— CIARV Centro de Interpretação Ambiental do Rio Vez

The Centro de Interpretação Ambiental do Rio Vez (Environmental Interpretive Centre of the Vez River) bears witness to a strategic vision for the sustainable development of the Arcos de Valdevez Municipality to add value to the town’s natural resources and heritage. This is an iconic building, a clear investment by the municipality in ecological and innovative environmental tourism, with scientific backing. In this sense it tries to create an identity and become a driving force for various companies, visits and research, thus connecting the municipality to different international research centres.

More than a building, this project seeks to be a public meeting space, of reference to the population and its visitors, and as such to reflect a respect for nature. Therefore, the project is articulated with the river and maintains a relationship of proximity and reciprocity with it. It combines the idea of innovation and the idea of interaction with the landscape; technology in dialogue with nature in a process of mutual respect for history, traditions and the present that the architecture attempts to embody.

The project is set in a place where the river gets close to the urban agglomeration. The river is included in the design of an outdoor plaza at the end of the town’s main avenue, which becomes a unique and welcoming place to meet and contemplate the surroundings, the river, its people and inimitable landscape. This is the true heritage that this project wants to protect and share.