The project for the Industry Memory Center (CMI) in São João da Madeira presents itself as a new concept that transforms the way Industrial Tourism is understood and presented and how the existing architectural heritage is valued, without any ruptures or contradictions. The configuration of the plot and the pre-existing buildings set the guidelines for the development of the project: a careful and punctual intervention is proposed, mainly in terms of restoration and rehabilitation, highlighting the historical value of the Quinta do Rei da Farinha Palace building. The intervention aims to preserve as much as possible of the building’s architectural qualities, having carried out a rigorous and exhaustive survey of the physical and morphological characteristics of the existing building, seeking to analyze and act upon them.

The proposed new construction adheres to the existing building, complementing it, in an act of valorization of the pre-existence without ever failing to represent the mark of contemporary architecture and the transformative nature of the intervention. In addition to the functional and aesthetic benefits, this approach also makes it possible to carry out an unobtrusive intervention in the Palacete, thus elevating it to the status of an integral part of the exhibition itself: the Palacete is also, in itself, a museum piece, an exhibition element and a historical testimony to the city itself.

A 745m2 multipurpose building, spread over 3 floors and integrated into a block of shops and services. The solution presented seeks, first and foremost, to integrate the building into its urban and landscape surroundings. The strategy adopted aims to generate a simple and minimalist intervention, creating what is necessary to guarantee the functionality and comfort of the interior space.

Rather than a purely functional construction, a building was developed whose interior spaces and façade were designed to ensure unity and urban continuity, with the choice of materials being a key factor. Associated with this aspect is the need to ensure ease of execution of the work and the search for systematization of the construction process in order to achieve coherent control of the construction language without detriment to its plastic and architectural quality.

Thus, in a unique way, we tried to combine the careful expression that comes from using the perforated metal sheeting that covers the building’s façade with the contrast of the large glass panel and dark lacquered aluminum on the first floor.

Constructively, the aim is to guarantee thermal and acoustic comfort appropriate to the functional program, in line with the desired expression of rigor, quality and sobriety. Minimalist expression is explored, in keeping with the technical nature of the building, through the use of honed screed on all the interior floors, which contrasts with the white-painted walls and ceilings, the glass in the openings, and also by taking on the building’s structural metal elements inside, such as pillars, beams and staircases. Above all, the aim is for the spaces, designed with rigor, to be representative of the functional character of the building through their constructive expression.

Calm, discreet, silent, the place didn’t notice her. Arrábida, so close by, is the protagonist of a purpose that it wants to maintain. To frame? It is not necessary. Art doesn’t need a frame, nor a shadow, nor an excess of light… it just needs to exist.

It is about the place that this bridge speaks to us, of its vegetal and mineral escarpments, on one side the houses over the river where there is no space to rest a pillar, just keep the scales and relationships, the paths, the romantic of a route that it connects us and makes the city; on the other side, the plant that preserves the memory of the landscape that it is important to keep.

The bridge wants to be a result and not an experience, in Porto there is no hesitation… it is the past and the future, time and its awareness that lead to a solution: the purpose only fulfills the desire for intelligence that the work justifies, without any presumption or vassalage… but aware of the place and time that defines and marks us!

Everything already exists in this place. Even bridges that connect and separate us, colleges and shopping centers, intense traffic and paths of passion, atavism and futurism, contradictions… shadows of trees and breaks, sunsets and morning fogs, river waters and sea tides, watercolors of the Cross and abstractions by Ângelo, texts by Agustina in plans by Oliveira and, from above, Cardoso, Eiffel and so many others assure that heritage is all of this, respect and with identity, a continuum… matter for creation, a matter for humanity.

So the design was made.

A distinct dynamic is proposed, which enhances the hotel’s added value, both during work and at mealtimes. To do so, we will use an area large enough to take advantage of the mixed technological conference model with a disruptive but functional scenography, which will surprise the participants.

1. Working session area + Exhibitors

Two space concepts, for the first and second day.

For the first day, a stage format, with built-in leds screens (5mx2.5m), with more stage depth space (rectangular). In the middle of the afternoon, the wall separating the conference from the exhibitor area is removed and the space is one even deeper. The stage should thus be at one end of the large rectangle formed by the three rooms together (two for exhibition and one for conference).

For the second day, and since the presentations are shorter and more informal, we propose to close the conference room again and use only the display room, creating in the centre, for example, a round stage, with a higher leds structure, also round, all around. A kind of 360º technology bandstand for short morning presentations.

2. Brunch / Lunch

Lunch in an unexpected but very noble area, with lots of light and direct access to the garden, guaranteeing all privacy to the participants, where we consider some simple scenographic elements.

3. Gala Dinner, Concert and DJ party

The general concept is the fusion of the digital with the increasingly rare but fundamental human relationship, in a perfect symbiosis between the virtual and the emotional. We have chosen the concept of installation of ephemeral architecture, with the implementation of a round tent in the hotel garden. Dinner and the concert will take place at the bottom (“floor 0”) and the DJ Party (in the second part of the evening) in a second level/floor of the tent that should contemplate a horizontal line of leds that outline the space in its entirety illustrating each moment of the night with sound and image in an enveloping way.