Out & About: Square and Tourist Office in Piódão

On this visit, the help of the architects is essential to understand the project they have built. They’ll explain the processes that help to discover what’s essential and what it means to remove the author’s hand and not to add it, so that the work becomes everlasting. Architect Nuno Grande will promote a talk with the architects and some other guests, followed by a festive celebration of architecture in this public space.

Square and Tourist Office by Branco del Rio

The only flat and open area of the steeped village of Piódão is given back its dignity as welcoming lobby and gathering place. What was previously a parking lot has been redesigned, paved and partially shaded using traditional materials and techniques. The space was given back to its people following their material and constructive culture.
The project rehabilitates and reconfigures a square and the tourist office building of Piódão.
The different elements that make up the square: the church facade and the stone foundation on which it lands, the tourist office and the small houses with restaurants and cafes are arranged around this new soft centrality.
The intervention, both inside and outside the Tourist Office, aimed at cleaning and clarifying the existing building, removing elements and additions. A new shed protects the entrances to the building and contributes to a unitary image of the whole.

Guided tours: 1 June / 15:00 CET

Meeting point:
Largo Cónego Manuel
Fernandes Nogueira,
6285-018 Piodão
Meeting location

◾In collaboration with Paula del Rio & João Branco (architects); President of Arganil Town Council; Nuno Grande

Language: Portuguese, English & Spanish

✓ No registration required. (First come, first served)

Out & About 2024

“Out & About. Discovering Architecture. EUmies Awards 2024” will take place from April onwards in over 30 European places in which shortlisted works of the prize are located. Organised by Creative Europe, Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the indisputable expertise of Guiding Architects, everybody has the opportunity to know much more about buildings and public spaces in their cities or in places that they are visiting with the authors, clients and people who know them well.