For more than 100 years, the Valmor Prize, later merged with the Municipal Architecture Prize, has awarded the best architecture in the city of Lisbon, thus recognizing many architects that are now part of the history of architecture in Portugal. Created in 1903 by the 2nd Viscount of Valmor, Fausto Correia Guedes, this prize is granted in equal parts to both the architect and the promoter of the building.
The Lisbon Triennale has collaborated with the Lisbon Municipality gathering information, accompanying the jury meetings, redesigning the image and materials presenting the award, designing and installing the exhibition, and organizing visits to the awarded buildings.
On 11 April 2019, the Valmor Architecture Prize announced the winners and honourable mentions for 2017, which join the laureates from the 2013-2016 cycle, disclosed on 18 December 2017. It was in this cycle that the Triennale initiated the collaboration with the Municipality of Lisbon in regard to the centenary prize, awarding the winners and honourable mentions of 4 consecutive years.
2017
Valmor Architecture Prize ex æquo
EDP Headquarters
Aires Mateus (architect)
EDP - Energias de Portugal (promotor)
The history of Lisbon and the landfill conquered from the waters defined the implantation of the two volumes, perpendicular to the river. Meeting the expectations of the institution it represents, the ensemble gives an energetic image that transforms with the light of the day and the place from which it is observed.
The construction is designed by a single line, which provides it with volume and expression, without losing lightness and permeability. These shades - metallic profiles coated with slabs of white concrete reinforced with fiberglass - answer the building's need for energy sustainability, guarantee its interior programmatic flexibility and support the various floors.
Two office blocks, 7 storeys high, are connected by two elevated galleries, at the northern and southern ends of the plot. As a counterpoint, the bigger spaces are buried - in an underground concrete structure, we find the foyers, auditoriums, meeting and exhibition rooms, and the cafeteria; above a four storey car park. On the ground floor, a square, public but corporate, is supported by a restaurant and a shop, complementary to the company's headquarters.
2017
Valmor Architecture Prize ex æquo
Cruise Terminal
Carrilho da Graça, arquitectos (architect)
APL - Administração do Porto de Lisboa e LCP - Lisbon Cruise Port, Lda. (promotor)
Built on the clear layout of the riverine landfill, the compact building answers part of the touristic pressure exerted upon Lisbon. The variations in its morphology shelter a diversified programme that the adjacent public space extends. Elevated from the ground, the building transforms into a viewpoint over the Tejo and Alfama. A blind façade when seen from the river, from where it appears as the discrete stone basement of the city, it creases, when seen from the land, just enough to reveal its access points. A new gateway for cruise tourism.
The building's exoskeleton is made of a mix of white concrete and cork, with structural capability. A solution specifically developed to lighten the weight of the building, which was constrained by the pre-existing foundations, from an idea of Carrilho da Graça.
The terminal's functions comprise parking, underground; baggage check-in, handling and pick-up, on the ground floor; and passenger area, on the first floor. A 600 metre passerelle connects the terminal to the ships. Framing the building, a boulevard anticipates an evolution beyond its use as a maritime station.
2017
Honourable Mention ex æquo
Palace of Santa Catarina
Teresa Nunes da Ponte Arquitectura (architect)
Eijrond Beheer B.V. (promotor)
This palace stands out from its surroundings through its volumetry and formal quality, constituting itself as an urban landmark unfolding onto a clear view over Bica, all the way to the river. Respecting the pre-existences, the intervention upon this 19th century building shows contemporaneity, using a simple and rigorous design in order to adapt to its new use as a hotel unit.
The intervention rehabilitates the spaces, emphasizing the rationality of its compartmentalisation and its structure. The various elements are restored with the traditional techniques and materials, and most of the recent spurious elements are demolished. The details of the decoration are renovated and most of the furniture is designed.
2017
Honourable Mention ex æquo
Lisbon Stone Block
Souza Oliveira, arquitectura e urbanismo (architect)
Imoproperty - Fundo Especial de Investimento Imobiliário (promotor)
Dubbed Lisbon Stone Block due to its resemblance to a monolith, this building is located in a street corner of Avenidas Novas. Its concept is based in a mutant façade, made of "stone skin", that configures different images according to its use: during the night, it irradiates light towards the outside; during the day, it is traversed by the light that gets inside through the panels of variable position.
Distributed over eight floors and added to the glazed ground floor, which has a commercial use, are 20 apartments characterized by a living room that articulates and connects to the kitchen. The interior was designed in a way that shows a quest for the contemporaneity of dwelling, articulating living, eating and cooking by means of a versatile system of mobile panels. All bedrooms have an organization close to that of a suite, seeking to provide more comfortable levels of intimacy.
2017
Honourable Mention ex æquo
House in Alfama
Matos Gameiro, arquitectos (architect)
João Paulo Gonçalves Silva Cardoso (promotor)
Located in a small plaza in Alfama, below the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora and alongside the National Pantheon, the operation deals with the rehabilitation and transformation of a building of medieval genesis into a guest house, a rare example in an ensemble dominated by constructions built after the 1755 earthquake.
The occupation of the small building generated, through the years, new walls, which resulted in a house with two patios. The intervention intended to clarify the internal plot, enhancing its underlying meaning: if the patios determine the way its organized, the programme will be developed in-between. From the project originated four exterior spaces, interleaved with places of shelter.
The ensemble suggests the idea of ruin by means of the roofless character of the house; of containment, due to the nature of the habitable cells; and of the pleasure with which the patios are explored, as open air rooms, devoid of an immediate function, one of which is flooded with warm water.
2017
Honourable Mention ex æquo
Largo de Santos and adjacent road infrastructure
92 Arquitectos (architect) and Victor Beiramar Diniz (landscape architect)
Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (promotor)
An infra-structural project within the framework of the programme "Uma Praça em Cada Bairro", originated in the preliminary programme developed by the department of Public Space of the Municipality of Lisbon, which proposed a new micro-centrality for the city.
The intervention's main objectives are the restitution of space to pedestrians, the implementation of a bicycle path network and an increase of green areas, reducing the number of traffic lanes. The project is also focused on the improvement of pedestrian connections to public transport.
Given the asymmetry that characterized Avenida 24 de Julho, the creation of a strong unity becomes fundamental. Celebrating the neighbourhood in a socially democratic process, the requalification of the public space allows for an improvement of urban living.
2017 Jury
For 2017, the jury was composed of Dr Catarina Vaz Pinto, in representation of the President of the Municipality of Lisboa, arch. Jorge Catarino Tavares, in representation of the City Councillor for Urban Planning, arch. Alberto Souza Oliveira, personality invited by the President of the Municipality of Lisbon, arch. Francisco Berger, in representation of Portuguese Academy of Fine-Arts, arch. Cândido Chuva Gomes, in representation of the Portuguese Association of Architects, and arch. João Pardal Monteiro, in representation of the Faculty of Architecture of Universidade de Lisboa. The texts describing the architectural work were based on the descriptive memories sent by the authors/architects.
