Architects:Guilherme Machado Vaz

Area :256 m²

Year :2021

Photographs :José Campos

Collaborators : Inês Campo

Construction Firm : RBT - Eng. Edite

Steel Structure : PaviMetal - Eng. João Nuno Pais Costa

Project Promoter : Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos

City : Matosinhos

Country : Portugal

Manhufe Pavilion is located next to a set of three black (and red) buildings, located in a parking lot in Matosinhos (Porto) that we designed a few years ago.

Along with two of the existing buildings, it will be used to teach children the particularities of public and private space. Inside the pavilion, city streets and car circulation will be simulated so they can learn the basic rules - like crossing the street, understanding traffic signals, etc.

The aim was to have a eco friendly building that could take advantage of natural light and natural ventilation to reduce energy consumption. The shape of the building arises from that purpose.

The squared inverted step pyramid has been designed before by Edoardo Sianesi (Textile Pavilion, Milan, 1957) and Pezo von Elrichschausen (Casa Nida, Chile, 2015) (and probably more…). The ‘negative’ version of this shape can be found in many of India’s stepwells.

In this case, this shape was used because it generates façade shadowing for summer solar exposure and enables the appropriation of the inferior horizontal surface of the cantilever as a permanent transversal ventilation system.

The building has a concrete base (and foundation), that turns into a bench on the inside. A steel structure gives form to the inverted pyramid and it’s fixed to the concrete element. A translucent polycarbonate skin involves the steel skeleton and allows natural light to come inside.

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