Architecture tour around the Beiras #1 CCCCB by Mateo Architecture

Lisboa Architecture Walks & Trips has been touring around Portugal’s central mountain range, in the region of Beiras.

The first stop was in Castelo Branco, to visit the Centro de Cultura Contemporânea de Castelo Branco - CCCB, by the Catalan office Mateo Architecture (architect Josep Luis Mateo).

The project is part of a large urban scale intervention which ended in 2013. It had the aim to create a cultural urban centre within the old city. The intervention comprised the redevelopment of the Praça Largo da Devesa, with the redesign of the public space and the construction of underground parking lots, the new municipal library and the CCCCB. The whole project was designed by Josep Luis Mateo with the collaboration of the Portuguese office Reis Figueiredo – Arquitectos da Beira (architect Carlos Reis Figueiredo).

The CCCCB is an imposing building occupying a central position on the whole intervention. It completely reshapes the function and the image of the site as well as the bordering urban setting. The building is structured in two big pillars supporting a “flashy” zinc-clad reinforced concrete volume topping the transitional public area between the library square and a park. The central body develops in two levels, comprises the main exhibition gallery and the auditoriums, and is ripped all around its perimeter by large horizontal windows providing fantastic views towards the surrounding old town.

General Project: Mateo Architecture (architect Josep Luis Mateo), collaboration of Reis Figueiredo – Arquitectos da Beira (architect Carlos Reis Figueiredo).

Date: 2012 - 2013

Construction area: 4.300 m2

Location: Castelo Branco, Portugal

Photos and post credits: Lisboa Architecture Walks & Trips

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