Palácio do Bolhão
José Gigante | Porto
Location
Rua Formosa 342/346, Porto
Preexistence
19th Century AD
Dates
1999-2015
Authorship
José Gigante, João Gomes, M. Fernando Santos
Client
Academia Contemporânea do Espectáculo / Teatro do Bolhão
Funding
On2, Municipal Council of Porto, Ministry of Culture
Original use
Manor house
New use
Theatre and performing arts school
Collaboration
João Gomes, M. Fernando Santos
Technical consultancy
Póvoas & Associados, engenheiros Lda (structures)
Vasco Peixoto de Freitas (water and sewage installations)
Prof. Eng. Vasco Peixoto de Freitas, Lda (acoustics)
Paulo Queirós Faria, engenheiros consultores Lda (mechanical installations)
Eng. Rodrigues Gomes & Associados
RG4E, consultoria e serviços de engenharia, Lda (electrical installations and safety)
Contractor firms
3M2P - Construção e Reabilitação de Edifícios, Lda, J. Prado Correia & Ca, Orlas Conservação e Restauro
Bolhão Palace, a listed building, is one of the most remarkable buildings of Porto's 19th century secular architecture.
The intent of transforming it to house the Academia Contemporânea do Espectáculo implies a way of thinking about the conservation of buildings: the search for the integrity of its architecture.
As this identity is inextricably linked to its spatial and constructive character, the design strives to restore the existing structure and materials.
Before the intervention, the Palace was in a reasonable state of preservation, including its most delicate decorative elements. Such well-defined spaces could not be subverted without affecting the identity of the whole, thus conditioning the distribution of the programme.
The conservation includes technical updates to address functional and comfort requirements, with the design seeking to minimize the visibility of the elements inherent to such installations.
Replacing an architecturally irrelevant preexistence, a narrow new building attached to the west wall of the Palace emerges as a way to concentrate the wet areas and the vertical risers. The conduits depart from this building to enter the Palace through its floors, thus avoiding interfering with walls and ceilings.
Located at the back of the Palace, the new Studio Room takes the space of a former lithography. Being a multipurpose space in terms of staging and assembly, it occupies its own volume, separated from the Palace by an
open space in which both façades can be seen. Built with economy of means translated into the "poor" expression of its materiality, the Studio Room is accessed through the main building, granting the Palace the privilege of
embodying the so-called "Teatro do Bolhão".
With two auditoriums, an exhibition room, and a café-theater, the Bolhão Palace is seen as the synthesis of a contemporary understanding of public space and quality of life, combining cultural and artistic creation,
heritage conservation and revitalization, tourist activities, and urban regeneration.
José Gigante
© Luís Ferreira Alves (cortesia de José Gigante)
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