Municipal Museum of Portimão - architects Isabel Aires and José Cid + Atelier 33
The Municipal Museum of Portimão is located in the former Feu Hermanos cannery, an early 20th century industrial building that was completely renovated and expanded as such.The museum is located on the Arade river and consists of exhibition spaces, a documentation center, an auditorium and a bar-restaurant.The Municipal Museum of Portimão has been awarded the prizes 'Best Museum of the Council of Europe 2010', 'DASA – World of Work Award 2011' and 'Turismo de Portugal 2009' and an honorable mention in the category 'Best Portuguese Museum', awarded in 2008 by the Portuguese Society of Museology.Construction owner: Municipality of PortimãoCompetition date: 1999Design date: 2003Construction date: 2008Area: 5,000 m2Construction costs: €10,000,000Team: Architecture Isabel Aires and José Cid Arquitectos / Atelier 33
Sculptures by International artists
These sculptures by international artists were made during the Symposium Internacional de Escultura. This symposium takes place every 2 years, where international artists are invited to make a natural stone sculpture on site on the quay of the river.The new works of art will then be added to the existing series of sculptures that embellish the quay. Last year (2024) was the 3rd editions.
Portimão Judicial Court
This pink and introverted court building is a contemporary striking building in Avenida Miguel Bombarda, the main access road to the city center where the necessary "facility buildings" are located such as the police station, the library, the auditorium (closed), sports facilities and cinemas.In the 1960s a chic avenue with all the grand houses of the city's notables. Most now converted into office facilities. (Photo 2.)
Jaime Dias-house - architect António Vicente de Castro - 1961
In 1961 António Vicente de Castro built the Jaime Dias House, using lattices, terraces,vertical laminar elements and a feature, which according to his daughter Luísa de Castro is common in several of his works, on the ground floor the use of color or different materials, which can create a contrast between the different elements of the home, making the forward and backward jumping more apparent. The building consists of three floors, with the ground floor intended for the common areas, living room, kitchen, sanitary installation, service area and bar area. The importance that Vicente de Castro attaches to outdoor spaces is visible in the plan, which creates uneven levels and different places to stay and there is always a relationship with the interior space of the house, even if only visually.The main entrance is located on the east facade, and one must walk around the building to enter through the garden and a large terrace, which is connected to the living room, in this room a bar has been installed, with a sanitary installation and a dining room. As usual, there is a service area with kitchen, laundry room, bedroom and private access.On the upper floor there are four bedrooms with bathrooms, two of which have their own balcony. As can be seen in the image, in this project Vicente de Castro has again used the typical 'verandas', with a play of jumping forward and falling back, the use of pergolas and vertical laminar elements that allow a play of light and shadow to make. As a material choice, he chose terrazzo to create a contrast between the floors.According to Luísa de Castro, the architect thought carefully about all the elements related to the project, he left nothing to chance, he thought and designed the outdoor space, the garden, the ponds, paths, decorative elements, and the materialb, but he also thought about the interior, of stairs, with their shields, designs with tiles, elements on balconies, benches, tables, bars. He designed unique pieces for each project. Most of his works have been totally modified, as a result of changes made by their owners over the years, in an attempt to meet new usage requirements, but with the characteristic elements of the 'modern movement' being completely altered, or sometimes even disappeared completely.“The architectural legacy is characterized by buildings adapted to the prevailing urban planning and which favor detached buildings, favorably located on the sun and integrated into green spaces, separating vehicular traffic from pedestrian traffic; buildings in simple geometric shapes, with modulated elements, built with concrete, steel and glass. In his projects, Vicente de Castro demonstrates a clear and distinct decorative and polychromatic tendency, through the use of opaque materials with colors and textures, creating intense and vivid chromatic contrasts using colored glass ceramics, applying colors to Cobogos or grids, or the simple use of painted stucco”
