Megalithic Museum | CVDB ARQUITECTOS

The Megalithic Museum is located at Mora’s urban centre, close to a future public park. The town and region, are well known for its archaeological findings. The museum intendeds to be a local and national reference and an important asset to the cultural regeneration of the town.

The old train station in Mora is an iconic building that is part of the town heritage. The building is deeply rooted in the long-lasting collective memory of Mora’ inhabitants and visitors. The project clarifies and enhances the architectural value of the existing buildings, in a gesture of careful refurbishment.

The museum complex integrates the old train station, its warehouse and two new buildings. The new buildings are the main exhibition area (West) and a cafeteria (East). The four buildings are connected through a continuous outdoor gallery that is located along the north side of the site. The gallery resembles the linearity of the old train station dock. The gallery is the element that conceptually unifies the project, solving the circulation and the relation between all the different programmes.

The main entrance is located at the old train station building as well as the library, IT room and administration areas. The warehouse was transformed into a multipurpose open space, being mainly an education workshop area. The design, materials and techniques used in the refurbishment process respect the character of the existing constructions.

The Metallic white panels that rap around the gallery space and the new buildings, were cut out with a geometrical pattern that is an interpretation of Megalithic iconography - a conceptual leitmotif - that aggregates the project and bring light into the space through the day. At night, the museum glows in the dark.

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CREDITS

TEAM
CVDB Arquitectos Associados com/with Tiago Filipe Santos

ARCHITECTURE - AUTHORSHIP & COORDINATION
Cristina Veríssimo
Diogo Burnay
Tiago Filipe Santos

ARCHITECTURE - COLLABORATION
Joana Barrelas
Rodolfo Reis
Eliza Borkowska
Elizabeta Vito
Hugo Nascimento
Ilaria Anselmi
Magdalena Czapluk

EXHIBITION PROJECT
P-06 Atelier e/and Site Specific Arquitectura
Project manager: Nuno Gusmão e/and Paulo Costa
Development: Pedro Anjos (design) e/and Simão Botelho (arquitectura)

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Bound, arquitectos paisagistas - Arq.ª Maria João Fonseca e/and Arq.º Armando Ferreira

MUSEOLOGY CONSULTANT
Prof.ª Dra. Leonor Rocha

ENGINEERING
Projectual

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Costa & Carvalho

LOCATION
Mora - Portugal

CLIENT
Mora Municipality

PROCEDURE
International Public Competition – 1st prize