A Tower Between Towers, Porto 2016

A tower between towers is a spatial and geometric exercise that intends to create a new meeting point and to signal, temporarily, the existence of a belvedere in the city, in the context of the celebration of the Saint John festivities.

Conceived for a viewpoint in the historic area of Porto, next to the primitive city wall, "A tower among towers", proposes to add another tower to the once medieval urban fabric, increasing the "built" density and underlining the presence of this typology in that place. In opposition to the massive and parallelepiped presence of the surrounding towers, mostly built in granite, the new tower is ethereal and cylindrical and, instead of being defined by mass, is defined by delicate lines (wire-frame), favoured by a metallic materiality. 

Seeking to merge with the context, but simultaneously assuming itself as a totem, the tower describes a constructive concept that defies gravity and expresses dematerialization in the encounter with the ground. Empty in order to serve as a central stage to the centenary tradition of the release of paper balloons on the night of Saint John, the chimney tower was erected in the only year in which the release was forbidden, resisting, therefore, as a memorial to an event that after all did not take place.

Architecture
Diogo Aguiar Studio

Team
Diogo Aguiar, Daniel Mudrák

Engineering:
Rui Nuno Salgueiro

Client
Porto Lazer / Câmara Municipal do Porto

Photography
Francisco Nogueira Architectural Photography