Surface Design Awards – Complete

• EXTERIOR SURFACE OF THE YEAR - NEW
  This is a new category that recognises wall and surface design products including decorative, creative and inventive surfaces for the exterior of building including both commercial and residential properties.
• PUBLIC BUILDING - EXTERIOR
  Public Buildings used by the public for any purpose, such as assembly, education, entertainment, government, healthcare, transport or worship. This will also include civic centres, community centres, libraries, visitor centres, culture, health + wellbeing, faith, education, sports venues and stadia, transport, central + local government, entertainment and event venues.

This project integrates the MACAM temporary exhibitions building, located in the new wing, which is due to open in the spring of 2024. The client wanted a second skin for the building, in ceramic, to control the light gains in an interesting manner, protecting and illuminating the interior spaces. This second skin was designed by Maria Ana Vasco Costa as a series of steel panels composed by large scale three dimensional ceramic pieces, that rotate in the vertical axis, managing the shade throughout the seasons. The ceramic intervention was concluded in May 2023.

When approached by the client, Maria Ana Vasco Costa was taken aback by the challenge of using ceramics to create a translucent effect. Tiles are, due to their material composition, heavy and opaque, and so the artist had to come up with a secondary material to accompany the tiles. While designing this skin, a triangular pattern emerged, inspired by native American objects and indigenous patterns, that evolved from a two dimensional to a three-dimensional pattern. The chosen secondary material for the composition were cutout steel sheets, in which the tiles would be placed and an empty space would float in between, where the light pierces through. These steel sheets are vertical rectangles fixed in their vertical axis from where they rotate to open or close down the glass façade.

The earthenware tiles were handmade and glazed in a local manufacturer in Portugal, respecting the countries traditional tile making techniques. This batch production ensured quality control, waste reduction, and a good workplace environment, resulting in a product with a low carbon footprint. Earthenware tiles are a sustainable material due to their raw nature and, when finished with glazing, they develop into a material that can withstand corrosion, being durable and requiring little to no long-term maintenance. The rotation of the steel sheets also allows for cleaning and maintenance reach.

This project involves a series of security measures that had to be implemented to ensure everything was put in place safely, and that the steel sheets could rotate with no danger. The tiles, a heavy material when implemented in large quantities, had to be drilled to the steel sheet, and so such connection points had to be designed in both pieces. Additionally, the tiles were also glued.

MACAM – Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins, is a new, totally private cultural project dedicated to modern and contemporary art, which will open in Lisbon in the Spring of 2024. It is an unprecedented initiative that, for the first time in Portugal and Europe, integrates a 5-star hotel into the space of a museum.

Located in the Palácio dos Condes da Ribeira Grande, MACAM will occupy a building of great historical and cultural value dating from the early 18th century, linking the Alcântara and Belém districts, one of Lisbon’s most visited cultural areas. The palace is currently undergoing renovation and will be extended with two new buildings at the rear, tottaling more than 13.000 m2.