Center for Interpretation of Jewish Culture Isaac Cardoso / Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos, Lda. + Oficina Ideias em linha – Arquitectura e Design, Lda.

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos, Lda., Oficina Ideias em linha – Arquitectura e Design, Lda.
Area: 500 m²
Year: 2012
Contractor: MRG

Text description provided by the architects. Object

The Interpretation Center was plotted in the dense urban fabric of a medieval fortified village, in an area once referred as the Jewishquarter of Trancoso.

Starting from a ruined allotment, the aim was to re-erect a building that reinforces the corner geometry, still displaying an acute angle on the intersection of two narrow streets, and establishing a symbolic gesture in the context of Jewish urban culture.

Center for Interpretation of Jewish Culture Isaac Cardoso / Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos, Lda. + Oficina Ideias em linha – Arquitectura e Design, Lda. - Chair — © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Materials

Altogether, the irregular granite slab stereotomy and tiny fenestrations define the elevation towards the two confining streets.

The massive character of the building is also reflected on the interior design and “excavated” spaces, like a sequence of voids sculpted from within a large stone monolith.

For the exception on this sense of mass, the building is provided with the existence of a large glazing which allows visibility over the Master Pit, a core that enhances all the Jewish culture symbolism with the presence of water.

The excavated granite mass, where the openings are also crafted with a special plastic approach, prevents overall perception of interior space from the outside, also controlling lighting, recreating and reinterpreting some of the most expressive features of Jewish Architecture in Beira Interior region.

The main room, which refers to the sacred space of the Sephardic Synagogue and the Synagogue of Tomar (also in Portugal) has the most obvious inspiration, rising in the stony mass of the building on all its height, filtering the sunlight to the inside through a ceiling where the complex geometry veils and shapes the perception of all sacred space.

This area differs from the others not only for its size, but also for the lining of the vertical strained panelling in glazed wood, providing an inner atmosphere bathed in golden light.

The religious space is dominated by the texture and the sense of rising by the wood cladding of the walls, giving it a temperature and a particular colour and smell.

Structure

Given the small size of the building, unique geometry and privileged location within the urban medieval tissue of Trancoso, the option pointed towards one outer shell is insulated and coated with granite slabs providing a ventilated façade solution.

The structure of reinforced concrete column / slab, with walls filled with brick masonry is fully lined, on the inside, with walls and ceilings of acoustic control plasterboard.

Environment

Outside paving and coatings have the same nature, made with regional granite slabs, keeping the colors and textures of the urban environment inside the fortified village and castle guard.