Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2020
Interpretation Centre of Romanesque Exhibition Centre
by Spaceworkers
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Spaceworkers
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 34,982
- Verification code D754E6E6EB · Verify this award
About Interpretation Centre of Romanesque Exhibition Centre
Interpretation Centre of Romanesque is an exhibition centre located in the village of Lousada, Portugal. The building consists of seven exposed concrete volumes of different heights, and each volume forms a separate exhibition space. A central hall covered with glass connects the volumes and leads to their entrances. The contrast between the bright hall and the darker exhibition rooms guides the visit. Each ceiling reinterprets a roof type from Romanesque architecture. The wood-textured concrete facades recall the stone and wood of older local buildings.
Spaceworkers's Interpretation Centre of Romanesque Exhibition Centre exemplifies a thoughtful contemporary engagement with medieval architectural heritage, translating the spiritual gravitas and material honesty of Romanesque building traditions into a modern institutional vocabulary. The composition demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how monumental form communicates cultural significance, with the central tower volume establishing hierarchical prominence while flanking elements create processional rhythm guiding visitors toward the entrance portal. The employment of board-formed concrete represents both technical virtuosity and philosophical alignment with Romanesque principles of material authenticity, the horizontal formwork impressions echoing the coursed stonework of medieval construction while asserting the work's contemporary identity. The semicircular arch functions as the compositional and symbolic heart, its pure geometry directly quoting the characteristic portal form of Romanesque churches while the glazed infill with decorative animal figures establishes welcoming accessibility. These whimsical creatures, rendered in delicate white outlines against warm ochre backgrounds, reference the bestiary traditions of medieval manuscript illumination and sculptural programs while maintaining playful approachability for contemporary audiences. The chromatic restraint allows natural light to become the primary animating force, with the captured photograph revealing how golden hour illumination transforms the austere concrete surfaces into warmly luminous planes. Young trees planted in the forecourt introduce temporal dimension, their eventual maturation will further integrate the architecture with its landscape context. Viewers might contemplate how this architecture serves as interpretive threshold, preparing visitors for encounter with historical artifacts while itself embodying continuity between past and present building cultures.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The building is composed by seven apparent concrete volumes with different heights.Each one represents a distinct exhibition space.To explore the relation between them,it was created a central body covered by glass that procedes them entries.This central space explores the contrast bright/dark between it and the exhibition spaces.Therefore, the building tries to be contemporary without forgetting the important Romanesque past, creating an atmospheric symbiosis between this different times.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 1580m2 - 57000 mm x 30000 mm x 15000 mm
- Tags
- Romanesque, concrete, architecture, Volumetric, interpretation, concrete volumes, Interpretation centre of the romanesque, Unity within diversity, Portuguese romanesque, Romanesque route,
- Production Technology
- In a clear allusion to the past constructions, which was built using the local materials like stone and wood, here we use the stone of our days, the concrete. The wood-texture on the concrete facades mark the straight connection that this kind of architecture established with the surrounding nature.
- Design Challenge
- One of the most challenging things of this design was the impact on the center of the village during its construction. The build is very auster, like all of the architecture of the romanesque period, and in the first instance this austerity was not being welcomed. Now with the building completed they full understand his meaning and the building is much loved for the whole population .
- Project Duration
- The building is located in the village of Lousada that belongs to Oporto district. Is is located in an area that is an expansion of this village ant it is marked by a strong relationship with an urban square called Praça das Pocinhas and withe the Senhor dos Aflitos Church - a strong reference in the town center. The project concept started in 2011 and and the construction was finished in 2018. It is open to the public since september 2018.
- Operation Flow
- The entire exhibition was designed to promote the interaction of the public, making them feel an integral part of it. The visitor is required to interact with the exhibition in order to obtain more information and deepen his knowledge of the different terms on which the exhibition focuses.
- Research
- The project seeks for a close relation between the old romanesque architecture and the architecture of nowadays. During the concept fase were study all of the Romanesque typology present in the region extracting of this research the most easily recognised elements of this architecture for transposing them into a contemporary building.
The final design seek for a contemporary approach of this Romanesque elements that allow people to immediately recognise that this new build as something to do with the old romanesque buildings.
Once inside, the scale, the light and the proportion of the spaces was also based on the old romanesque buildings, remind us the ancient Romanesque construction. - Inspiration
- Based on the concepts of Romanesque architecture in Portugal, the building aims to be a transitional element between the present and the distant past. In an austere way, the volumetric proposed contains the principals of unity within diversity, appearing under the form of several volumes with different heights and dimensions, demonstrating the diversity that Romanesque buildings have left us. Therefore, each volume ceilings reinterprets one of the roof types used in Romanesque architecture.
- Image Credits
- Main Image #1 : Fernando Guerra FG+SG
Optional Image #1 : Fernando Guerra FG+SG
Optional Image #2 : Fernando Guerra FG+SG
Optional Image #3 : Fernando Guerra FG+SG
Optional Image #4 : Fernando Guerra FG+SG
Video Credits: Building Pictures - Patents
- spaceworkers
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