The Town Hall Square is designed, by AXR – Arquitetura e Design, as a unique element of the city of  Ribeira de Pena, Vila Real, Portugal, around the architectural principle of continuity of materials, geometries and circulations. 

The Town Hall Square and the surrounding area of the church are among the most important spaces from an urban perspective in Ribeira de Pena, both because they assume a central place in the town and because they are the crossroads of the dynamics and spaces that constitute it. 

This intervention establishes the Town Hall Square as the central space of the town while simultaneously activating its immediate surroundings. It functions as the “heart of the town,” serving as the starting point for configuring and energizing its public space.

The space is defined by integrative boundaries of the adjoining areas, with a design where urban furniture elements, the materials used, and the scale aim to expand the boundaries and merge various spaces, inviting free circulation, pauses, and the appropriation of the space in a continuum with the Central Square. 

It functions as a unique space, where the central space is freed up and all added elements have a strong logic for their inclusion.

To the existing, a set of trees is added to provide shade to seating areas and to frame: the Church, a Fountain that resolves the topographic level difference and brings life to the Square, an extension of a bench and wall that define the boundary of the Square and frame the Town Hall, a tourist Lettering that evokes linen motifs, a product of the region to exalt the historical heritage value of the tradition of the municipality. 

The strategy materializes by affirming the continuities of all existing logics, whether they are linguistic/gestural, material, or related to the enhancement and framing of all existing historical heritage. 

The continuity of circulations and accesses was materialized through the transformation of the square (which unfolded in several staircases) into a single plane with a gentle slope.

A topographic effort inspired by old images of the Church, where even before there was a “square” it was already understood as a single slightly sloping space where some outdoor masses and pilgrimages were celebrated, a gathering point for the community.

To recreate this topography, the existing staircases were removed and the strategy focused on utilizing and enhancing a central square located in a hillside area. 

Vegetal continuity is ensured through a cluster of trees that starts from the Coreto garden, extends through the boulevard, and culminates in the Town Hall Square, making this space harmonious and endowed with shaded spots, appealing to be a multipurpose space without obstacles, but with quality for everyday use. 

Visual continuity is provided by constantly seeking visual framing, whether through the punctual placement of vertical elements like trees to reinforce the symmetry and axiality of the Church, or through the use and standardization of materials, such as pavements or urban furniture or wall coverings. 

This square functions as a multipurpose platform in a territory undergoing significant development.

It maintains a sense of unity and ensures the rehabilitation of the existing urban fabric, respecting the past but looking to the future and what these spaces can come to represent, valuing and framing the Historical and Cultural Heritage and allowing them to appropriate and use a central urban space, thus attributing it cultural and social identity. 

Facts & Credits
Title Requalificação da Praça do Município de Ribeira de Pena
Typology Architecture, Urban Space
Location Ribeira de Pena, Vila Real, Portugal
Area 3429, 5  m2 
Status Completed, 2021
Architecture AXR – Arquitetura e Design
Main Architect André Xavier Rodrigues
Collaboration João Ribeiro, Tatiana Campos
Photography Ivo Tavares Studio
Text by the authors


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