Preserve, disseminate, and create cultural expressions. When we visit museums, galleries, libraries, and various cultural centers, we understand other worldviews. This is how we broaden our subjectivity and empathy and gain new knowledge. In Portugal, a country with a millennial history that crosses various cultural layers, from food to the arts, there is constant investment in equipment that helps share and reinforce its past and present. And, as expected, architecture is fundamental to lace these narratives.
In addition to Museu dos Coches, Casa da Música, and MAAT, which were fundamentally created by foreign architects, other places dear to architects and urbanists such as Museu Paula Rego and Casa da Arquitectura demonstrate all the potential and versatility of Portuguese architecture when conceiving cultural spaces. Whether thinking of a project from scratch or rehabilitating secular buildings, between the contemporary and the traditional, what we see are spaces created to transmit important exchanges on the subject addressed.
We have selected ten contemporary architecture projects that address different forms of culture in the country: from culinary habits that run through wine and olive oil to galleries for art. See all below.
Interpretation Centre of Romanesque / spaceworkers
Arquipélago Contemporary Arts Centre / João Mendes Ribeiro + Menos é Mais Arquitectos
Ílhavo Maritime Museum Extension / ARX Portugal
Vila Franca de Xira Municipal Library / Miguel Arruda Arquitectos Associados
Wine Museum / Atelier 405
Museu do Azeite / VT Arquitectura
Casal Saloio – Museum of Rurality / Miguel Marcelino
Águeda Arts Center / AND-RÉ
Nadir Afonso Contemporary Art Museum / Álvaro Siza Vieira
Center for Interpretation of Jewish Culture Isaac Cardoso / Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos, Lda. + Oficina Ideias em linha – Arquitectura e Design, Lda.
