“[The Portugese] poetic world is, accordingly, something more than a mere imaginary world; and what they only wrote to please themselves and their contemporaries, must increase in value with every succeeding century; because the circumstances under which such a style of poetry could arise, are gradually becoming more and more rare.”
-Frederick Bouterwek
This description of Portuguese poetry perfectly encapsulates the quiet but momentous lyricism that underlies Portugal’s cultural identity. Saudade, a deep emotional state of nostalgia or profound melancholic longing for something lost, is an undeniable feeling that underlies the Portuguese psyche. This sentiment, and Portugal’s vast and rich history of lyric poetry, has left a significant mark on its national memory.
The idiosyncratic history of writing in the Portuguese language parallels the broader role of literature and books in preserving national memory. Physical images, writing, and books were essential to passing on knowledge until today’s contemporary age of digital storage, calling into question the value and existence of physical records themselves. But books, much like artworks, retain a deep cultural significance not only for the knowledge that they contain, but for their very material qualities. Despite the modern maxim that “books are dead,” they are still being printed. In fact, printed books have again increased in popularity, despite the premonition of many architects that the storage of printed books would become obsolete. While many designers have transformed the modern library into a technological hub for data, this project expands the library into a cultural center for the preservation of books, poetry, and written culture. This Portugese public center for preservation will conserve and forefront the physical reality of the book as objects of cultural memory.
The building, inspired by the original wall and long, winding, pathway surrounding the site, is designed as a long procession of experiential effects. The building’s public exhibition space begins on top of the original wall, designed as a lightweight, folding metal plate structure to hover above the stones. At the edges of the site, the folded plate structure turns off of the wall, and onto a series of skinny, polygonal buildings made of composite, concrete. The project’s folds and wraps produce a series of exterior courtyards and rooms to seperate space without physical partition, allowing for a continuous, linear procession through Portugal’s written past.
