“In transit” | Angola – Japan

Souto de Moura latest project

A Casa das Histórias Paula Rego é um projecto do arquitecto Eduardo Souto de Moura. Retomando, num espírito contemporâneo, alguns aspectos da arquitectura histórica da região, distingue-se de imediato na paisagem por duas estruturas piramidais de igual dimensão e pelo betão pigmentado a vermelho.
Assumindo-se o terreno e as árvores preexistentes como elementos fundamentais, os diferentes volumes compõem o edifício configuram quatro alas, subdivididas no interior em salas sequenciais, dispostas em torno de um volume central mais elevado, que corresponde à sala de exposições temporárias. O interior, em tons neutros, pavimentado a mármore azulino de Cascais, conta, para além das áreas técnicas e de serviço, com 750 m2 de áreas de exposição, uma loja, uma cafetaria com esplanada aberta para um frondoso jardim e um auditório com 200 lugares.
O projecto, correspondendo à vontade da artista, a quem se deve a escolha do arquitecto, dá resposta às muitas exigências de funcionalidade museológica.

The Casa das Histórias Paula Rego was designed by the architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. The building makes use of certain aspects of the region’s historical architecture, which is here reinterpreted in a contemporary way. It can be immediately recognized thanks to its two pyramid-shaped towers and the red-colored concrete used in its construction.
The land and trees which previously existed at the site are incorporated as fundamental elements, while four wings, of varying heights and sizes, make up the building. The building itself is subdivided into rooms which lead into one another and are laid out around the higher central room which houses the temporary exhibition. The building’s interior has 750 m2 of exhibition space, on top of the technical and service areas, and is decorated in neutral shades and paved with the blue-grey marble of Cascais. The building also houses a shop, a café which opens onto a verdant garden and an auditorium with 200 seats.
The building’s design is fully in keeping the artist’s wishes, and it was Paula Rego herself who was responsible for the choice of architect. It meets all the requirements for a museum and its various functions, without forgetting the need to give visitors a warm welcome.

Exhibition in Oporto

FG+SG 10 years

Álvaro Siza Documentation Center

Habitar Portugal 2006-2008 | 33 of the selected projects are online in ultimasreportagens.com

A edição Habitar Portugal 2006-2008 é uma iniciativa do Conselho Directivo Nacional da Ordem dos Arquitectos, com o apoio da Mapei. A edição Habitar Portugal 2006-2008 propõe levar ao público a diversidade da produção dos arquitectos membros efectivos da Ordem dos Arquitectos, concluídas nos anos de 2006 a 2008, quer em território português, quer no estrangeiro.

Habitar Portugal is a selection of work by Portuguese architects built between 2006 and 2008, reproducing a part of the body of work which is Portuguese architecture – from small to large scale projects, from detachedhouses to public spaces. Like a geo-referenced map, or a first impression of mainland Portugal and the islands: selective but comprehensive, a single image made up of varied identities. The Habitar Portugal project is organized by the Ordem dos Arquitectos, exclusively sponsored by thecompany MAPEI.

