Cascais is a coastal town, located 20 kilometers west of Lisbon.
This tiny museum is placed inside a small fortress, built in the mid 17th century as part of the maritime defense system of Cascais. About 200 years later, the fortress lost its strategic interest and a lighthouse was built there. The lighthouse is still functional nowadays but, having been automated, it doesn't need constant surveilance anymore and has been converted in the first museum dedicated to the lighthouses of the portuguese coast.
Aires Mateus design dates back to 2003, the construction began in 2006 and the museum was inaugurated last Summer.

Photo from the museum's pamphlet by Leonardo Finotti

Opening hours
Tuesday - Sunday
Summer (01 May - 30 September) 10.00am - 7.00 pm
Winter (01 October - 30 April) 10.00am - 6.00 pm
Closed on Mondays

Getting there
There's a suburban train line from Lisbon to Cascais - the Cascais Line - more info here (http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=bf066e29d6b74010VgnVCM100 0007b01a8c0RCRD&lang=en) - and from the train station it's a pleasant 10 - 15 minute walk to the lighthouse.

GE snapshot

Aires Mateus website (http://www.airesmateus.com/)

References on ppb2
Aires Mateus thread (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3349)
Sines Arts Center (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3374)
Rectory, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5490)

GE placemark

Floor and roof plans (from Aires Mateus website). Lower left is the entrance, the irregular volumes are the new auxiliary spaces and the 3 rectangular spaces are the refurbished constructions housing the exibition spaces. The square on the top right side is the lighthouse.

A model that was on display at this year's Lisbon architecture triennale

An image of the buildings prior to the intervention

And this is the view as we approach the site, walking along the shoreline

The entrance is located at the end of a narrow street

Closer view

Signage

At the gate looking inside

The new volume clearly defines an alignment that leads us to the exibition areas

The first of the carvings on this volume.

The second one (access to washrooms)

Corridor to washrooms - the spaces in this new volume are all white

Door sill detail - the doors are about 10cm thick

Door handle

Looking at the new addition from further away. The big window is the cafeteria (still not inaugurated when I was there)

Cafeteria and shop windows

Cafeteria window close up - you get a feel of the view from there through the reflection. As you must have noticed, all the openings in this volume are carved in the same way, emphasizing the walls thickness. On the floors that thickness is marked with white marble that is also used in the interior floors

The last one of the carvings on the new volume. To the left is one of the existing buildings, now an exibition space. These buildings were completely tiled using hand made white tiles of 3 different sizes

Opposite view

looking towards the lighthouse

Entrance to exhibition area

Upon entering you're at an intermediate level, like a sunken courtyard just below the level where the lighthouse sits. This bench is supposed to act as a ballustrade but is obviously not long enough... :bang head

Door to the first exhibition room - the rooms are connected to each other only through this external space.

Interior spaces are completely black

Interior of the first exhibition room

The second space is a small viewing room

Third and last exhibition room

This is the space that connects all the three rooms seen from above, as we go up to the lighthouse level

At the lighthouse level - the lighthouse was still not finished but it will be accessible to the public as well

The exhibition volumes

Tiles texture

One more for the road

Stunning little gem. As I have said to you before, I wasn't all that impress with 5 of the projects by the Aires Mateus brothers (all of which are earlier projects such as the Rectory at Lisboa you have posted). The Sines project I think, together with this project is a new chapter in their work and I am looking forward to seeing more of their work in the future after visiting Francisco's office.

Great projet
He captured the essence of the place, and the historic context
Moreover, he have found what portuguese architecture may go to future.
Thanks for sharing.

I went back there this last Sunday morning, to see if the lighthouse was already open to the public. Unfortunately it remains closed, despite the work being already finished.
Still it was nice to see this under a different light. Here are some pictures.
Looking in from the entrance

The new volumes

One of the carvings

Another

New volumes behind palm trees

Love the recess detail as shown on 39 :clap:
Any idea how it was cut to the edge like that ?

Palm trees

Tiled volumes and lighthouse

Another view of those tiled volumes

And another

Wonderful pictures vOid! Thank you for the great tour.

Like I said before, renovation work on the lighthouse is finished (the fence around it is now gone) but it remains closed. On the other hand, those ugly planters remain in place and look like they're there to stay... :bang head

Last one for now: a few light and shadow details

Thanks for your comments guys!
@ ReD: these are reinforced concrete volumes, rendered with mortar (I guess this is what it's called in english but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I have to say it's bound to crack. In fact, it's already started. One of my main critics to this project would be its fragility - It doesn't look like it will look that great in a few years.

To illustrate what I just said, here's the recess ReD mentioned and a close up of the top edge...

Oh .. Any idea if it is a render crack or structural?

what does it mean when spaces look like photorealistic renderings?? :D
good clean lines, neat spaces.....
( my 100th POST!! :D )

This project reminds me of the Old Town in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Of course Dubrovnik isn't contemporary. They both have a purity of space which is strikingly intense. It is rare to find indoor & outdoor spaces like these on the urban scale.

Oh .. Any idea if it is a render crack or structural?
It's just the render, but still it's not a good indicator of longevity...

It's just the render, but still it's not a good indicator of longevity...

agreed

do you use Expamet Lath or similar in Portugal ?

http://www.averyknight.co.uk/downloads/expametarchformers.pdf

do you use Expamet Lath or similar in Portugal?
Yes, we do, but I don't think they were used. They leave discreet but visible lines in the edges, and I can't see them here.

If you want to see some great photos of this building, take a look at this slideshow (http://www.ultimasreportagens.com/ultimas/211.swf) by Fernando Guerra...