Placed in Porto’s riverside, where once stood a railway station serving the customs house, this project had to deal with a historically consolidated context, with its street grids, vernacular housing and commercial typology, construction materials, and overall dynamics of characteristic urban life.

Consisting of two volumes that dialogue with each other and the city around them, this construction aimed at being easily and intuitively accessed by the city users.

We see the volume of the cultural center next to a sloped street taking its angle of inclination while providing for a crossing to be made from this side to the other side where the river lies. Similarly, the residence building also liberates itself from the ground, to allow urban permeability whilst maintaining user privacy in the living quarters. The materiality of both these buildings consisted of an analogous language with that of the surrounding constructions, however, the aesthetics of the former took a more abstract minimalistic approach, while at the same time pursuing the repertory of ancient classical influences, from which I drew much inspiration for this and other works.