- Area: 1370 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
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Consultants: HDP, Paulo Fidalgo
Art Pavilion
There are projects that are born both out of their site and for it.
There are projects that create the site for themselves.
The Art Pavilion modified the hill site and also adapted itself to it. And we all also, adapted ourselves to the beauty of this project.
There was a strong will to build this particular idea on that site and all the challenges were overcome.
The forest pathway makes its way between high concrete walls, rough in texture, but elegant in form.
We pass an isolated volume, destined for study and information; the Library.
We enter the Art Pavilion as if entering a sculpture that absorbs us and enables us to feel space, light, shade, time and also, what is before and what is beyond.
Having come to the end of the route, we are presented with an external view of infinity.
Inside the space, we look for our own internal, personal infinity.
In architecture space is time.
In architecture light is defines form.
In architecture the route surprises.
In architecture rough materials convey elegance.
In architecture the function is being there.
In architecture the shadow reveals the beauty.
A Chapel
Saya Park lacked a chapel.
There were plenty of symbols for meditation and introspection, allowing visitors to experience moments of beauty out in the open.
A space of internal beauty was needed.
The Chapel building tucks into the hillside, opening up to the East and allowing in the light of the new day.
It shares the location with other spaces of great symbolism and emotional significance.
Its geometry is pure, because its function is also pure.
As we enter, we are bathed in light from above that penetrates through a small opening. But its effect, its greatness, is startling.
Intended for Christian worship, it opens us up to spirituality.
Space, time and meditation are great wonders that fit into this little building.
As they do in the Soul.
Observatory
We cross Saya Park through a pine forest.
Taking in the immediate landscape; we are absorbed by Nature.
The views are filtered through gnarled branches and low-lying vegetation.
A tower built of exposed concrete sits up on a little hill.
It is sited above the valley, trying to make it narrower.
Curiosity draws us into the tower, to climb and reach the top.
On our way up, we pass windows that give views out; fleeting glimpses.
At the top a balcony opens to the South. We gaze and are dazzled.
The deep valley is crushed by the scale of the mountains and their history.
The descent provokes introspection as we return to earth.
The almost raw finish of the exposed concrete contrasts with the purity of the form.
Despite its simple appearance, the essence of the tower is complex.
Its function is the essence of Architecture.
