Apartment Refurbishment in Lisbon, Portugal . 2021

Personal Project  -  Ongoing

Location / Area: Campo de Ourique, 187 m2

Antes e Depois

01 Varanda 02 Sala de Estar 03 Cozinha 04 Sala de Jantar 05 Corredor 06 Lavandaria / Arrumos 07 Casa de Banho 1 08 Casa de Banho 2 09 Quarto 1 10 Quarto 2 11 Antecâmera / Escritório 12 Closet 13 Suite de Casal

TV Interview about my work at Isay Weinfeld, SP, Brazil (RTP)

Program "Hora dos Portugueses", RTP1 + RTP Internacional / at minute 04:50

(Portuguese TV Chanels) , 14/03/2018

Link: www.rtp.pt/play/p4241/e335713/hora-dos-portugueses-diario

In February 2018 I was interviewed for the Portuguese TV program “Hora dos Portugueses” at Isay Weinfeld, “one of the best architecture offices in Brazil”. This program broadcasts successful stories about Portuguese expats living abroad. They were mainly interested about my experience working for this well-known Brazilian architecture practice, my personal role there and also my previous experiences of working for several architecture offices spread around the world. Check it out! ;)

Mixed Use Development in Vienna, Austria . 2017 > 2019

  Project done as collaborator of  Isay Weinfeld (São Paulo)

More images and design concept text coming soon

Hudson House, New York (Up State), USA . 2017

 Project done as collaborator of  Isay Weinfeld (São Paulo)

More images and design concept text coming soon

Beach Condominium “Las Carcavas”, Uruguay . 2016

Project done as collaborator of  Isay Weinfeld (São Paulo)

More images and design concept text coming soon

Building Refurbishment in Lapa, Lisbon, Portugal . 2016 > 2018

 Project done as collaborator of Isay Weinfled (São Paulo) . Under Construction

More images and design concept text coming soon

Residential Building "Varanda", Porto Alegre, Brazil . 2016

  Project done as collaborator of Isay Weinfeld (São Paulo) . Under Construction

More images and design concept text coming soon

Mixed Use Building "Paulistânia", São Paulo, Brazil . 2015

 Project done as collaborator of Isay Weinfeld (São Paulo)

One of the (many) previous options...

More images and design concept text coming soon

Shopping Mall & Bank HQ in Shymkent, Kazakhstan . 2014

Project done for Benoy Architects (London) . Built

The Cost Effective "Wow Factor"

Location, Scope & Challenges . Located in the Center of Shymkent, the third biggest city in Kazakhstan, this mixed-use project was integrated in a masterplan previously designed by some Turkish architects, formed by a shopping mall, a bank HQ, an office building and an on grade carpark, which was approved by our client and we had to take it on board as our starting point. Later on along the process our client changed his mind and the initial brief and “imposed” us another masterplan, which ditched the office building but kept all the other components. Our scope (concept & schematic design) was to design these 2 buildings, “refine” the masterplan and our biggest challenge was (once again) the client and his project manager, who gave us initially little “conceptual room to maneuver” and kept changing his mind, interfering in the design process with constant requests and impositions. It was clear by then that they didn’t quite new exactly what they wanted. As the project evolved and with time he eventually relaxed, learned to trust us and things went progressively on the right direction.

Retail Concept . Along with the masterplan the Turkish architects had come up with a retail scheme, which basically didn’t work since it forced a typical retail loop onto a very small footprint shopping mall. In alternative we proposed the mall circulation to be organized around one single atrium space and different size voids, which would change their shape all the way up, creating a dynamic an impressive space. In total the shopping mall would have 5 floors, 3 above the ground floor and 2 below. On the bottom floors it would be located an underground carpark and supermarket, on the ground floor the main anchors and events space and on the floors above, the cinemas, F&B area, foodcourt, landlord office space and a big “wedding type” restaurant.

Brief . Shymkent is an uncharacteristic Soviet looking city and around the site, basically a 7 m deep hole in the ground, the only interesting thing is the existence of a theatre across the main 40m wide adjacent street, which from time to time is closed and used as a public space. Our client wanted a “modern classic building with simple lines” (luckily not a post modern one), the construction to be “economical” (a “low cost” project) and at the same time the building to be “ the most impressive ever built in Shymkent in the past 20 years”… In short, he wanted a “Wow Factor” and spend as less money as possible, something obviously difficult to achieve, but not impossible.

Massing Concept . Consequently, this required from us a thoughtful, pragmatic and strategic conceptual approach. Our idea consisted in creating a welcoming, embracing shopping mall entrance by recessing and aligning it with the entrance of the theatre across the street, which defined a public plaza in front of the building, the “Shymkent Plaza”. We did something similar on the back entrance and manipulated the simple massing of the upper floors by sliding 3 of the 4 building corners along a planning grid, in order to increase the visibility of the shopping mall from the main street, resulting on series of impressive cantilevers and a terrace, which overlooks the plaza below. Finally, we pared up Bank HQ floors in order to get higher and closer to the shopping mall floor to floor heights and applied a similar massing concept, enhancing the impressiveness of the overall scheme.

