a*l

AMG

Sport facility / Gym

Matosinhos, Portugal.

Proa Climbing Center is an indoor sports hall specialized in climbing and bouldering.

The project takes place at a 500m2 old warehouse to create the infrastructure and necessary amenities for the gym users.

Bouldering is a conglumerante activity that naturally gathers around users from different levels/experience to help each other out and discuss new technics or ways to address a given issue. Users come together on the surroundings of the wall, such as the access corridors or even the matresses, therefore, it is fair to say that these areas are to be considered as a social spaces. This is the core aspect of the project: provide the most area possible for interpersonal interaction and boulders in order to create the community feeling.

At the entrance, front desk and changing rooms mediate the peaceful transition from public space and gym activity trough a large “ground to ceiling gate”, that connects directly to the street, as an extension of the public space itself.

The public informal space atmosphere reverberates into the gym throughtout the narrow access corridor to promote interaction, bringing people closer together.

Nevertheless, circulation strategy allows two levels of interaction and control: the user perspective on the ground floor provides access to the gym functional services while the visitor perspective is circumscribe to the lobby and upper level mezzanine where is granted a global view of the climbing walls and bouldering areas.

Users gain access to climbing hall and changing room - a very compact space with showers, lockers, etc. - but also, along side with visitors, one can access the cafeteria services and chill-out areas on the upper level.

Without rethorics, spaces are striped down to the bare essencials to make the best out of the available budget. Industrialized materials give a rough, yet human, feel to the space. Tectonics comes to play with an intereting combination of concrete blocks providing structure and mass, where the lightwheight mezzanine made from kerto wood panels comes to rest.

Dry, simple, effective detailling contributes to the informal atmosphere where contrast is to be made with material expression and color scheme.

The project is the result of close collaboration with the wall production company (Walltopia) and the promoter (3 experienced climbers) in order to harmoniously integrate the artificial landscape of the climbing walls, whose sculptural characteristics are rich in angles and projections that defy the laws of gravity. The objective of this project was not only to provide the necessary phisical means to implement a rapidly growing sports facility - which is getting a lot of traction - but to institute, develop and grow a intergenerational sense of community.

Photo Credits
©Jose Campos Photographer

RDG

House in Odeceixe

Aljezur, Portugal.

Casa do Limoeiro is a summer house located in a small village on the Costa Vicentina, Portugal.

The rehabilitation of this century-old abandoned house brought to light the dichotomous discussion between tradition and contemporaneity. The challenge was clearly how to build with simple, local materials that are traditionally present in the local culture, adapting them to the new challenges of contemporary living.

The small narrow house measuring only 55sqm was organized in a simple way, but very compartmentalized. The house plan presented a succession of small spaces of about 2mX3m arranged consecutively and in continuity without a great hierarchy between them. Given the limited space available, the project created an "open space" connecting the entrance to the outdoor patio where the social areas (kitchen and living room) are installed. Private areas, such as bedrooms and bathrooms, occupy the sides and take the form of alcoves.

Simple, basic and dry details, in line with local tradition, provide the serenity and visual peace of the whitewashed walls.

Architecture is reduced to its basics. Minimum. Minimalist. This is the essence of this project.

The house has traditional rammed earth walls, wooden cage partitions and a reed ceiling with the traditional "rat heel”.
The reuse of the existing hydraulic mosaic and the new handmade tiles give a human touch to the water areas, contrasting with the industrial floor of smoothed concrete.

All furniture is made of natural wood, providing a natural harmony to the spaces and giving a sense of balance to the environment.

Overall, this little house builds our sense of belonging with its indulgent delicacy.

LOOP DESIGN AWARDS
SMALL ARCHITECTURE
Citation Winner 2023

PRÉMIO ARQUITECTURA ALGARVE
CATEGORIA DE HABITAÇÃO UNIFAMILIAR
Menção Honrosa 2024

Photo Credits
©Jose Campos Photographer

RCA

Serviced Apartments

Porto, Portugal.

*work in progress

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RIH

Small Office Home Office

Gondomar, Portugal.

*on going

MMC

Industrial Facility for indoor pharmaceutical agriculture.

Penela, Portugal.

Together with PEDRO PONTES.

*work in progress

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BLA

Apartment Renovation

Porto, Portugal.

Together with GABRIELA PINTO

Photo Credits

Alexander Bogorodskiy architectural photographer

REMC

Rehabilitation of Old Train Station

Macedo de Cavaleiros, Portugal.

The Macedo de Cavaleiros railway station represents a rich heritage legacy both in terms of architecture and anthropology due to its extensive presence in the collective memory with major impacts at the socio-economic level that urgently need to be reclassified.

The railway line ceased activity in the early 1990. Abandoned since then, its built complex was the target of vandalism and negligence.
The project therefore intends to reverse this process and clarify the original building by subtracting the various additions and alterations that the complex has undergone over the 90 years of activity. Now seeks for, new uses, new relationships, new scales, new spatialities.

The program foresees the installation of GEOPARK Terra de Cavaleiros with its administrative bodies at the "Passenger Station" while the pedagogical service takes place at the adjacent "Warehouse" where a tribune, capable of receiving groups of students, supports the pedagogical service. It also foresees an exhibition hall at the main warehouse which subsidies an artistic residencies.

A cleaning operation was carried out on the almost 90-year-old construction palimpsest, maintaining and restoring the entire original envelope of the buildings (facades and roofs).
From the outside, new wooden window frames and lime plaster coatings were applied on the stone masonry as well as new ceramic tiles were placed on the roof, maintaining the original shapes and volumes of the complex.
For the interior, exclusively traditional materials, such as wood, were used for the construction of the structure (floor slabs, roof trusses and walls), floor coverings with wood planks and wooden "shirt-skirt" ceilings. The carpentry elements, such as partitions, doors and cupboards, take advantage of the expression of birch plywood. Traditional hidrualic tiles covers the ground floor and hand made tiles give an special touch to the cafeteria ceilling vaults.

The project also offered a public space wich features the reuse of the railroad ties on the pavement and also providing for a long perimetral bench intended for interpersonal interaction.
This complex has a trangerational significance and it is strongly embebed local community since several generations directly/indirectly engaged on its operation, which is why deep respect must be paid to the cultural value that these buildings conglomerate.

Together with PAULO PROVIDENCIA

PNAM’23
PREMIO NACIONAL ARQUITETURA MADEIRA
Obra Finalista

LOOP DESIGN AWARDS
HERITAGE ARCHITECTURE
Category Winner 2023

Photo Credits
©Jose Campos Photographer