This project initially resulted from Unicer’s invitation to select a project for its EXPO 98 Pavilion. After the huge success of the Water Pavilion during the EXPO (approximately 8 million visitors), the City of Porto decided, in 2002, to install it permanently in the city’s Park.
The Pavilion’s image is designed to establish both a connection with its surrounding landscape and to create an impact that calls for immediate attention. At the same time, it needs to have a strong relationship with its theme. These were the basic concepts we had into consideration while developing this project.
The impact was created through a tensioned architectonical space and through the correlation between spaces and volumes of the architecture and its exterior environment.
On a first glance, the Pavilion seems to be unbalanced, without proper support and slightly gravitating. In the surrounding spaces there are water mirrors with equally tensioned shapes and forms, which contribute to the desired effect.
The Pavilion and its surrounding context are part of the same space. This notion brings the dimension of the Pavilion to its exterior and vice-versa. Both spaces are necessary and complementary, thus enlarging its dimensions and impact.
