{"id":47832,"date":"2014-06-08T18:31:04","date_gmt":"2014-06-08T16:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.area-arch.it\/en\/porto-builtvoids-cafe-do-cais\/"},"modified":"2017-10-25T11:43:05","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T09:43:05","slug":"porto-builtvoids-cafe-do-cais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.area-arch.it\/en\/porto-builtvoids-cafe-do-cais\/","title":{"rendered":"Porto built\/voids – Caf\u00e9 do Cais"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caf\u00e9 do Cais sits on the right margin of the Douro river in the Ribeira district of Oporto. It pretends to continue the logic of those provisional elements – Kiosks on the street side and boats anchored in the quays – that are constant in this river neighbourhood. The notion of precariousness is accentuated by the way the pavilion sits on the pavement: a raised pre-fabricated platform of 40×10 not only limits but levels the intervention with the pavilion also gently floating on it. The building – a glass and steel pavilion \u2013 is protruded on its northern facade by two boxes, as autonomous as abstract \u2013 sits on this platform. These boxes, with a slate facia finish, contain the service areas for the bar, evoking \u2013 by their dimension \u2013 the neighbouring kiosks. Given its size the effects of transparency and reflection allow the building to \u201cdisappear\u201d, thus minimizing the size of the pavilion. As a couterpoint to its strong environmental historical weight, the building allows for both omission and absence, like the materials and the way they are used, such as in the detailing of the corner situation that allow \u2013 once open \u2013 their \u201cdisappearence\u201d. Seen from the south the building almost fades away behind a large canvas canopy itself hiding the roof slab. The provisional character of this building and the proximity to the river made us use the nautical vocabulary on the system of canvas for the deck: masts, ironmongery, the logic of the trimming of sails were consistently tried in the construction of this canvas canopy.<\/p>\n