Sensing history: a historic house on the site of a convent has been sensitively transformed into a library and archive.The Casa de Cerca forms part of the historical centre of Amarante, a pretty riverside town to the east of Oporto, dominated by the monastery (and the memory) of Sao Goncalo São Gon·ça·lo A city of southeast Brazil, an industrial suburb on Guanabara Bay opposite Rio de Janeiro. Population: 952,000. Noun 1. . It occupies a site roughly corresponding to the former fourteenth-century convent of Santa Clara Convent of Santa Clara of Vila do Conde, was one of the biggest and richest feminine convents in Portugal, founded in 1318, by Afonso Sanches and his wife, Teresa Martins. , which was largely destroyed by fire during the Napoleonic invasion of 1809. Subsequently, it was demolished de·mol·ish tr.v. de·mol·ished, de·mol·ish·ing, de·mol·ish·es 1. To tear down completely; raze. 2. To do away with completely; put an end to. 3. and transformed into a private house, the Casa de Cerca, for a wealthy local landlord, leaving only a ruined side chapel and a walled enclosure as the remaining vestiges of the original convent. The site and its structures were eventually acquired by Amarante City Council with a view to renovating the ensemble to house a municipal library and archive. It also provided a chance to undertake an ongoing programme of historical and archaeological investigation that helped to inform and inspire the remodelling of the original ensemble of buildings. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The young partnership of Antonio Portugal & Manuel Maria Reis won a limited competition for a refurbishment re·fur·bish tr.v. re·fur·bished, re·fur·bish·ing, re·fur·bish·es To make clean, bright, or fresh again; renovate. re·fur scheme. Both are graduates of the Oporto architectural school and have been in practice in the city together since 1990. Their response is modest and tactful tact·ful adj. Possessing or exhibiting tact; considerate and discreet: a tactful person; a tactful remark. tact , introducing a series of understated interior interventions that let history speak for itself, but also enable the Casa de Cerca to make the challenging transition from neglected historical carcass carcass, carcase 1. the body of an animal killed for meat. The head, the legs below the knees and hocks, the tail, the skin and most of the viscera are removed. The kidneys are left in and in most instances the body is split down the middle through the sternum and the vertebral to working public building. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Casa itself consisted of two principal elements. A stumpy three-storey tower is connected to a two-storey elongated e·lon·gate tr. & intr.v. e·lon·gat·ed, e·lon·gat·ing, e·lon·gates To make or grow longer. adj. or elongated 1. Made longer; extended. 2. Having more length than width; slender. wing that runs parallel to the street and is contained by the sloping site. Historically, lower levels were given over to storage and animals, with an upper piano nobile piano nobile (Italian: “noble floor”) In a Renaissance building, the first floor above ground level. In the typical palace erected by an Italian prince, the large, high-ceilinged reception rooms were in this upper, main story. floor used for entertaining. Portugal & Reis's new scheme places the library on the lower levels and part of the upper floor, which now also contains the smaller archive department. Storage is relegated to blind volumes partially dug into the surrounding hill. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tower and wing are connected and articulated by a hinge point of vertical circulation, with a lift placed outside the building to minimize structural intrusion. The main entrance is now on the ground floor of the tower, at the east end of the building, through what was originally a portal of the convent church (a discovery made during the course of the archaeological investigations). From here, visitors can access the various public areas on the upper levels. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The historical formal and material contrast between lower and upper floors is maintained in the refurbishment, with simple whitewashed granite walls and concrete paving at lower level set against the more refined language of plastered plas·tered adj. Slang Intoxicated; drunk. plastered Adjective Slang drunk Adj. 1. walls, stuccoed ceilings and pine flooring of the piano nobile. Great care was taken to impinge im·pinge v. im·pinged, im·ping·ing, im·ping·es v.intr. 1. To collide or strike: Sound waves impinge on the eardrum. 2. as lightly as possible on the fabric of the building. Concrete panels lining the walls, for instance, are attached to a steel frame screwed into the original stone, which allows for easy dismantling should the need arise. New staircases are functional steel structures with timber treads, and partitions simple free-standing panels of translucent glass. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Underpinning the reworking is a spirit of intelligent enquiry that reveals the complexities of the past so that they may sustain and enrich the present. Portugal & Reis cite a quotation by Belgian historian and writer Marguerite Yourcenar Marguerite Yourcenar was the pseudonym of French novelist Marguerite Cleenewerck de Crayencour (June 8, 1903 - December 17, 1987). Her first novel Alexis was published in 1929. , which seems apt. To rebuild 'is to work with time in its past guise; to apprehend or modify its spirit, to act as change for a longer future; it is to discover under the stones the secret of origins'. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Architect Antonio Portugal & Manuel Maria Reis, Oporto Photographs Luis Ferreira Alves |
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