A new scene for citizens. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves
07/06/2022.
[Torres Vedras] Portugal
metalocus, CARLOS RUBIO
metalocus, CARLOS RUBIO
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves is located in Torres Vedras, a Portuguese town near Lisbon, whose name comes from Latin and means Old Towers. The town is located near the coast and covers an area of approximately 405.89 square kilometres. In the town, as in the whole country, Carnival has been celebrated for centuries and is of great cultural value.
The project of the Centro Artístico del Carnaval transforms a ruined slaughterhouse and an unused quarry, and at the same time offers a square to a marginalized neighbourhood by establishing a new building and program.
The project of the Centro Artístico del Carnaval transforms a ruined slaughterhouse and an unused quarry, and at the same time offers a square to a marginalized neighbourhood by establishing a new building and program.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Image of situation. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo Catrica.
Site plan. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves.
Floor plan. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves.
Sections. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves.
Sections. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves.
Sections. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves.
Constructive section. Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves.
The Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves was generated through the rehabilitation of the old slaughterhouse that becomes part of the main entrance of the CAC, containing exhibition rooms and a shop that relates directly to the street. The pre-existing courtyard is transformed into a nucleus of circular stairs that is combined with a skylight and constitutes the beginning of the exhibition route.
The aim of the project is expected to have a place-making capacity as a home and urban theatre for the celebration of carnival, as well as a stage for the everyday practices of the citizens.
Carnival Arts Centre by José Neves. Photograph by Paulo CatricaThe aim of the project is expected to have a place-making capacity as a home and urban theatre for the celebration of carnival, as well as a stage for the everyday practices of the citizens.
Description of project by José Neves
Carnival is celebrated in Portugal since the 13th century, occupying a central position in the collective imaginary of Torres Vedras. The project for the Carnival Arts Centre (CAC) materializes this collective reference, transforming a ruined slaughterhouse and a disabled quarry, while offering a plaza to a marginalized neighbourhood in order to establish a new civic and urban vitality.
This neighborhood, located on S. Vicente Hill, had grown around the quarry and the slaughterhouse until they both closed down and became a decaying fragment on the edge of the city. However, the remains of the slaughterhouse preserved its iconographic value, which reflected the identity of the place, and the quarry, once taken as pasture for the slaughterhouse livestock, resulted as a platform embraced by an escarpment, whose size, shape and materiality gave a dreamlike feeling to the site.
The old slaughterhouse was rehabilitated to serve as CAC main entrance, containing exhibition rooms and the shop, directly related to the street. The traces of a courtyard that existed in its core, for the animals' blood ventilation and drainage, were transformed in order to become a circular staircase that, combined with a large skylight, is the starting point to the exhibition route and the structural support of the of the main exhibition container where a large window frames the view of the crater and the informal cityscape.
The old platform is now a urban plaza whose form is a result of the geometry suggested by the shape of the crater, thus qualified by the mass of the escarpment in continuity with the elliptical surface of the new body that contains the sky lit visitable deposits, and animated by the presence of the cafeteria and the museum workshops, widely opening into a covered outdoor gallery.
Above all, it is expected that CAC will have a place-making capacity as house and urban-theater for the celebration of Carnival, as well as stage for the daily practices of citizens, so this neighbourhood will become again part of space and time of the city.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Project.- Rui Sousa Pinto, André Matos, Fernando Freire, Sara Brandão, Vitor Quaresma, Vasco Melo, Paulo Cunha.
Colour.- João Pernão, Maria Capelo.
Construction.- Carlos Almada, Diogo Amaro, Inês Oliveira, João Tereso.
Structure engineer.- Betar.
Electrical engineer.- SM & LM.
HVAC.- Natural works.
Colour.- João Pernão, Maria Capelo.
Construction.- Carlos Almada, Diogo Amaro, Inês Oliveira, João Tereso.
Structure engineer.- Betar.
Electrical engineer.- SM & LM.
HVAC.- Natural works.
Dates
2012-2021.
Location
Torres Vedras, Portugal.
Photography
José Neves
José Neves, born in Lisbon in 1963, graduated in Architecture from Lisbon Technical University School of Architecture in 1986. That same year he represented Portugal in the 2nd Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, in Thessaloniki, selected by the Secretariat of State for Culture.
From 1986 to 1990 he worked with Duarte Cabral de Mello and since 1991 he has participated in several projects with Vítor Figueiredo. That same year he opened his own office.
He received the SECIL ARCHITECTURE AWARD 2012, the VALMOR AWARD 2011, the honourable mention of VASCO VILALVA AWARD FOR HERITAGE RENOVATION AND RESTORATION 2015, attributed by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and the TORRES VEDRAS TOWN HALL 1ST PRIZE OF ARCHITECTURE 1996-2000. He was selected for the PREMIS FAD INTERIORISME 2015, the BIGMAT ARCHITECTURE INTERNATIONAL AWARD 2015 and was a finalist in the PREMIS FAD PENSAMENT I CRÍTICA 2015.
He was a guest professor in the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon, in the Department of Architecture of the Lusída University and in the Architecture Department of the Autónoma University. He is currently giving classes in the Department of Architecture and Urbanism of ISCTE.
