Portuguese architects OODA shared with us their proposal (in collaboration with Lencastre Arquitectos) for the Tram Museum International Competition in Porto, Portugal.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
As a generic surface of placement, the city of Porto has special identifying characteristics at the same time capable of creating architectural difficulties.
Such as transportation.
The tram is one of the most iconic figures of Porto and not only helps to keep alive its history and background but also contribute to the statement of the city as a trademark for turism and leisure.
However the museum, concerning its present building, only works as a fragment of memory that do not communicate with the city nor in program neither in presence which is the Tram inner definition and function: circulation, connection people and places.
That said, in our proposal we first adjust the outline of the existing building to our programmatic needs reflecting the nearby fabric. Then we conceptually took the old route plan of Porto Tram as a grid and we intersected literally with the present building which formally creates voids, masses and gaps.
What was circulation in the old plan as tram city-circulation generates now the inner circulation of the building through its functions and the spaces that are left in between are where all the program required is activated and positioned.
Design Team: Diogo Brito, Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Francisco Lencastre e Tiago Souto Castro
