Largo Camões (first scheme)
Alcacer do Sal, Portugal
2020–2018
This small 4-storey building is located in the main square of the medieval town of Alcacer do Sal, in the vicinity of Comporta. Shaped as an ‘L’ opened to the Sado river with its cafes and restaurants, the square is the informal centre of the community from which springs the riverfront promenade and the parallel commercial street. Replacing a former 17th-century building, the new ensemble mediates the relationship between the riverfront and the inner street, while crowning the square. Following the datum of the adjacent buildings, at ground level an arcade generates a shaded public space for commercial uses in continuity with the life of the square. At the fourth level a small turret underlines the edge of the square.
Evoking the 1755 pre-earthquake architecture with its traditionally stepped volumes, the building discreetly expands towards the riverfront and the square. On each of the 2nd and 3rd-levels respectively, a sort of deep loggia creates a shaded veranda overlooking the river. The building is made of whitewashed exposed concrete and sprayed Gunite in a manner that is evocative of the regionalist ethos of late-Le Corbusier, as well as echoes from the vernacular inflections of the likes of Utzon, Van der Laan, Fernández del Amo or Teotónio-Portas.


Largo Camões in mid-20th-century postcard

North façade

South façade

South-east view

Ground- to third-level floor plan
Cross section
East and south elevations

Study model

Location: Largo Camões 1, Alcácer do Sal, Portugal
Client: Habitat Invest
Associate architects: João Cravo
Scope of services: Architecture
Project brief: Apartment building with ground floor mixed-use
Typlogies: 2 units T2 (118 sq. m), 1 unit T2 (170 sq. m) and 1 unit T1 (110 sq. m)
Footprint: 200 sq. m
Gross floor area: 600 sq. m
Project status: 2018 – 2020
Rendering: Promontorio