The Morro da Sé is still defined today, from the eastern and southern sides by the remains of a ring of constructions built on what is conventionally called the old Sueva Wall. They are constructions from different eras, of different importance, altered by many interventions, but which nevertheless constitute a remarkable set for the urban landscape, both for those who enter the city through Vila Nova de Gaia, and in the characterization of D. Hugo Street. 
In 1974, the Maria Isabel Guerra Junqueiro Foundation proposed the Municipal Council of Porto to install the art collections and library that are a complementary asset to the Casa Museu Guerra Junqueiro in a building it owned on D. Hugo Street. The programme also includes an auditorium with 200 seats to be built on the adjacent plot. 
The building where the installation was intended to be carried out is a very old construction, of reasonable size, having suffered different adaptations and subsequent works campaigns. 
The interior space would fulfill a new purpose within the built limits of the façades to be conserved. Special attention was paid to the exterior space where the auditorium would have to be built. 
The land allocated for this construction is a platform at the bottom of the building, in the continuity of others that constitute the gardens of the existing constructions over the wall. Looking at the whole, from the D. Luis Bridge, it is easy to recognize the importance of the retaining walls in the containment of the Morro da Sé. Any construction on these plots would annul the strength of that foreground and deprive it from its unity. Therefore, an attempt was made to contain the new construction within the limits of the platform and bury it in such a way that the reading of the existing wall was not altered, neither in its outline nor in its building materials. The connection between the buildings is made by a staircase, oriented in a way that allows the view of the bridge and Serra do Pilar before going down to the auditorium.

Pedro Ramalho