area 109 | art and architecture

architect: Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus

location: Cascais, Portugal

year: 2007

Stuck between land and water, along a strip of terrain under permanent change as times went by, human intervention has grounded its most varied settlements. From the 17th Century onwards the amassing of different plans for this place, the material and technological resources employed on each epoch and the convenience of the granted heritage concur to a series of conversions and extensions. Nevertheless the locale features architectonic units of unequivocal reading, disposed according to organizational principles still quite clear. The adulteration and decay of some of its parts is the outcome of a process of natural selection the project seeks to revert to its benefit. Singling out the elements of greater permanence and poetic value, the proposal rebuilds with them and from them a founding order, encapsulating the memory of the elapsed time allowing for its new usage as a museum of the lighthouse.

Francisco Xavier de Aires Mateus was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1964 and graduates as an architect F.A./U.T.L., Lisbon Portugal in 1987. Collaboration with architect Gonçalo Byrne since 1983. Collaboration with architect Manuel Aires Mateus since 1988. Manuel Rocha de Aires Mateus was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1963 and graduates as an architect in F.A./U.T.L., Lisbon Portugal in 1986. Collaboration with architect Gonçalo Byrne since 1983. Collaboration with architect Francisco Aires Mateus since 1988.