The Alto Tâmega Tourism Info Point integrates the Strategic Plan for the Development of Tourism of Alto Tâmega carried out by the Intermunicipal Community – CIMAT. Located in Jardim do Tabuado in Chaves, this 100m2 building, with a circular floor plan, built with natural wood structure, based on a concrete slab and wooden facade, seeks to establish a dialogue with the surrounding green space, affirming in its concept the nature driven identity of the region that is intended to promote.
If in the genesis of the design of this project there is the reinterpretation of Nadir Afonso work – painter and architect natural from Chaves – on the concept of architecture and its distancing from the work of art, affirming the conflict between the pure form of the plastic arts and the functionality and technical impositions inherent to the architectural object, we accept the challenge of seeking that, not only on the building’s geometry but also its material implementation, resulting in its functional response. Thus, if the circular shape is different from the urban landscape, its wooden covering frames relates the object to the garden, answering inside to practical questions such as the fluidity of paths in an exhibition space that organizes itself from the outside to the inside on a journey that ends in the visual relationship with the symbolic water mirror setting that evokes the Tâmega river and, also, the fact that we are in one of the most important thermal regions in Portugal.
The various technical and construction options are also intended to respond to principles of sustainability and durability. The orientation of the main room, the position and dimensioning of the spans, the double glazed window frames, the reuse of water, the use of thermal high thickness insulation, the use of structural wood, among other options, underline the sustainability concerns that guided the conception.