[A] ainda arquitectura _ casa m+m | Adalberto da Rocha Gonçalves Dias _ casas brancas | Álvaro Siza Vieira _ Museu Iberê Camargo | Ana Costa _ bes Altura | António Belém Lima _ ampliação dos paços do concelho de Boticas | ARX Portugal Arquitectos _ conservatório de música de Cascais | Atelier do Corvo _ a diversidade da vida nos 300 anos de Lineu | Carlos Castanheira _ casa de adpropeixe Correia/Ragazzi Arquitectos | casa no Gerês | Eduardo Souto de Moura _ Burgo empreendimento | Francisco Vieira de Campos _ bairro Contumil | Francisco Vieira de Campos _ inapal metal | Freddy Cezar _ Edifício do Amparo | Frederico Valsassina _ estúdios r.t.p./r.d.p. | João Luís Carrilho da Graça _ Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa | João Mendes Ribeiro _ Ampliação e Requalificação da Casa Vaz Pais | Jorge Figueira _ edifício C | Jorge Sousa Santos _ Óptica na Graça | Luís M. Correia, Nelson Mota, Vanda Maldonado e Susana Constantino _ intervenção no castelo de castelo novo | Luís Pereira Miguel _ casa monte | Miguel Beleza Teixeira Seixas e Sousa _ casa em Azeitão | Paulo David _ Piscinas do Atlântico e Passeio Marítimo, Câmara de Lobos | Paulo Providência _ centro de saúde de Vila de Conde | Pedro B. Ravara, Nuno Vidigal, João P. Martins arquitectos _ instalações permanentes para a presidência portuguesa do conselho europeu | Pedro Domingos _ casa das janelas verdes | Promontório Arquitects _ Fluviário de Mora | Promontório Arquitectos _ Vivaci Guarda | Ricardo Bak Gordon _ escola secundária D. Dinis | Ricardo Bak Gordon _ pavilhão de Portugal na expozaragoza2008 | Ricardo Vieira de Melo _ casas nas Agras Norte | Ricardo Vieira de Melo _ live’in glicinias | RISCO/Manuel Salgado, Marino Fei e Tomás Salgado _ reconversão da marginal de Ponta Delgada | MASEA _ Almacén | Teresa Novais e Jorge Carvalho _ restaurante Gosho

O arquitecto Pedro Gadanho é o Comissário-geral sendo os Comissários Regionais os arquitectos Pedro Bandeira (Norte), Nuno Grande (Área Metropolitana do Porto), Pedro Jordão (Centro), Luís Santiago Baptista (Área Metropolitana de Lisboa), Ricardo Camacho (Sul) e Pedro Costa (Ilhas).

GEO Magazine June issue

About opening the latest issue of GEO
A text by FG

When, 24 years ago, at the age of 16, I started to become interested in photography, I didn’t want to photograph houses, but the people who lived in them. I only wanted architecture to serve as the stage for the short stories I would tell little by little when I would return from a trip, or after a simple day of picture-taking in Lisbon.

My first 15 years of images consisted mainly of photographing people on the street. Travelling to take pictures became an obsession. Back then, I liked to think that I would become a photographer for magazines like National Geographic or GEO, the European reference for travel photography and journalism. I had never worked for either, alas. I did not have the stories or images they felt deserved special attention or which simply had a complete and mature narrative, which is not surprising at the age of 16 or 17. They were single images of special moments grouped together in a personal diary that I rarely shared with others. Like any amateur, it was a simple desire to keep what I thought worth keeping. It was a hobby, pure and simple, and not a full-time job. My profession would always be architecture. Photography would fill in the intervals. Obviously, I got it wrong. After a number of years working as an architect and teacher, my path, for a whole number of reasons, took a different turn.

After all those years and increasingly removed from street reporting, two months ago I received an invitation to participate in the June edition of German GEO. They proposed that I open the magazine’s “showcase” page, curiously with an architectural image, which is an unexpected honour, seeing that it is not the magazine’s main theme. The chosen image, well-known from its reproduction in different specialist magazines, depicts a guide’s first day at work at the entrance to the Portugal Pavilion, designed by architect Ricardo Bak Gorden, at the World’s Fair in Saragossa in June 2008.

In some ways, this outcome in paper has felt like the completion of a circle, or the fulfilment of a desire I had almost forgotten, by including my images in a publication of this type. The unexpected feedback has been great, with many readers sending messages asking to see the series’ remaining images along with various requests for copies.

Today I move in a editorial world parallel to that of travel magazines and with different responsibilities. This edition of GEO and the interest of its readership provides an excellent excuse to bring to ultimasreportagens some elements of this first body of work in which I learnt to photograph people at the right moment, waiting for light and controlling the shadows, essential factors that come together like layers in my daily work and which today mark my architectural photography.

I’ll choose some…

Portugal Convida – Barcelona | conference with Eduardo Souto de Moura and Fernando Guerra