Portuguese practice Bernardo Rodrigues Architects has completed a studio for a sculptor on St. Michael Island, the largest and most populous island of the Azores archipelago, the island is also known by locals as "The Green Island".

Named Sculptor Studio the pavilion was created by building a curving poured-concrete form that references the work of its client. It is intended to appear as though it "sprouts" from the kitchen of an existing dwelling on a farm in the small city of Rabo de Peixe, located in the north of the island.
An organic volume, whose interior studio and workshop space was designed by Architects: Bernardo Rodrigues, creating a large opening or window that overlooks the garden composed of hexagonal pieces as a crystallographic world.

The pavilion has an upper south skylight, which introduces light from the north wall, pushing it as a cascade of light towards the window overlooking the garden and showing itself as a diamond of light.

The construction assumes its rustic condition and its rough finish that recalls the rocks and shears typical along the coasts and cliffs of the Azores.


Sculptor studio by Bernardo Rodrigues. Photograph by Paulo Goulart.

Sculptor studio by Bernardo Rodrigues. Photograph by Paulo Goulart.
 

Project description by Bernardo Rodrigues

The breath of creation permeated the house, suddenly brimming with her tools and work. The sculptor needed to add a compact atelier to her home on the north shore of St. Michael Island, Azores. Within the farm compound (where two and a half decades ago our first project The Floating Cloud House was idealized), there is now a new workspace sprouting from the kitchen with two clay ovens, an archive, a reception area for clients, and a showroom and workshop area.

The upper south skylight, which drops in the wall, enters the space, pushes the north limit wall out, and exits through a cascade of light, creating the “light fall” window frame from which Belinha will work overlooking the garden.

The building method, rustic and man-made with a team of three: Marco, his father-in-law, and a young helper reflects the site's tactile and rugged character.


Sculptor studio by Bernardo Rodrigues. Photograph by Paulo Goulart.

Textures are assumed in its crude finishing outside with continuous and curving pouring marks of the single daylong concrete fill, glowing then inside, as a repository of a rich and elevated softly telling treasure, similar to the rocks and sections along the coasts and cliffs of the Azores, isolated in a remote part of the middle island. Refracting its future miraculous thoughts and stories, treads from a future salvation, a pleasant and pacified smile from a past doom A diamond that is both present and quiet.

More information

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Architects
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Architects: Bernardo Rodrigues. Architect in charge.- Francesco Ugolotti.
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Project team
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Katarzina Malinowska.
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Collaborators
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Engineering.- Isabel Ponte.
Tender.- Pedro Câmara.
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Client
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Isabel Silva Melo.
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Builder
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Marco Oliveira.
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Manufactures
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Window Frames.- Luis Torres.
Lighting Fixtures.- Mário Medeiros.
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Dates
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2018 - 2020.
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Location
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Rabo de Peixe - São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal.
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Photography
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Bernardo Rodrigues Architects. Architecture practice was established by Bernardo Rodrigues in 2001. The studio is led by Bernardo Rodrigues and Francesco Ugolotti.

Bernardo Rodrigues (1972 Born in Ponta Delgada, Azores). Architecture at Porto University, 1996. Professional training at Donald Insall & Associates, London, 1996. Atelier 15, Porto, 1997. Master of Science at Columbia University in New York, 1999. Opened office, 2001. Building New Ventures at Harvard University, ​2007.

Francesco Ugolotti (​1984 Born in Parma, Italy).Architecture at Parma University,  2009. Senior architect at BRA, 2010.
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Published on: December 3, 2023
Cite: "Crystallographed Azores' light. Sculptor studio by Bernardo Rodrigues" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/crystallographed-azores-light-sculptor-studio-bernardo-rodrigues> ISSN 1139-6415
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