space. The fact that it is a new structure will allow a higher occupation flow as well as the possibility of loading and unloading large and heavy objects.

The building type proposed for parcel 2 follows the form of the existing urban structure, namely of the green areas and the fences that confine the parcel. The strongly plastic volume proposed derives from the existing fences and is supported on the site’s heights and has a symbolic connotation with Trás-os-Montes region. This building presents 3 protrusions that reflect 3 distinct internal areas, whether at functional or spatial levels. The green area that qualifies parcel 2 treatment accentuates its plastic value and, at the same time, puts it into context, transforming it in a nearly pre-existing form, forming part of the landscape.

Credits

Project

Public competition for the renovation of the Art Centre Graça Morais (arts meeting space | space Graça Morais), Vila Flor

Project Date

2009

Location

Vila Flor, Portugal

Building type

Art Centre

Total floor area

1190 m2

Site area

1125 m2

Client

Câmara Municipal de Vila Flor

Project Designers

Roberto Cremascoli

Edison Okumura e

Marta Rodrigues arquitectos, Lda.

Studio’s co-workers

António Silva

Catarina Marques

Lisa Belchior

Sónia Pina

Structural / Services Engineers

Water, sewage and fire equipments and installation – GOP – Eng. Raquel Fernandes

Electric installation and lighting project – GPIC – Eng. Alexandre Martins

Telecommunications installation – GPIC – Eng. Alexandre Martins

Active security installation – GPIC – Eng. Alexandre Martins

Integrated security installation – GPIC – Eng. Alexandre Martins

Air conditioning and mechanical equipments and installation – GET – Eng. Raúl Bessa

Gas installation – GET – Eng. Raúl Bessa