Degree Show 2025

My thesis transforms the fragmented hilltop of Serra do Pilar in Gaia into a living archive and cultural refuge, reconnecting abandoned relics and historical fragments through spatial continuity and cultural meaning. Situated across from Porto’s historic center and the Luís I Bridge, the project addresses a landscape shaped by exclusion, commercialized leisure, and the erosion of authentic cultural practices.

Through the lens of Fado music, Porto de Fado frames this uniquely Portuguese heritage as an evolving emotional landscape, shaped by its core sentiment of saudade (longing) and a persistent thread of cultural continuity. Positioned beneath the Monastery of Serra do Pilar, an isolated panoptic landmark, the project looks back at the city of Porto and honors the spirit of fado rooted in memory, displacement, and the ongoing search for belonging. As a 60-metre level-change journey from the riverfront to the hilltop, the spatial sequence naturally reflects the emotional legibility described by Kevin Lynch – where cities are not merely physical, but mapped and oriented through memory, perception, and meaning.

This transformation of a once disjointed terrain into an experiential journey is marked by a series of threshold buildings, each anchoring a specific cultural memory and lived encounter with the city’s past and present. Beginning from the riverfront at the Archive of Saudade, visitors engage with Porto’s material roots through ceramic ruins, a historic kiln, musical artefacts, and archival exhibits. Ascending the Sound Spiral, a five-story courtyard wrapped in azulejo tile murals, visitors can observe the layered history and evolving forms of Fado across time through the circular ceremonial stairs and transparent vertical lift.

Informal performances such as Fado Vadio unfold naturally within the Harmonic Passage, a space shaped for intimacy and spontaneity through a familiar material and soundscape. Leading to the Craft House, Fado is renewed through collaborative creation, musical experimentation, and making through craft and sound workshops. The journey culminates at the Resonance Hall, where storytelling during the day and formal concerts at night celebrate Fado as a living, shared tradition.

The architecture weaves together abandoned and isolated fragments, ultimately reconnecting the Monastery of Serra do Pilar into an active civic and cultural network. Porto de Fado is not simply an act of preservation, it is a cultural reclamation and a harbor for Fado’s past, present, and future. It keeps Porto’s stories and memories in motion, translating the spirit of Fado into architecture that listens, remembers, reimagines, and renews.