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DepA has designed a mirrored pavilion that sits at the edge of the lake at the heart of the 18-hectare park that houses Serralves — the most visited museum in Portugal.
The Porto-based architecture firm looked to Alvaro Siza Vieira’s museum for inspiration for ‘Liquid Pavilion’; it’s polygonal structure taken from the design of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art itself. The shape corresponds to both the museum layout and its characteristic bow windows — the hexagonal motif repeats itself throughout the museum and surrounding park. The architects from depA explain, “The extracted polygon, once implanted in the park and with its original context altered, including the transformation of its shape and materiality, becomes something new and detaches itself from its original source.” The pavilion is thus connected with the site through an understanding of space as opposed to a continuation of aesthetics. Whilst the mirrored exterior is disorienting — seeming to merge with its surrounds —the inside of the space retains the neutrality necessary for a white cube space.
