Castelo Novo Castle

Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

CASTELO NOVO CASTLE 

Comoco

ARCHITECTS
Comoco

AREA
3650.0 m2

YEAR
2008

LOCATION
Fundão, Portugal

CATEGORY
Visitor Center, Restoration

Text description provided by architect.

The project’s brief requested the conservation and valorization of Castelo Novo’s Castle and surroundings. Moreover, it suggested also the creation of a space where people and visitors could enjoy it as a place of permanence.

Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

To answer these demands, the design solution created a “body” without a rigid boundary, organic, working independently of the existing structures but using them as a support.

The construction was designed as a continuous abstract object, non-identifiable with a unique and specific purpose.

The object changes with the characteristics of the site. While in the church’s square it acts as a volume defining the limits, in the interior of the Castle’s walls, its shape is transformed into a pavement layer with ramps and stairs creating a pedestrian pathway which is suspended from the ground by metallic structure.

Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

This solution allows the visitors to admire the archeological findings without damaging them.

The pathway finishes in the castle’s Main Tower where a “steel box” was inserted in its interior containing a multimedia room.

Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

This box allows also the creation of a platform where visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of the landscape.

All the construction was made using lightweight metal structures which can allow a clear distinction of the new object from the existing structures and, at the same time, the reversibility of the operation.

Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG


Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
Castelo Novo Castle
© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG


Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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Castelo Novo Castle
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