The genesis of the project is based on five guiding concepts: Maintain, Rehabilitate, Correct, Improve and Transform. It is through the interpretation and analysis of these assumptions that the following intervention proposal is designed.

As a point of departure it is intended to MAINTAIN all the elements considered characteristic and fundamental to the identity and uniqueness of this Church of ours. 

REABILITARY will be the second premise and will involve identifying the elements that need to be treated in order to be able to maintain, in accordance with the previous point.

CORRECTING the elements with the most functional problems is an essential concern of the intervention. Intervening in the current configuration of the main altar and side altars, in the arrangement of the seats of the nave and transept, in the configuration of the entrance windguard or in the access to the high choir are key parts of this proposal and they want to be corrected and adapted in order to respond to today’s requests.

At the same time, we are studying how to IMPROVE and enhance the characteristics of each space. In this category is integrated, for example, the possibility of intervention in the access to the galleries and their distribution, allowing the increase of the area of the organ tube space, allowing emergency exits from the galleries with the hypothesis of, if desired, creating space for the high choir, and in this way, phased and with an eye to the future, qualify aesthetically and functionally the upper floor of the church.

Finally, it is also intended to TRANSFORM, in a positive way, the functionality, the qualities so as to reinforce the image of the Mother Church. Starting from this key concept and the idea of conjugation between the existing and the need for a new area or new construction, it is proposed to transform the northern sacristy into a chapel destined for the Most Holy.

The project for the Ferreiras Cemetery is presented with a new transforming concept of the ways of understanding the funeral rites and of carrying out the memorial of loved ones, without ruptures or contradictions, only seeking to establish links between Man and Nature, the Profane and the Divine, the Horizontal and the Vertical, Perennial and the Ephemeral, Tradition and Memory.

Earth and Light is the motto that sets the guidelines for the development of the concept. A large constructed ensemble is conformed as if it were a moldable mass – clay – and composed of spaces with different characteristics, uses, dimensions and visual frames that are unified by a continuous and striking language. Walls on land/taip (so traditional in this Mediterranean culture) guarantee a homogenous image and identity: a solidity and perenniality that recovers the past, updating it, and refers to comfort and tranquility. In counterpoint, Light, ethereal and liberating, expands the limits of space, shows the landscape, frames perspectives, illuminates spaces and provides the sense of meditation and transcendence.

Combining different spaces and technical characteristics, the cemetery is organised along an important central axis which allows for distribution to the various areas of burial, located on different levels adapted to the topography of the terrain. Each of the areas was conceived according to an overall idea but at the same time considering a certain independence and self-sufficiency. In this way, each zone includes, in addition to the burial systems, easy access to water points and rubbish collection bins, the inclusion of benches and covered areas that allow a greater and more comfortable enjoyment of the spaces.

The project for the Mortuary House of Barrancos presents itself as a new concept transforming the ways of understanding the funeral rites and of carrying out the memorial of loved ones, without ruptures or contradictions, only seeking to establish links between Man and Nature, the Profane and the Divine, the Perennial and the Ephemeral, Tradition and Memory.

Based on the premises set out in the statement of this competition, the aim of this intervention is to create a mortuary house capable of responding to the need for new spaces for the municipality’s care and to consolidate the identity links with the community and the territory in which it operates, through the integration of innovative spatial and constructive solutions combined with an understanding of cultural values.

The landscape launches the guidelines for the development of the project: the intervention is developed from the square that gives access to the cemetery, transforming it into a viewpoint, from where the journey to the mortuary chapel begins. A schist wall is then built and the mortuary is implanted at a stabilised level, facing the new square, which now complements the existing viewpoint. The volume of the mortuary is compact and located at a strategic point to strengthen the relationship with the surroundings. With a white colour contrasting with the schist, the building transmits liberation, it feels like a space of light from where the landscape can be seen.

In this way, it is proposed a little intrusive implantation in the territory, trying to maintain the natural terrain and above all the centenary olive grove planted there. The areas of travel are improved by giving them a new urban sense and a greater and better visual range.

At the same time, the materials proposed also show an intentional sensitivity towards the place. Schist, a material so present in this Alentejo territory, guarantees a homogeneous and identity image, a solidity and perenniality that recovers the past, updating it, and refers to comfort and tranquility. In counterpoint, the Mortuary Chapel, whose colour and cutouts of the façade cite the genesis of the Barrancos landscape, is a space of Light, ethereal and liberating, which expands the limits of the building and floods the interior with the landscape, framing perspectives, illuminating spaces and providing a sense of meditation and transcendence.

Because of its new characteristics and harmonious, contemplative and sometimes transcendent environment, it is believed that the concept of intervention proposed for the Mortuary House of Barrancos could become a reference in the way of conceiving spaces of veiling and lead to an evolution of the current funeral rites.

The project for the mortuary chapels was based in the yard of the main church. From this, an area for the construction of the chapels was chosen with care not to interfere with the considerable heritage value of Espinho’s Main Church.

With a semicircular shape, suggesting a spiral movement, the chapels are reduced and reduce us to the essential. A singular geometry, a subtle play of light, and an invitation to reflection and communion seem to characterise this architectural space. The stone, the wood, the white and the light are just materials that shape the space and make us feel and think divine.

Project of execution for remodelling and interior arrangement of the Parish Church of S. Pedro, with new churchyard and parish centre and sacristy design and conception of interior furniture, baptismal font, ambo, altar; intervention area 1.570 m2, Factory of the Parish Church of Parada de Todeia, Sobreira, Paredes (work finished in 2010).