Facade Concept . Concerning the facade concept, our strategy consisted in choosing “cost effective” cladding materials, which would not cost much but could potentially contribute for the desired “Wow Factor”, depending on detail and on the way they would be applied. Along these lines black powercoated perforated corrugated metal panels seemed to us like the ideal option, specially if white LED lights would be placed randomly behind them. At the same time we proposed all the cantilevers soffits to be cladded in golden perforated metal panels, which resulted in a striking contrast between vertical and horizontal surfaces. Internally we would follow similar principles and create a contrasting mainly white “industrial chick” retail environment. In the end, immediately after we presented the Concept Design document, the client just said: “There’s not one single thing in this project that I don’t like, which is very rare…”.

Inauguration on 09.12.2016

> See another interesting video (showing its construction): www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmmHgeF88z8

Residential Towers & Hotel in Woking, London, UK . 2013

Project done for Benoy Architects (London)

The Post-Rationalize Exercise

 

Location, Scope & Challenges . After I was transferred (on request) from Hong Kong to London this was the very first project I did for Benoy. It was a small exercise and, as requested by my Director, my task was to “audit”, help, post-rationalize and work on façade options for a scheme that was being done in the office, which had started almost a year before, a large scale an urban regeneration masterplan for the Woking town centre, a city located in the outskirts of London. This mixed-use masterplan was formed by landscaped areas, street retail, a shopping mall, low-rise and high-rise residential and a hotel. Specifically, I was supposed to work on these last 2 components.

Massing & Facade Concepts . When I came on board both massing and facade concepts were already (roughly) defined by my colleges, so what I did was simply to “fine tune” them and rationalize all structural and cladding elements in order to obtain a consistent and cohesive scheme, something that the project was somehow lacking. For the high-rise residential tower one of the options I proposed was a simple and restrained façade layout based on a square grid, formed by pre-cast concrete cladding elements and recessed glazed surfaces, in contrast with more sculptural and zigzagging balconies placed on the side elevations. For the hotel tower I proposed a more “striking” façade approach, based on a bar code layout, entirely cladded in solid and perforated aluminium golden panels… The project eventually evolved and in late 2014 it wan a prize for the Best Refurbishment / Extension (over £5 million) at BCSC Gold Awards 2014.

Sea Carnival - Street Shopping Mall in Qingdao, China . 2012

Project done for Benoy Architects (Hong Kong) . Under Construction

Build First (Re) Design Later *

* In China sometimes “western logic” is challenged and the right order of things gets a little twist. This project is a good example of it: even before we had time to draw the first line it had already started to be built on site…

The Starting Point . Located in the sea front of a satellite town of Qing Dao, a city located in the north of China, the starting point of this huge open air retail scheme was rather unusual. Our client had a previous project done by local Chinese architects based on a super kitsch and outdated mish mash of styles and preconceived images of old European architecture. It all went fine, construction got started but eventually one day the client changed his mind and put everything on hold... All over sudden he wanted to go in a completely different direction, this time for something “modern”. As retail specialists Benoy came on board… Just a couple of “minor details": 90% of the (previous design) structure was already built on site, the budget was tight and they wanted to restart building everything in 1 year... Welcome to China!

Existing Built Situation . The site comprises 250.000 sqm and is divided in two areas by an artificial water canal proposed by the previous architects. On the north side, we "inherited" the concrete skeleton of an organic small scale European lookalike village, strangely interesting, formed by 26 blocks of several sizes, configurations and lots of pitched roofs. On the south, half way built, the structure of a podium and 2 towers destiny to be in the future 2 Hotels and a Conference Center.

Architectural Concept . Due to the extreme project constrains we had to come up with a very pragmatic conceptual approach. We could not demolished everything so we rather took it as a massive “renovation project”... The goal, simple: to keep as much as possible of the existing structures, get rid of all the decorative elements already built, and recast all the facades according to contemporary architecture principles. In essence we brought the buildings back to its simple primary structure, simplified and retained its interesting skylines, namely the pitched roofs, and restarted from there. In order to test this approach and the client reaction to it we used the Block B, quite representative of the overall scheme, as our “concept sample block". We regroup the previous proposed small shops (6 m wide only) into bigger size units, applied a different material to each one of them according to a carefully chosen material pallet, extended its shop fronts and added in key locations parasite boxes and protruding elements that gave to its elevations a dynamic apparently random layout which, in fact, resulted from a rational subdivision of the grid lines into modules, resulting in a diverse kaleidoscope of facades and 13 types of material cladding… The client like it so we just applied the same principle to the remaining 25 blocks. In total we design more than 100 elevations for 70 different buildings... in 3 months.

