Bordalo Pinheiro Museum

This museum was both a form of mourning for the collector, poet, pamphleteer, critic and humourist Artur Cruz Magalhães, and a republican exercise on the principle of universal access to culture, in this case through the collection of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s work. The original project planned a home for the owner with the inclusion of three exhibition rooms that opened to the public in 1916 as the Bordalian museum. This was changed in 1922 for functional improvement, and more recently expanded to the back of the lot so that it could accommodate new technical and exhibition areas. The project introduced a double-height central space with mezzanine which contrasts with the subdivision of the original home areas and provides space and distinct views for the exhibition of larger pieces. The persistence of this building in the urbanization of the rural registry of Campo Grande produces contrasts of flows, scales and volume. The original project was an Honourable Mention of the 1915 Valmor Prize.