Quinta do Malheiro - Casa Cordeiro - architect António Vicente de Castro - 1955
In 1955 he built a house in Portimão at Quinta do Malheiro, Casa Cordeiro, for the client Jaime Dias Cordeiro. This project, completely integratedinto the urban fabric of the city on a wide avenue, consists of a single-family house, spread over three floors (basement , ground floor and first floor), with a roof terrace. The program consists of: a basement with storage room and garage; a ground floor with communal and service areas, living and dining room, kitchen and utility room with access to the outside and sanitary facilities. On the top floor 4 bedrooms with a bathroom. The roof terrace has a canope (shade roof) as an open concrete pergola (see photo), resting on concrete columns and a set of V-shaped metal pillars.Vicente de Castro tried to create some dynamism in the facade, through protruding and receding surfaces, linked to the interior spaces and the use of “box balconies” popular in international modernism. Of the external sun protection elements, the concrete pergolas - which define the outdoor areas of the entrance and the roof - are particularly striking. The facades were given color by cladding some of the walls on the outside with tiles in natural tones.“This theory of balconies, which we can perhaps trace back to post-war Latin American and Brazilian architecture, normally contains - in its search for forms of climate and thermal control in collective housing, within the 'LeCorbusian' influence - three types of elements : * 1. The veranda itself, protruding approximately 1 meter from the facade, protected by a masonry parapet consisting of a grid of modulated industrial blocks, which conceal or shade part of the terraced space. * 2. 'loose beams', horizontal, in concrete, which function as a 'sunshade' or 'brise-soleil' in the upper part of the span, and also as a modulation line for the geometry of each balcony box. * 3. Vicente de Castro uses the features of 'free forms' typical of the design of the time, for example by drawing irregular curved surfaces and voids in false ceilings of building atriums, or marking the facades of buildings through indentations, using color.
Casa Bragança - architect António Vicente de Castro - 1959
In 1959, Casa Bragança appeared, a building with a very simple volume, without great excesses in shape or decoration, with only one floor, the distinguishing element being that instead of the usual flat roof, a butterfly roof was used. Inside the building, the layout is quite simple: according to Luísa de Castro - the architect's daughter who also is an architect and manages his archive - the concept of this project was a kind of pavilion, like the Barcelona Pavilion (1) from 1929. walls would demarcate the house, but within the horizontal planes they would only demarcate certain areas but never completely enclose them.Access is via the east facade, the vestibule divides the house into two zones, shared use/services and private. In the private area there are three bedrooms and a bathroom, which are located on the south facade and overlook the garden. The common area contains the dining room, living room, kitchen with utility room and the maid's bedroom and toilet, as was common at that time. Including access to the outside, which means there are two separate entrances, a shared entrance and a service entrance. As with all his projects, António Vicente de Castro also conceived and designed the entire outdoor space, creating paths and green spaces in two areas, to the south and to the north.(1) The Barcelona Pavilion was designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), with the aim of being the German National Pavilion for the International Exhibition of Barcelona, held in Montjuïc in 1929. The pavilion was demolished at the end of the fair, but due to its importance the Mies van der Rohe Foundation commissioned its reconstruction, on the same site in the 1980s.
Park - Jardim das Águas Livres
Located next to the Municipal Auditorium of Portimão, this garden is the ideal place to rest and rest in the shade. With an extensive lawn and different types of vegetation and trees (several palm trees). There are several lakes with waterfalls, very nice in the hot days of the Algarve. There is a cafe and a place where people play petanque.
Police station - Polícia Segurança Pública de Portimão
PSP police station from 1992 that recently completely has been renovated and given a new fresh blue/white color scheme. Building complex with interesting spatial design in the facades and volumes with a striking round stairwell with refined cuts for daylight entry.Varied building with modernist and post-modernist (the arches) influences, sometimes reminiscent of buildings by the American architect Louis Kahn.
