Filipe Paixao

PladPilgrims Shelter

courtesy of Filipe Paixao . Collaborators:  Ismael Prata, Pedro Sequeira, Ricardo Ribeiro

How can one inhabit nature when it is desirably untouchable?

How can an architectural project be an enhancement figure instead of a protagonist within a certain environmental context - place?

Place is defined by both its natural characteristics and its existing architectural events.  The building of a pilgrims’ site of refuge convey the need to reflect upon the intervention models in this type of contexts where the surroundings’ qualities must be preserved and valued. The implantation of the project, on proximity to the trees, results of the search of natural shadowing.
The buildings’ exterior presents itself as a closed volume, of cubical matrix, which can be accessed through the facade’s voids, marked with recognisable shapes - archetypes – of the architecture lexicon.  Inside, a scaled patio is the program’s element of distribution, conveying organically the sense and notion of assembly.
There is a contrast between the parallelepiped rigidity and the organic and freer design of the inhabited spaces.  The frontier between interior and exterior is therefore blurred, becoming ambiguous, providing for a strong sense of spatial continuity that qualifies the space. This is obtained through the propagation and contamination between the various created environments.  The project is an allusion to the idea of cave, Man’s primarily shelter, of space (void) conquered to matter (full) thus becoming habitable - matter as dwelling.

Local Honorable Mention (2nd Place)

2011