The prize-winning projects
PAULO DAVIDPiscinas do Atlantico
Madeira, Portugal, 2005Motivation of the Jury:
David's project uses lava stone, a traditional building material on the island of Madeira, and achieves an intimate bond with the intense Atlantic landscape ensuring seamless continuity and agreement with his previous work, Casa das Mudas, also built using the same stone.
The architecture - a huge, open-air stone “room” overlooking the ocean - blends with the morphology of the site by remodelling and connecting it through new courses to the urban space and the landscape of the island.
Description:
The project involves an area partly occupied by a small fish conservation industry products and in part used to make salt.
An imposing wall in lava stone outlines the perimeter of the salt fields and creates continuity with the series of paths flanking the sea (Camino de Trincheira), ensuring a significant contect for the site.
A concrete platform with a precise geometry interacts with the sea by providing a barrier and highlightng the irregularities of the coastline. Higher up, the restaurant building counter-poises the horizontal nature of the thick wall.
The panoramic views offered through narrow slits seem to welcome the sea into the “large open-air room” by creating an intense relationship between interiors and exteriors and amplifying the view over the Atlantic.
Stone materials used:
basalt stone
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