Architects: Samuel Ruiz Torres de Carvalho, Pedro Palmero Cabezas, architects
Location: Monte da Caparica, Almada, Portugal
Project Team: João Caetano, Xana Gavancha, Catarina Faria, Paulo Valente, Susana Medeiros, Sofia Afonso, Elise Azemard, Ricardo Alves
Landscape: PROAP, João Nunes, Carlos Ribas, architects
Structure: PPE, Eng. Eduardo Freitas
Acoustics: APEN, Eng. João Gonçalves, Eng. Horácio Carvalho
Construction: OMEP, Obras, Medições e Projectos, Lda
Project Area: 3,210 sqm
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

 

The building houses an incubator for technology based companies and is located at Monte da Caparica, Almada.

The form of the building results from a process in which the built mass is moulded and subtracted in response to the irregularity of the plot and the different functional requirements. This dissolution of the volume blurs the limit between exterior and interior, rooting the construction to the soil.

The plot has two opposite street fronts, with a difference in levels of one floor. Connecting these street fronts a large lobby with a monumental staircase crosses the building. This space has a somewhat public character and constitutes a place of informal encounter for the occupants.

Walking through the building, visual perspectives unfold, relating different spaces, interior and exterior, public and private, sometimes crossing different floors.

The working spaces are very different from each other in their form and relation with the outside, breaking the stereotyped idea of an office building.