Casa da Arquitectura is currently the only non-profit cultural institution, in Portugal, exclusively dedicated to architecture that congregates, in a single space, archive area and exhibition area.
CASA DA ARQUITECTURA will occupy part of the Real Vinícola block, a group of buildings with an area of 4,700m², restored by the Municipality of Matosinhos with a project by architect Guilherme Machado Vaz. Public areas for exhibitions and presentations, including an auditorium, a library and a shop, account for 36% of the entire space; conservation and maintenance areas account for 38%, and management and internal production, account for 10%. 16% of the entire space is jointly used.
From November 17 to 19, Casa da Arquitectura: Portuguese Centre for Architecture officially opens the doors of its new premises in Matosinhos, Porto. The new space occupies part of the block of the Real Vinícola, a group of buildings restored by the Municipality of Matosinhos with a project by architect Guilherme Machado Vaz, with an area of about 5,000 m². It is here that, during three days, an intense program of exhibitions, performances, debates, guided tours, films, music and activities for children and families will all involve everyone in a great celebration of architecture.
“The main objective of this project was to re-establish the balance of forces between Nature and the human spirit. A balance achieved through a negotiation with both Nature, which claims a space that was once hers, in an endless struggle; the human spirit, which manifested a hundred years ago and built the space; and with the spirit that will necessarily have to manifest today and establish a dialogue with the previous two”.
The new building
The new premises are located in the Quarteirão da Real Vinícola, Av. Menéres Pimentel, 456, in Matosinhos Sul. It is an area that included the old factory set up between 1897 and 1901 by Menéres & Companhia, meant for the Real Companhia Vinícola.
Casa da Arquitectura is the only non-profit cultural entity in the national territory exclusively dedicated to Architecture by bringing together, in a single space, an archive and an exhibition area. Its archives currently include over 500 models, panels, drawings, serigraphs, DVDs, books and other materials of the collections and estates of several architects, including Álvaro Siza, João Álvaro Rocha, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Fernando Távora and Souto de Moura, among others. A small part of Souto Moura’s vast collection in Casa’s care will be available to visit in the Archive.
Power and architecture at the opening exhibition
Poder Arquitectura is Casa da Arquitectura’s inaugural exhibition. Organised by the architects Jorge Carvalho, Pedro Bandeira and Ricardo Carvalho, the exhibition will occupy the approximately 800 square meters of the Exhibition Aisle with a proposal of reflection around eight powers that align, intersect, inflect and diverge from each other.
For the curators, "the relation between power and architecture is fundamental to question how contemporary society and architecture work together. Architecture is not just the expression of a single power. It reflects, and works from, various powers. We have therefore decided to isolate those powers who help clarify this complex cartography. Thus we have collective, regulatory, technological, economic, domestic, cultural, media and ritual powers. In the long struggle between man and nature, culture and technology, these powers exerted influences of variable intensity in the production of architectural artifacts and in the design of the city and the territory. Today, faced with a political impotence that excuses and validates decisions that harm the public good and the meaning of communities, there seems to be room for a new reflection on power."
Open to the public from November 17, 2017 to March 18, 2018, in Casa’s Exhibition Aisle, Poder Arquitectura brings together photographs, models, books, drawings, videos, magazines, postcards and other materials on around a hundred architectural projects built around the world.
Inaugural program
The 10th edition of the Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism—X BIAU—arrives in Portugal for the inauguration of Casa da Arquitectura, where it will open Galeria da Casa’s program. X BIAU will be present at the Galeria until February 4, 2018.
This edition of the biennial—with the theme Desplazamientos - Deslocamentos - Displacements and organised by the Spanish architects Ângela García de Paredes and Ignacio G. Pedrosa—received a total of 1,111 projects, of which 26 projects, six books, two publications and a collection of videos were awarded.
With a heavy Portuguese presence, the exhibition awarded the Ibero-American Prize to architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. The architect is one of the guests of the talks that will take place during the opening weekend of Casa da Arquitectura.
Organised by the architect Roberto Cremascoli, the 3rd Act of the inaugural Program Please Share! proposes two conferences around the themes of Curatorship and Editing in Architecture, with an eclectic guest panel.
In the three days of its opening, the Educational Service has several activities involving virtual and augmented reality in partnership with the DFL - Digital Fabrication Lab of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP), part of an intensive program of tours to Casa da Arquitectura, its Archives and Exhibitions, as well as several ludo-pedagogical stations for families and children.
A party, site-specific dance performances with Companhia Instável, cinema with the film Tudo é Projeto on Paulo Mendes da Rocha, by Joana Mendes da Rocha and Patrícia Rubano, among other events, are all part of the vast program for these days of celebration.
