{"id":418616,"date":"2026-04-26T15:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T15:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418616\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T15:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T15:37:13","slug":"spaceworkers-converts-granaries-into-vila-do-bispo-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418616\/","title":{"rendered":"Spaceworkers converts granaries into Vila do Bispo Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Architecture studio Spaceworkers<\/a> has completed the Vila do Bispo Museum in Portugal<\/a>, adding a red-concrete<\/a> volume to a pair of repurposed granaries.<\/p>\n

Located in the town of Vila do Bispo, the project involved converting the existing granaries into exhibition<\/a> space and extending them with a volume to house technical, administrative and social functions.<\/p>\n

Spaceworkers<\/a> described the new and old buildings as “contiguous ships”, which are united by a red-concrete base and connected internally by a large opening.<\/p>\n

\"VilaSpaceworkers has completed the Vila do Bispo Museum in Portugal<\/p>\n

“We were not interested in imposing a completely autonomous object on the site, but in working with what was already there,” the studio told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“The new volume was conceived almost as a natural extension of the existing ensemble,” it added.<\/p>\n

“Its form echoes the logic of the preexisting warehouse structures, so it belongs to the whole rather than standing apart from it.”<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorA red-concrete volume was added to a pair of repurposed granaries<\/p>\n

In reference to the existing granaries, the new volume has a pitched form with carved-out openings. Meanwhile, its red-toned shade was chosen to appear in total contrast to the site’s existing grey-coloured volumes, the studio explained.<\/p>\n

“The pigmented red concrete gives the new volume a strong and unmistakable character,” the studio said.<\/p>\n

“The red tone was also a way of establishing a subtle connection with the landscape of this part of the Algarve, where the cliffs often appear in warm ochre, rust and reddish hues,” it added.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Mother-of-Pearl<\/p>\n

Schulz und Schulz inserts concrete museum between traditional German buildings\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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

Recesses in the building’s form create an enclosed roof terrace along with a sheltered entrance at ground level that serves as a new access point to the venue.<\/p>\n

“The intervention is not only about adding programme, but about redefining how the ensemble is entered, understood and inhabited,” the studio said.<\/p>\n

\"ViewThe ground level opens up to a shop<\/p>\n

The ground floor of the museum opens up to a central gift shop. Beyond this is a cafe at the rear, where seating space is wrapped by full-height sliding doors that lead out to a terrace.<\/p>\n

A stepped opening links the new and old buildings together, guiding visitors into the double-height space of the renewed granaries, which contain 680 square metres of exhibition space.<\/p>\n

\"VilaBoard-marked concrete is left exposed throughout the social spaces<\/p>\n

In contrast to the board-marked, red-concrete walls of the social spaces, the exhibition space has black-coloured surfaces.<\/p>\n

It is overlooked by a second-floor terrace, off which meeting rooms and an auditorium are positioned.<\/p>\n

\"ExhibitionThe exhibition area is held within the repurposed granaries<\/p>\n

Other adaptive reuse projects recently featured on Dezeen include the Shoemakers Museum in Somerset<\/a>, which involved the conversion of a manor house and barn, and Fenix Museum of Migration<\/a>, which occupies an old warehouse in Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Fernando Guerra<\/a>.<\/p>\n