LISBON, PORTUGAL 2014
An abstract monolith with 20 x 45 x 63.5 m rests on the horizontal plane of the new square - garden, which follows the rise of the final section of Avenida 5 October , now redesigned on the shape of a rectangular block , reinventing " neutral and open to the urban mesh " plan of Lisbon new Avenues of Frederico Ressano Garcia. The elementary prismatic volume and the apparent simplicity of the design of the façade give the building an affirmative neutrality while able to relate to the diversity of genres and scales that characterize the other buildings of the place , and yet distinguishing them.
The black color enhances the abstract nature and is , as in other areas , that best conveys a certain understated elegance that we want to emphasize here. Rather than add a texture or other design in the city , we became interested in the possibility of a very simple and effective organization's extensive functional program volume , and only due to a certain proportion , the absence of a certain color, can be ultimately just so , a correct solution 20 x 63.5 x 45. On the boulevard, the black volume goes down to find the perpendicular plane of the thickness of the square and is suspended a few meters from the promenade dimension, revealing the bright windows of new stores. The basis of this set is empty light.
The black works as a background, a frame of slate where it writes, for example, in white letters, the poem ' Lisboa ' Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. On the square in white Lios stone (to emphasize again Lisboa) we plant lilac jacaranda trees and green palms and pines, a reclaimed exotic fancy but distinctive ambience of the gardens of the former Hotel Aviz, one of the most emblematic hotels in Lisbon, arise next block , now occupied by the Sheraton hotel.