Multifunctionel social center (CASP) - architect António Vicente de Castro
The preliminary design for the CASP in Portimão from 1956 by architect António Vicente de Castro had as its program: a crèche for 60 children between 18 months and 3 years old; a Center for Mother and Child Care; a Social Intelligence Service; a Family Assistance Center and a girls' shelter. The final draft of the CASP in Portimão was submitted in 1957. According to the architect (1956), the land was located next to the main industrial area of the city, on a plot with a steep slope to the north, divided into three levels, which determined the location of the building. To save on earth moving, the solution chosen was to lower the main building and center section and use the resulting height difference as a basis for the architectural composition, organized in two blocks connected by an external covered ramp.The first block, in the north, is divided into two floors. The main access is via a street on the north side of the plot, which runs partly along the building to the entrance of the block where the route splits to the ground floor, with a covered outdoor atrium that formed the transition between the high and lower block. On the upper floor, access is via a covered outdoor gallery that runs over the entire south facade. The laboratory block, located to the south, is accessed via a street on the western edge of the plot. The transition between the outside and inside of this block is made by a covered outside gallery that runs along the south and west facades.Already in the preliminary design, the architect points out that to guarantee the convenience and comfort of children and users, height differences would be bridged by "ramps", with the exception of access to technical areas (basement and service terrace) which are via a staircase realised. The orientation and sun protection of the living spaces is also one of the architect's concerns, which is why they have a shaded outdoor gallery that also serves as an outdoor playground.These spaces were oriented to the south, with the exception of the refectory space, which, due to its orientation to the west, had a greater distance from the boundaries of the outer gallery. Open masonry, or cobogós, wooden lattices and vertical concrete slabs were also used as exterior sun protection and facade composition elements. As a ventilation system, high spans were planned next to the slab with fixed or mobile grilles that promoted cross ventilation and soft light.In the description of the building, the architect refers to the main materials representative of the tradition of the Algarve, including the wooden grilles, the walls covered with colored ceramic tiles and the whitewashed surfaces. The architect adds that although the main finish of the walls are whitewashed, the recessed surfaces that framed the spans "could be given color, so stimulating to the sensitivity of children", which, on the other hand, would enhance the white of the remaining surfaces, in comparison to what "happens in the fields and villages of the Algarve where the whitewashed colors look more vibrant when framed with colored bands".Current project status (CASP) PortimãoWith the increase in population and the evolution of local needs, the demand for childcare provided by Lar da Criança in Portimão grew. In 1983, when the Portimão Health Center released the facilities it had, the LCP occupied the entire building and added the activity and leisure center to the nurseryTo meet the institution's growing need for space, in 1997 the project for the expansion of the CASP in Portimão was designed by the architect António Vicente de Castro in collaboration with his daughter, the architect Maria Luísa Avelar de Castro. The project consisted of creating a new block, to the south of the plot, rising from the pavement, supported by concrete posts, creating a large covered outdoor play area on the ground floor and interior spaces for rooms on the upper floor. This block was connected to that of the nursery by two sets of ramps, located at the ends of the external covered gallery to the south of it.The CASP in Portimão has been the target of numerous clandestine expansion works to date, almost completely taking over the free land to the east of the Crèche block. In August 2017, the CASP of Portimão was proposed by Docomomo for the classification of "monument of general interest". In March 2018, the announcement regarding the opening of the property classification procedure was made. However, in September of the same year, the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Loulé stopped the classification process and upheld the objection filed by the institution's management, arguing that the interests of the children outweighed the defense of the building.
Vista Rio Building - architect António Vicente de Castro
Apartment block with shops on the ground floor, offices on the platform by architect António Vicente de Castro.
New Modernist building / shop
Sleek minimalist new interpretation of a building in concrete and glass at the Praça de República. Shop with ?. Architect unknown.
JL Branco building - architect António Vicente de Castro 1958
Modernist building from architect António Vicente de Castro with apartments and commercial spaces located between the main church and an elegant art deco building.
Jesuit College
In 1660, on the initiative of the nobleman Diogo Gonçalves, construction began on the Jesuit College building, in Praça da República, which would only be inaugurated in 1707.After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1757, the Camilos friars administered the College between 1780 and 1834, the date of the extinction of religious orders, later hosting various public services, and it is currently the headquarters of the Parish Council of Portimão, the Painting Museum Diogo Gonçalves or the Lar de Dia of the Portimão Elderly Support Center.It presents a unitary composition on its facade, from which the high-ceilinged Church stands out in the center and on the sides, the lower bodies of the old school with oblique finishes.
