MORS
RENOVATION
Trofa, Porto, Portugal
2015-2016
author NOARQ - José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira program renovation of a religious space, mortuary chapels collaborators Juliana Sampaio structural project ESPAÇOS RECTOS – Engenharia e Arquitectura, Lda lighting and decoration Juliana Costa – O Bibelot + B.LOFT constructors Carpintaria Martins; Belriba; A. Costa e Sá; Marnorte; Granisop; Termo-ave; Ancas - Oficinas de Artes Decorativas; AS Publicidade; Neves e Miguel - Granitos; Trofinox; Área Vidro; O Bibelot photography atelier XYZ
pre-existing building
description
"The dead have no existence other than that which the living imagine for them"
J. C. Schmitt
Maybe this state of consciousness left Fr. Luciano disappointed with the state of the parish S. Martinho de Bougado’s mortuary chapels. He asked me a rehabilitation of two chapels in the crypt of the church and informed me that they had no money for the work. The lack is a permanence of our days, there is still an non unresolvable issue. The project is a superficial intervention at the level of the interior finishings. The chapels are located in two marginal rooms of the church, half-buried, without a decent outside reception space, without any identification or any identity. The importance of the characterization of the interior space of the chapels remained neglected according to the importance of the funeral cerimonies. The current state of the spaces is bleak – like caves, almost absent of natural lighting (it's urgent thinking in light!).
As we were aware that was not possible to change all the coatings, due to the financial evidence, we were focused some precise plastic surgeries to mitigate the problem.
The intervention seeks to soften the contrasts and reinforce the formal and superficial coherence of the pre-existences:
- The floor and the existing furniture were maintained;
- Walls and ceilings were plastered and dyed a warm grey;
- The plank of tile was concealed with another one in enamelled wood;
- All the carpentries were enamelled of white with range of grey;
- The geometry of the altars was fixed covering with pine boards;
- We designed the lectern, the base of the candle and the pastoral chairs, based on two chairs presidencies of the parochial estate;
- We reconfigured the altar as a massive block of marble Estremoz