Porto School of Architecture
200best ES
Álvaro Siza
1996
Type
University
Tags
learning environments, university campus , rethinking the modern city , 200Best
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The Faculty of architecture occupies a terraced site bounded by the accesses to the highway to the north and overlooking the Douro River estuary to the southwest. The walled estate of Quinta da Póvoa and Carlos Ramos pavilion form an eastern boundary of the site. The program, designed to serve 500 students, is organised in two wings of buildings forming a raised triangular campus. The continuous forms of the northern wing shield the site from the adjacent highway and include: administration spaces, auditoriums, a semi-circular exhibition gallery, and a library. The four freestanding pavilions of the southern wing contain ateliers and professors’ office on the ground floor. The positioning of these volumes creates varying openings to the river and its southern margin without disrupting the spatial density of the triangular campus. These volumes vary in height and are interconnected at the base by a longitudinal gallery set 3 meters below level open space. The two wings of buildings converge to the west forming the main entry to the School.The project includes the design of the roadway along the southern edge and landscaping of the whole site area. As the configuration of the spaces works with the existing terraced topography, minimum earth movement was required and extensive use made of the pre-existing stone walls and platforms. Small scale interventions articulate the relation between the Quinta da Póvoa and the new installations, leading the entry portal of Carlos Ramos Pavilion.(Description provided by Álvaro Siza)