MOURA, PORTUGAL 2010-2014 (1st stage) 2018-2019 (2nd stage)

The proposal to occupy the former slaughterhouse with a museum outlooks, in itself, a radical transformation of values. Spaces thought from a functional point of view must now be reconsidered as a medium for reading history and geography, told from the countless archaeological remains of the Museum collection. It is proposed to return to the existing structure, the stark and essential character that defines the ‘factory’ set, subtracting partition walls and ornaments added over the course of time. Retaking its original simplicity as intrinsic value of the structure. Subtraction that we understand as design process, as construction of space. From the dismantlings result elements marked by the history of the place, which we propose to reuse in the construction of the museum.

The existing porch, laid bare by the analysing of the construction, opened to the North courtyard, the two covered passageways between the various outdoor spaces and even the recent sheeted roof that we propose to dismantle, are all the result of the same cause: the need, in this climate, to look for spaces sheltered from the intense sun in the summer, or the frost in the winter. With the assumption of implementing here a museum, organizing public strolls and work conditions for the technicians, but also to preserve the integrity of the pieces collected, this need presented as the major factor in the resolution of the project. The various buildings of the former Slaughterhouse, isolated from the function that related them, were presented disjointed, with no bond tying them together.