Casa do Risco
Vila do Conde
2nd Prize, Limited Competition
The project occupies the ruins of a 16th-century building — the Casa do Risco — where, in the past, the drawings and full-scale plans for vessels built at the Vila do Conde shipyards were produced. Located along the city’s riverfront, the ruins have been partially buried by a later urban development built further inland, at a higher level.
Rather than reconstructing the Casa, the project preserves the ruin as it is. A new building is inserted within it, connecting the two levels and creating a public route between the waterfront and the city. The building accommodates an exhibition gallery, a café, and a laboratory. The walls of the Casa do Risco are lined with slate, allowing children to cover them with drawings of boats and other stories.
The intervention introduces a garden at the upper level, consolidates the retaining walls along the waterfront, and restores a former cod-drying area, transforming it into a new bathing area.
