Portugália

Lisbon, Portugal

2018

The site was home to the former Portugália brewery, located on a large perimeter block between Avenida Almirante Reis, Rua Pascoal de Melo, Rua António Pedro and Rua Marques da Silva in Lisbon’s Anjos-Arroios district. Extending 2.5 km along a rift river line, Avenida Almirante Reis is a rich and vibrant cultural mosaic of multiple trades and ethnicities from the city’s history, and is currently undergoing an exciting transformation process, which is directly related to the growing demand for space to work and live in the city centre. Perceived as a landmark by different generations of Lisboners, Portugália is a key place in the area. The developer’s ambition was to create a mixed-use project where different age groups can mingle, with a porous mix of uses and services — both private and public — generating an open and inclusive development

The design proposal seeks to integrate the planned new construction in dialogue with the old brewery building. The programme calls for a tall building and an inner public square within the overall massing, creating a point of distinction while opening the remainder of the perimeter block to the avenue. The buildings have an average of six floors (height 18 m) and eight floors (height 21 m) in the corner.

The tower has 15 storeys (2+13) with a height of 45 m. The harmony resulting from the contrast between this stand-alone building and the surrounding volumes becomes the hallmark of the project. This discontinuity, in turn, generates the opportunity
to position the free-standing building as a gateway to the square. The tower becomes an integral part of the ensemble, while its receding frontage to the avenue mitigates its difference of height.

The overall identity of the block is nonetheless based on individualised smaller volumes with slight setbacks in relation to the street façade plan, accompanied by variations in material, colour and façade composition. Thus, the otherwise overriding image of a mega-block is dissolved and reconfigured as an ensemble of small-scale buildings that relate directly to Lisbon’s 18th– and 19th-century urban grid. This strategy preserves the spirit of the city while creating a public square, reinforced by the attractiveness of a retail area in the basement level of the square, with access both from Rua António Pedro and the square itself. Following the principle of the perimeter block as the dominant element, pedestrian access to the square is made through interstices created by strategically positioning the buildings in their respective corners. Sheltered from the noise of the avenue and gated by the receding tall building, the square functions as a condenser of social activity with an apt intimate scale and landscaping, in addition to a dynamic commercial ground-floor commercial space.

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Location: Avenida Almirante Reis, Lisbon, Portugal
Client: Fundo Sete Colinas
Scope of services: Architecture and landscape architecture
Project brief: Mixed-use programme with residential senior living, student accommodation, offices, retail and parking
Gross floor area: 39,700 sq. m (plus 21,000 sq. m underground parking)
Project status: 2018 (shortlisted competition, 3rd prize)
Rendering: 4+Arquitectos