Centro Pastoral de Moscavide

PrizeWinner in Architectural Design / Institutional Architecture
Firm LocationLisboa, Portugal
CompanyPlano Humano Arquitectos
Lead ArchitectPedro Miguel Ferreira & Helena Lucas Vieira
Design TeamArchitects: Pedro Miguel Ferreira, Helena Lucas Vieira, Ana Figueiredo, David Raquel, Margarida Marques, Manuel Dinis, Yara dos Santos, Vanessa Ferrão | Intern: Nuno Roque | Engineering: Luis Reis, Ana Henriques, Hermano Henriques, Nuno Santos, Ana Silva, Armando Venâncio, Sérgio Oliveira.
ClientParóquia de Santo António de Moscavide
Project Videohttp://

The Pastoral Center of Moscavide is composed by a set of facilities that include catechesis rooms, funeral chapels, and the parish residence, and these needs. Conceptually, we projected an extremely simple volume in articulation with the adjacent church that is also somewhat monolithic. However, the new building presents contemporary details, namely in the materials used, such as concrete, the white walls in the space volumetry, and the connection of the building with the surrounding natural light, which was a constant throughout the project. The differential use of in-house, spaces, due to their different valences, dictated the programmatic display that progressed from more public to more private spaces, leaving behind, in a more isolated and introspective environment, the access to the funeral chapels. The sunlight shines onto the resurrection chapels and create a clear analogy with the liturgical passage they witness, characterizing space and emboldening the moment. The slender lamellae lining the entire facade dematerialize and soften its austere volume, providing a spiritual and incorporeal atmosphere, whereas in the interior, they deliver a sensation of shelter and introspection while enjoying the view and all available light. The final result is a simple, clean, authentic building in terms of materiality, that results in a very graphic building.