Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza

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Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza

Information

  • Completion year: 2023
  • Gross Built up Area: 900m2
  • Project Location: Caminha
  • Country: Portugal
  • Lead Architects/Designer: Rui Correia, Tiago Sousa
  • Engineering: INCASE Lda
  • Interior + Furniture: TIAGO SOUSA e RUI CORREIA
  • Photo Credits: Ivo Tavares Studio
  • Others: Light Design: INCASE Lda, Acoustic Design: INCASE Lda, Fluids Engineering : INCASE Lda, Thermal Engineering: INCASE Lda, Illustrations: TIAGO SOUSA
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Excerpt: Caminha Market, an architectural project by Loftspace and Tiago Souza, seeks to connect the public through its location, form, and programmatic organization. The building’s homogeneous, rational, and serene form captures public interest through color and light materialization. The parallelepiped volume, surrounded by a rigid structure of pillars, provides different perspectives throughout the day.

Project Description

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

[Text as submitted by architect] The market is a point of exchange, buying and selling, a meeting point, or even, nowadays, a point of cultural interest. In these polyvalences of functions and definitions, it is concluded that the market, when functional, is a point of reference in a place. It is thus, in the importance of function, form or scale that urban space is designed and constructed.

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Render © Loftspace + Tiago Souza

The current Caminha market is not integrated into the site nor does it stand out due to its function. It appears as a construction adulterated by time and necessity. It is provisional, which seeks to respond to the needs of its Market function. With structural problems, theorization and wear of the coverings, with temporary solutions for the wear of the roof, they raise problems in complying with the program, in complying with accessibility, in complying with hygiene, safety, fire safety regulations or in compliance with use. 

It is a building that requires constant maintenance in an attempt to correct problems that arise from the rigors of the seasons and time. Under these conditions, the architects consider that demolishing the entire building will be the most economical and viable option. 

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Floor Plan © Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

The new market arises from the analysis of the site and function. It fits into the location with a strong dialogue with the natural and urban landscape, but never neglecting the importance of the town’s existing flows. The site, Square Pontaut Combault, portrays an urban void, with different confrontations: the urban fabric to the east, the empty market to the south and the Minho riverfront to the west. 

The architects intend for the proposed building to relate them through its location, form or programmatic organization. The public’s interest is captured by its homogeneous, rational and serene form, as well as by the materialization of color and light. With a parallelepiped volume, with straight lines, the volume appears surrounded by a rigid structure of pillars, thus composing an external gallery of “protection” for users. 

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Section © Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

All this rigidity represents the strength that a public building must have in the mesh, which, in turn, is broken by the movement created by the games of light/dark and light/shadow. This movement gives us different perspectives on volume throughout the day. 

The entire volume is made of concrete. Resistant, with a “strength”, functional or “cold” character, it is contrasted by the Molianos stone cladding, yellow, noble and “warm” on the base. It is thus, on the scale of man and materials, that the project embraces the nobility and reference of a village as picturesque as Caminha.

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

In the union of form, function, scale, and materialization, the architects reconcile a set of premises for relationships with both the environment and the individual. They do not turn their backs on the waterfront but instead focus on the fair’s relationship with its surroundings, ensuring that the entrance is directed towards the village, as intended. It is concluded that the more technical area should be connected to a newly created square to the north, a space that liberates the market from the adjacent building while opening the horizon to existing elements of the urban fabric.

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

Given the current absence of a strong interior-exterior relationship, and the need for harmony between the building’s volume and its surroundings, a simple volume with transparent planes was designed to invite users to enter or, when inside, enjoy the view. At ground level, the transparent elements are scaled to human proportions, allowing glimpses of the function and life within from the outside. These transparent moments not only bring natural light into the interior but also create visual connections between the two surrounding environments: the village and the Minho River.

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

The interior of the building is covered with washable and waterproof epoxy paint up to the height of the openings (two and a half meters) on all interior walls, allowing for effective hygiene. This visual line created by the exchange of materials is evident throughout the volume, both outside and inside, thus creating a feeling of elegance and lightness.

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Section © Loftspace + Tiago Souza
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

The interior space is organized into three sections: one to the south with shops with exterior and interior access and sanitary facilities, a central public area – fish and fruit market -, and a technical and restricted area to the north. The northern, technical section is made up of changing rooms, an area with (individual) cold rooms, administrative space and an outdoor space for waste. The latter, physically separated from the others, is accessible via an independent route. It is an act isolated from all loading and unloading moments or access to the building.

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio
Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

The staff space creates the hinge between public and private. The changing rooms, as well as the cold storage rooms, have autonomous routes and exits, without any intersection with the circulation of the general public. Administration is related to the sales space. 

To the south, the front elevation is made up of four autonomous commercial spaces, but all with direct access to the interior of the market and common sanitary facilities. Here, there is the possibility of closing commercial spaces’ access to the market depending on each person’s schedule. 

Caminha Market | Loftspace + Tiago Souza
© Ivo Tavares Studio

The central space, the market, is the space and use that dignifies the volume. A large space, with high ceilings and a “monumental” scale, is deeply bathed in natural light and views of the transparent planes of the elevations. This is where the primary act of the program unfolds. This is the meeting point for users. By being flooded with natural light, varied by the position of the sun throughout the day, an emotional and dynamic scenario typical of the market image and experience is created.

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