Small Museum

Ribeira Grande, Azores

1st Prize, Public Competition

The building occupies a site adjacent to the Palacete Vicente Ferreira, a 17th-century structure of recognised architectural and heritage value. The project brings the two together to house and display the anthropological and ethnographic collection of the Casa da Cultura da Ribeira Grande, while accommodating a temporary exhibition gallery, an auditorium, a café and the museum’s support spaces.

The new building extends the exhibition route initiated in the Palacete through a sequence of galleries that progressively rise above the ground. Each space responds to the works on display while establishing visual relationships with the Palacete and the city. The route culminates on the roof, offering a panoramic view over the landscape of the north coast of São Miguel.

Built in concrete, the new volume adopts a contemporary expression, while the Palacete is restored, preserving its original typological structure and construction system. The project also includes the museum gardens, reinforcing the relationship between architecture, heritage and landscape.