Claus Porto by João Mendes Ribeiro
31/01/2017.
[Lisbon] Portugal
metalocus, CLAUDIA CENDOYA, OLGA SVISHCHEVA
metalocus, CLAUDIA CENDOYA, OLGA SVISHCHEVA
Description of the project by João Mendes Ribeiro
Claus Porto is a Portuguese scents brand whose 130 years of history had to be summoned in the project of the first flagship store to open in Lisbon downtown. A heritage is built not just by its impressive material assets, but also by its intangible patrimony, linked to the objects’ symbolic quality and value. Towards the visual impact that the Claus products have, the store design would have to be minimalist but very sensitive so that it could enhance and complement the brand’s strong identity. It should be an inclusive, elegant and cosmopolitan place, but also a place with a strong sensory appeal.
The interior of the preexistent store consisted of two different rooms at different heights, united by a staircase, both accessible by the exterior, with entrances in two different streets. The room in Rua da Misericórdia was, for many years, used as a pharmacy, from which it inherited the wooden display cabinets that cover all the walls and the plaster ceilings adorned with geometrical and vegetable motifs. The proposal for this space was mostly based on the preservation and restoration of the existing structures, trying to enrich the preexistence and adapt it to its new circumstances. In the middle of the room, one single piece marks the intervention and defines the entire space: a polished brass counter that reflects the surroundings, allowing fluid circulation and free use of the space around it.
In the transition for the staircase, a small intermediary chamber functions as a museological space, where a selection of artefacts and relics are displayed inside a box/archive made of polished brass and rosewood. From this space, the marble staircase leads to the room on the lower floor, facing Rua das Gáveas. This second room includes a barber shop, a custom counselling space, an archive and a lounge area. The entire room is circled by a thin perimetral brass inlay that defines, inside the walls, a linear niche where products can be shown. Below this line, different types of archive cabinets define the space: a large drawer cabinet made in old riga wood, a continuous drawer in the barber area and, on the opposite wall, under an installation by Joana Astolfi, a flexible archive cabinet (with a washbasin, a minibar or a turntable incorporated, besides other features) that supports and defines the lounge space.
João Mendes Ribeiro, (Coimbra, 1960) graduated from the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, where he taught between 1989 and 1991, and also, has been assistant of Professor Architect Fernando Távora between 1991 e 1998. He has been teaching Project in the Departmento de Arquitectura da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra since 1991, the same university where in 2009 he took his PhD in Architecture, in Theory and History specialty.
Owns João Mendes Ribeiro Arquitecto Lda office in Coimbra since 1990, where he mainly develops reconversion projects and qualification of the built heritage, such as Laboratório Chimico, Centro de Artes Visuais and Casa da Escrita; instalations for events and expositions; and yet, with great emphasis on designing scenary for the performing arts.
Has participated in a number of national and international exhibitions, including the Portuguese Representation at 9th and 10th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennial in 2004 and 2006.
His work has been the subject of a variety of publications and he has received several national and international awards, such as the Prémios Architécti 1997 and 2000, Lisbon; Highly Commended, AR awards for emerging architecture, Londres, 2000; the Diogo de Castilho Prize 2003, 2007 and 2011, Coimbra; the Premis FAD 2004, Barcelona; the Premis AICA 2007; Gold Medal for Best Stage Design, 11th International Exhibition of Scenography and Theatre Architecture – Prague Quadrennial 2007, Prage; and the nomination for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies Van der Rohe Award 2001, 2005 and 2011, Barcelona.
He was a finalist in the II and IV IberianAmerican Architecture and Civil Engineering Biennial 2000 and 2004, Mexico City and Lima, and the Premis FAD 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006, Barcelona.
In 2006 he was distinguished with the Comenda da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique by the President of Portugal.