Arquipélago Contemporary Arts Centre
ARQUIPÉLAGO CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTRE
João Mendes Ribeiro + Menos é Mais Arquitectos
ARCHITECTS
João Mendes Ribeiro, Menos É Mais Arquitectos
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
Quaternaire, Ana Barroco, Rui Figueiredo
CLIENT
Regional Directorate Of Culture (Drac) Of The Regional Government Of The Azores
CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION CONSULTING
Gabriella Casella, Cariátides
COORDINATION
Adalgisa Lopes, Jorge Teixeira Dias
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Sopsec Sa, Hipólito Sousa, Jerónimo Botelho, Pedro Pinto
THERMAL
Sopsec Sa, André Apolinário
GAS INSTALLATIONS
Sopsec Sa, José Pinto
ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS
Raul Serafim & Associados, Raul Serafim, Hélder Ferreira
PROJECT TEAM
João Mendes Ribeiro Arquitecto Lda, Menos É Mais Arquitectos Associados Lda, Cristina Maximino, João Pontes, Luís Campos, Ana Leite Fernandes, Mariana Sendas, Pedro Costa, Inês Ferreira, João Fernandes, Catarina Fortuna, Ana Cerqueira, Ana Rita Martins, António Ferreira Da Silva, Cláudia Santos, Joana Figueiredo, João Branco
STAGE MECHANICS CONSULTING
João Aidos
SECURITY MEASURES AND FIRE CONSULTING
Maria Da Luz Santiago (Raul Serafim & Associados, Lda)
ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Francisco Vieira De Campos, Cristina Guedes, João Mendes Ribeiro
ACOUSTICS
Sopsec Sa, Rui Calejo, Eduarda Silva, Filomena Macedo
MECHANICAL INSTALLATIONS
Get, Raul Bessa, Ricardo Carreto
HYDRAULIC INSTALLATIONS
Diogo Leite, Filipe Freitas, Jorge Rocha, Sopsec Sa
SECURITY
Maria Da Luz Santiago
PROGRAMMING CONSULTING
Elisa Babo, Miguel Von Haff Pérez, Marta Almeida, Quaternaire
FIRE CONSULTING
Maria Da Luz Santiago
YEAR
2014
LOCATION
Portugal
CATEGORY
Art Center
Text description provided by architect.
The Arquipélago Contemporary Arts Centre seeks to unite the different scales and times of its parts.
It is a transdisciplinary project whose mission is to disseminate, create, and produce emerging culture: a space of exchange and interfaces for people, knowledge, and events.
The design of Arquipélago Contemporary Arts Centre maintains the industrial character of the whole and highlights the dialogue between an existing building (former factory of alcohol/tobacco) and the new construction (arts and culture center, storage facilities, multipurpose hall / performing arts, laboratories, artist studios).
The Arquipélago Contemporary Arts Centre acquires its identity by the quiet variation between the preexistence and the two new buildings.
The containment strategy of facilities implementation enhances the spatial efficiency and hierarchical functionality of the different areas of the existing factory complex.
The new buildings absorb the required functionalities, with special conditions, not compatible with the spatiality of preexisting buildings.
The project of the Arquipélago does not exaggerate the differences between the old and the new buildings.
On the contrary, it seeks to unite the different scales and times of its parts throughout a pictorial manipulation of the form and materiality of the buildings - the existing constructions are marked by the volcanic stone masonry and the new buildings are characterized by an abstract form, without reference or allusion to any language, built-in concrete with local basalt inert continuously working with the variety of surfaces’ textures and rugosity, complementing the mass of the buildings with the emptiness of the patios.
The new program reinvents the existing building, making it a meaningful space in a peripheral region in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Arquipélago Contemporary Arts Centre adds meaning to the social and cultural context where it is built.
A new Public Space is materialized in a central square/patio where art feels comfortable and blurs the frontiers between private and public spheres, leisure and work, art, and life.
The aspects of the sustainable performance of the buildings were addressed through its materiality (structures, infrastructures) and the absorption of the existing handcrafted knowledge enriched by its timeless way of building.
The sustainable measures adopted are passive systems that seek to provide comfort for the users: the density of the concrete walls offer inertia and energy efficiency; the rainwater is reused.
The design is committed to the quality of what exists, showing the typological variations - new buildings are placed next to the existing ones in a serene manner – underlining the architectonical memory of a given period and the new addition, without damaging or subverting the spatial and constructive structures of the whole. Context and contiguity contribute to the autonomy of the object.