Urban Concept . One of the best things about the existing built scheme was the chaotic randomness of its urban structure. As western architects, with rational minds, to design such a thing it would be very difficult, almost impossible. But, somehow, the previous Chinese architects were able to do it... In that sense our goal was just to enhance this rather awkward but interesting formal diversity, first with our architecture approach and second with the urban approach. We defined 4 different pedestrian routes according to the built hierarchized urban structure and we attributed to each one of them a different pavement material according to its function and the urban atmosphere that we wanted to create. For the main urban axis we proposed a “Shopping Boulevard” cladded in granite slabs, which connects 4 different squares with different functions: a “Welcome Square” - the arrival point, a “Central Square” - the meeting point, a “ Performance Square” - where all sorts of performances take place and a “Lookout Point” - for which we designed a special hybrid building, part building / par landscape, that allows people to enjoy the privileged setting and sea view. For the narrower secondary urban axis we proposed a more intimistic “F&B Street” cladded in cobblestone, along the water canal a series of areas for tables and chairs paved in wood deck and for the north side a “Linear Park”, which works as a buffer zone between the scheme and the adjacent highway. In detail, as special features, along the main shopping street we proposed a water stream, several fountains and crisscrossing linear LED lights on the pavement which link several iconic elements, main entrances and help people to navigate through the area.



Material Palete Concept . The carefully chosen material palete aimed for a balance and contrast between cold and warm materials. The roughness of the materials chosen took into consideration both conceptual and financial aspects and a minimalistic architecture approach, giving to the overall scheme its seaside semi-industrial modern atmosphere. In that sense warm materials like corten steel, red brick and wood were extremely important to this scheme and balanced the coldness of materials like aluminium, glass and metal meshes.

And the Outcome . This project restarted to be built in the beginning of 2013. Everything now is in the hands of the LDI (“Local Design Institute”), the Chinese local architects, and of the contractor. Our scope was just until Detail Design (DD) so we just can hope for the best and that people come here to shop around… In an extreme consumist society like the Chinese has become I guess it shouldn’t be too difficult…

Article about my experience in Hong Kong

Published in "P3 / Publico" (Portuguese newspaper), 12/08/2012

Link: http://p3.publico.pt/node/4148

On the last 12th of August an article was written in a Portuguese newspaper about a Portuguese architect living in Hong Kong (me)... This article is part of a series called "Noticias do Lado de Lá" ("News From the Other Side") and its about young portuguese nationals living abroad... Check it out (sorry, some of you will have to google translate it).

Competition for the New Macau Port Authority Building and Surrounding Area, Macau (China) . 2011

Project done for AETEC-Mo Arquitectura  -  1st Prize

Localização: Macau, China   /   Projecto: 2011

1 . CONCEITO URBANO

Esta proposta assentou em princípios de sustentabilidade ecológica e financeira ao procurar aproveitar, potenciar e integrar determinadas construções e estruturas verdes já existentes, nomeadamente o actual edifício da cantina, o muro do antigo reservatório, o «mega talude» em cimento projectado e a área arborizada localizada na Colina da Penha, para que, sem grandes alterações da morfologia do terreno, profundo respeito pelo património, com pouco impacto na paisagem e numa perspectiva de mimetização com a mesma, se produzisse um espaço publico de ambiência «Zen» que respondesse, entre outros, aos objectivos apresentados no programa de concurso, nomeadamente a valorização patrimonial do Quartel dos Mouros e a transformação desta área numa «rotula» de ligação pedonal entre os 3 pontos turísticos de interesse histórico situados na sua envolvente imediata: o Largo do Lilau / Casa do Mandarim, a Igreja da Penha e o Templo de A-Ma.

2 . CONCEITO ARQUITÉCTONICO

A ideia base para a concepção do Novo Edifício da Capitania do Portos consistiu na criação de um objecto arquitectónico de baixa volumetria, mimetizado no terreno e que menor impacto produzisse na paisagem e actuais características do local, valorizado sobretudo pela presença de uma densa e envolvente massa arbórea. Nestas circunstâncias a abordagem a este conceito teve como pressupostos:

- O aproveitamento e Integração das Construções Existentes, nomeadamente dos muros de contenção do antigo reservatório e do actual edifício da cantina

- A construção de um 1º piso até à cota do topo dos muros existentes e prolongamento da área ajardinada até à respectiva cobertura, acessivel através de uma escadaria monumental

- A valorização e integração na proposta do antigo muro do reservatório com a construção contigua de 2 pátios, incluindo espelhos e queda de água, que remetem para a memória da antiga função desta estrutura, aproveitamento do mesmo para marcação da entrada principal do edifício e construção de um bar com esplanada na cobertura ajardinada acima mencionada

- A construção de 2 pisos sobrelevados na «área de intervenção E» por forma a permitir a fluidez da circulação pedonal e o acesso através desta área à Igreja da Penha e ao templo de A-Ma

- A construção de uma 3ª cobertura ajardinada, destinada somente aos funcionários do novo edifício para vislumbre da vista panorâmica em direcção ao Porto Interior

Online Publishing Links:

Ponto Final (23.05.11)  »  www.pontofinalmacau.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/cinco-ideias-para-o-quartel-dos-mouros

Jornal Tribuna de Macau (23.05..11)  »  www.jtm.com.mo/view.asp?dT=375703003