Session 03
Centro de Artes de Águeda
CAA's/Águeda Arts Centre architecture responds to the challenge of designing a solution adapted to the context - not only physical and urban, but also cultural, economic and political - while seeking to create a relevant and world-class cultural platform. The objective and rational approach to the program resulted in the design of a system that maximizes functionality. The building, with 4,500sqm, is embodied in three dynamic forces, which house and organize the three main valences of the internal program - the auditorium with 600 seats, the exhibition hall and the café concert - spreading from a nucleus distribution center.
Architecture Tour + Live Talk
Centro de Artes de Águeda
The architecture that formalizes the building is stripped of iconic artificiality, without losing the institutional relevance that the equipment deserves. It tries to reach a fusion between the pragmatic technique of execution and the poetic of space, which takes the visitor on a journey through the built body, understood both as a receptacle and a generator of culture. Águeda Arts Centre was carried out in the peak of the financial crisis, requiring a new strategic practice and an extra effort by everyone involved in the making. The challenge was to achieve the best possible solution with a limited budget, aiming for the creation of a public relevant infrastructure, without losing quality and integrity, one that could promote culture, engage with the citizens and elevate the city through its cultural relevance.
