ARCHITECTURE:
Victor Mestre in D.G.E.M.N.
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ADDRESS:
Largo 1º de Dezembro, Porto
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CITY:
Porto
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DATE:
1995-1999
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VISIT:
Inside Conditioned - Outside
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MORE DETAILS:
The Aljube Building is an integral part of the former Convent of Santa Clara, although detached from the church body for a long time. After a careful diagnostic study of the conservation state and a documental gathering, the rehabilitation project for the installation of a concentrated PSP (Public Security Police) division began. The functional disconnection held over decades by successive reformulations, as well as the construction of the current neoclassical façade in the XX century, hid definitively the monastic legacy. The theoretical approach in terms of intervention ethics was the greatest difficulty. The work performed with a continued monitoring allowed the adjustment of the project against the successive historical values discovered, and promptly reinstated. The project sought to restore the convent typology in a contemporary usage perspective, allowing a great flexibility of adjustment for future uses.

Victor Mestre
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