The project is part of the Environmental Rehabilitation Programme of the Former Urgeiriça’s Industrial Area, promoted by EDM - Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro SA, and aims to convert it into a place of testimony to previous mining activity through an interpretive, studies and research centre focused on the field of radioactivity and the history of mines.
After the process of chemical and radiological decontamination of the buildings, it was up to the studio Orgânica to rehabilitate the buildings of the Chemical Treatment, the Crushing and Walkway, together with the uranium transformation and treatment complex, going back to the time of its construction and inventions; and, simultaneously, to operate its functional transformation.
The project consisted of uncovering the walls and roofs of industrial buildings to reveal the steel structure, the infrastructure network, the machines, the devices, and the performative mechanisms that inhabit them, showing their organization. Then, an enclosure was developed that works as a protective armour, which serves to filter the light from the outside, allowing, however, to breathe the interiors.
This casing stands out for its sets of black slaps that bend the light outside, while the portion that passes through gives spaces and objects a certain atmosphere of silence that awakens emotion.
Team:
Architects: Orgânica Arquitectura
Engineers: Future Proman
Photographer: do mal o menos
Material Used:
Facade cladding: Fiber Cement Board, Eterboard, Euronit
Roofing: Fiber Cement Board, Eterboard, Euronit
Painting: Neucetop, PU, Neuce
Structure: Liberty Steel Newport Limited, Ferpinta/Siderúrgica Balboa
