{"id":389718,"date":"2026-04-09T11:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/389718\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:10:10","slug":"even-donkeys-like-casa-das-historias-museum-says-eduardo-souto-de-moura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/389718\/","title":{"rendered":"“Even donkeys like” Casa das Hist\u00f3rias museum says Eduardo Souto de Moura"},"content":{"rendered":"

Architect Eduardo Souto de Moura<\/a> describes how a letter from artist Paula Rego shaped the design of the Casa das Hist\u00f3rias museum<\/a> in Cascais, Portugal, in the final instalment of a video<\/a> series produced by Dezeen.<\/p>\n

Souto de Moura said the project was driven by a concise and highly specific brief from Rego, who asked him to design “not a museum, but a house.”<\/p>\n

\"CasaCasa das Hist\u00f3rias museum was designed as a “house” for Paula Rego’s work<\/p>\n

He added that the clarity of this request set the direction for the building, with the programme organised around the varying scale of her artworks.<\/p>\n

Rather than imposing a uniform gallery layout, the Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect<\/a> designed a sequence of rooms tailored to different formats, ranging from small lithographs to large-scale paintings.<\/p>\n

\"StreetSouto de Moura used pigmented concrete to give the building its distinctive red colour<\/p>\n

At the heart of the building, he inserted an 11-metre-high gallery for temporary exhibitions, conceived to accommodate unpredictable contemporary works.<\/p>\n

“You never know what will appear,” he said in the video. “It could be trees or cars.”<\/p>\n

Located near Lisbon in Cascais, Portugal<\/a>, the project was further defined by its wooded site, which once housed tennis courts for an aristocratic club frequented by the Portuguese royal family.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorThe red concrete exterior will weather and develop a richer tone over time<\/p>\n

Souto de Moura chose to build around its dense cluster of trees, but faced the challenge of ensuring the building remained visible.<\/p>\n

His solution was to introduce two striking pyramidal towers that rise above the treeline, giving the structure a distinct presence from the street.<\/p>\n

The building’s deep red concrete<\/a> was chosen to contrast with the surrounding greenery and reference the work of Portuguese architect Raul Lino.<\/p>\n

\"Close-upThe pyramidal forms were cast using timber formwork in a herringbone pattern<\/p>\n

“I didn’t want a building that hides with shame,” Souto de Moura explained.<\/p>\n

He added that the dark red<\/a> tone was intended to weather over time, developing a richer patina through sun bleaching. Unlike painted surfaces, the pigment is integral to the concrete<\/a> itself, ensuring the colour remains consistent even if the material is chipped or scraped.<\/p>\n

\"TallA tall gallery was designed to accommodate large-scale and temporary artworks<\/p>\n

Souto de Moura also drew on Lino’s architectural language in subtler ways, incorporating diagonal corner elements, integrated seating and textured surfaces inspired by traditional tile patterns.<\/p>\n

For the pyramids, the architect used wooden formwork arranged to replicate the herringbone<\/a> motifs found in Lino’s buildings, embedding historical references directly into the fabric of the structure.<\/p>\n

He also emphasised the importance of visual connections to the surrounding landscape, introducing windows and benches that allow visitors to compare the artworks with the natural world outside.<\/p>\n

\"ExhibitionRego’s works are displayed across rooms of varying scale tailored to different formats<\/p>\n

Despite its critical acclaim, Souto de Moura expressed ambivalence about the building’s universal praise.<\/p>\n

“It is a mystery,” he said. “I never heard a negative criticism of the building. Even donkeys like it.”<\/p>\n

“Which is bad, because with criticism we move forward,” Souto de Moura added.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Exterior<\/p>\n

“I knew nothing about football” says Eduardo Souto de Moura on designing Braga stadium\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The video is the third in an exclusive series produced by Dezeen exploring Souto de Moura’s work and design philosophy.<\/p>\n

Previous instalments explored the “accidental beginnings” of his career<\/a> and how he designed the Braga Municipal Stadium<\/a> despite having no prior knowledge of football or stadiums.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Lu\u00eds Ferreira Alves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Architect Eduardo Souto de Moura describes how a letter from artist Paula Rego shaped the design of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[84947,307,304,305,306,98410,1806,308,56674,93,172924,61,60,4540,2888,11527,172923,814,815,77920,37826],"class_list":{"0":"post-389718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-architecture-videos","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-coloured-concrete","14":"tag-concrete","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-eduardo-souto-de-moura","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-herringbone","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-museums","22":"tag-portugal","23":"tag-red","24":"tag-red-buildings","25":"tag-sectionall","26":"tag-sectionarchitecture","27":"tag-sectionvideos","28":"tag-videos-by-dezeen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}