Description

Plenary Session—André Fontes, Architect/Engineer, Cerejeira Fontes Architects, Portugal "The Tree of Life Chapel and the Cheia de Graça Chapel"—​in-situ The visit to Braga will focus on three extraordinary architectural works: Braga's football stadium (2003) by Eduardo Souto de Moura architect (Pritzker Prize 2011); The Tree of Life Chapel (2010) at the Conciliar Seminary; and the Cheia de Graça Chapel (2016) in the Imaculada Chapel by Cerejeira Fontes architects. The aim of this visit is to present a unique experience of the Portuguese contemporaneous architecture with three examples that appeal to different scales and problematics of site-specific interventions. We will start by visiting the Braga's stadium. Innovative in its formal and constructive aspects, this large-scale project carves itself into the abandoned granite quarry of Monte Castro. By recovering a place that was discarded, the project brings together architecture and landscape as one operation open to new possibilities. Then, we will move into two introspective spaces, to visit the Chapels with an in-situ lecture by André Fontes. Fontes will explain to us the principles and processes that have guided these projects, illuminating a detailed craft full of deepness in all their elements.