Portimão Shading Structure / Architects - Atelier Cais - 2016
From the existing plot - before the Mercado da Fruta (Market Hall) 1914/90 - there was a sunny playground with two paved grounds and several playground equipments. The project had the main goal of qualifying the playground, by offering a significant area of shade, so essential to the permanence of both children and parents in the park during summer months.The shading structure is developed in the longitudinal direction of the square and is composed by 8 gantries, in which between it is fixed a micro-perforated screen. The colors used, white and terracotta, are the predominant colors of the landmark buildings of the surrounding.©ArchDaily & © Francisco Nogueira
Casa Santos Junior - Architect António Vicente de Castro - 1955
Elegant modernist townhouse desgined by architect António Vicente de Castro for of a businessman who returned from Congo (Africa) for his family, his driver and his servants.
Gaspar Building - 'Portuguese Suave" apartment block - 1952
This building complex was one of the most important urban planning revolutions in Portimão in 1952. That year, industrialist Manuel Gaspar Patrocínio decided in Rua de Olivença to build the city's first apartment block, which is still known as 'Gaspar's Building'.The building surprised the population of Porto by its large volume, with a front of more than 50 meters and three floors high, with five autonomous access doors, three at the front on Rua de Olivença and two on the side of the building, one at the Rua Mouzinho de Albuquerque and the other at the Travessa de Olivença.It also introduced a new concept for organizing the buildings in the city, dividing the building into apartments, a novelty that was quickly repeated in the adjacent streets.The 'Gaspar Building' still retains the original "Portuguese Suave" architecture, which still marks part of the center of Portimão.It has all the typical features of this style, such as: the consoles on balconies and as decoration under the water mouldings, abstracted decorations above window openings, protruding frames of the windows and a "tower" on the corner as an urban marker.
Three different architectural styles with a colorful building in the middle.
Three buildings that all represent a 'modernist style'. From 'sleek minimalist' to traditional/modern with Cobogo (open building blocks) with 'Brazilian cheerfulness' in sparkling colors in the middle..
Building of: Associação De Reinserção Social
Special corner building in traditional / modernist style as an urban attention marker with interesting details in the use of the various balconies ant the mainentrance.
Beto Fitness Club & Apartments
Modernistic 1960's building that is said to have been designed by one of the former employees of architect António Vicente de Castro. Surprising roof structure with canopy and raised ground floor with mezzanine and ramp.
Typical 1950s/60s shop
Typical 1950s/60s shop with a separate separate display window and special design of the entrance door to apartments above.
J.Alvo Building - Shop & Apartments - architect António Vicente de Castro
Modernistic building designed by architect António Vicente de Castro.
Meinke Flesseman Art Gallery & Casa Melchior
Here at the intersection where one of Portimão's oldest streets meets the shopping street, an art enclave is blossoming through the establishment of three art galleries next to each other: Lady in Red, Sphinx and Meinke Flesseman Art Gallery Meinke Flesseman about the building of her Art Gallery & Casa Melchior“I fell in love with this place,” Meinke said. “It was big, and spooky, and had all the space I wanted. My imagination ran wild.”Meinke eventually moved from Olhão to Portimão to buy the house with a unique concept in mind. She was looking for a space where she could both live and show her work. And after she found it, she was able to completely renovate it.“The house was owned for decades by a charismatic family from Portimão, and it was clear to me that I wanted to honor that idea of chic and heritage, but with a twist. My twist.” The previous owners built it with high-quality materials, so it was a precious opportunity to preserve as many details of the original project as possible, which makes it so special.The building is now divided into four main areas. The art gallery, Meinke's house, her studio and Casa Melchior which is divided into two independent units, for larger or smaller groups. Then you have the outdoor areas and the parking lot. In the future, she plans to build a swimming pool, design a beautiful garden.The two-storey building, which functions as an art gallery on the ground floor, has two charming apartments on the first floor, rented separately as holiday homes (Alojamento Local or AL). Decorated with her paintings and artwork, both aim to convey a sense of well-being and tranquility.One apartment has four bedrooms, with a north-facing terrace and garden views, and the other has six, with two suites on the spacious south-facing terrace. Both have ample common areas and a fully equipped kitchen.To visit the atelier: R. Infante D. Henrique, 124, 8500-692 PortimãoBy appointment. Please call me on 00351 917937564 - www.meinke-flesseman.com
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