Civic center of Vila Nova de Paiva

Vila Nova de Paiva, 2020

This project refers on the implementation of the action foreseen in the Urban Regeneration Action Plan (PARU) of Vila Nova de Paiva, in a total area of 15,123 m2, namely the qualification and rehabilitation intervention of the public spaces system adjacent to Avenida Aquilino Ribeiro on the west side. This front of intervention, presented as main objectives the qualification of the true civic center of Vila Nova de Paiva, promoting the most qualified articulation of large public spaces, considering its promotion as a qualified urban space, inducer of urban living and dynamics, in social and economic valences, namely by the qualified reception and in legal compliance, of the very old fortnightly fair (Feira de Barrelas) that takes place here.

Considering the centrality and prominence of the intervention site, Campo da Restauração and Praça D. Afonso Henriques, its iconographic and symbolic value, it was imposed on the project the adoption of a structure of intervention, identitatively strong and distinctive, based on an ordering geometry and with great capacity to accommodate the architectural and topographical conditions, as well as polyvalence of the urban functions it aimed to host.

Therefore, the main organizing axes organized spatially, functionally and symbolically the main built groups of the site, orienting all the public space from the main building of the City Hall and adjacent to the Casa das Caldeirinhas, with the “acropolis” where the Mother Church is implanted. Between these two extremes, the topography naturally promoted the structuring of an “amphitheater” that made the rehabilitation of the existing platforms feasible.

The intervention that was at that time planned for Avenida Aquilino Ribeiro, complementarily ensured the condition of a more qualified level of accessibility and emphasized the whole logic of this intervention.