projeto
Mouraria
Square
Inês Lobo
Arquitectos
It is alongside a requalified urban section that, years
later and aside from the Mouraria’s Action Plan, it was
born the project of a square connecting Palma Street to
Benformoso Street, integrating a set of public squares
that mark the pathway. The program for the new square
found its guidelines on the site characteristics. The area
is a frontier between two urban realities, that can also
serve as an opportunity to bring together and put in
contact two different social and cultural worlds. The
architectural design process takes a personal approach,
believing that this is a result of a broad and ambitious
reading of reality, while facing its complexity, multifa-
ceted, and consistent vision to then transform the real
world. The exercise of critical thinking, which is the corner
stone of our design process, feeds a systematic assess-
ment of expected solutions and their efficiency, and the
necessity of an eventual revision.
Keywords: Mouraria square; public square; urban site.
Praça da Mouraria
É ao lado de um trecho urbano requalificado
que, anos depois e à parte do Plano de Ação
da Mouraria, nasceu o projeto de uma praça
que liga a Rua Palma com a Rua Benformoso,
integrando um conjunto de praças públicas
que pontuam o caminho. O programa para
a nova praça encontrou suas diretrizes nas
características do sítio. O local, fronteira entre
duas realidades urbanas, é também uma
oportunidade de reunir e colocar em contato
essas realidades sociais e culturais. Começamos
o processo de projeto arquitetônico com uma
abordagem pessoal, acreditando que isso
resulta de uma leitura ampla e ambiciosa da
realidade, encarando sua complexidade, e de
uma visão multifacetada e consistente para
transformá-la. O exercício da dura crítica é
a pedra angular do nosso processo projetual,
que alimenta uma avaliação sistemática
das soluções previstas, sua eficiência e uma
eventual necessidade de revisão.
Palavras-chave: Praça da Mouraria; praça
pública; espaço urbano.
Plaza Mouraria
Junto a un tramo urbano recalificado que,
años después y aparte del Plan de Acción de
Mouraria, nació el proyecto para abrir una
plaza que conecta la calle Palma y la calle
Benformoso, integrando un conjunto de plazas
públicas que marcan el camino. El programa
para la nueva plaza naturalmente encontró sus
pautas en las características del sitio. El lugar,
frontera entre dos realidades urbanas, es
también una oportunidad para reunir y poner
en contacto dos realidades sociales y culturales.
Comenzamos el proceso del proyecto con un
enfoque personal de diseño arquitectónico,
creyendo que eso es el resultado de una lectura
amplia y ambiciosa de la realidad, frente a
su complejidad, y de una visión multifacética
y consistente para transformarla. El ejercicio
de la resistencia crítica es la piedra angular
de nuestro proceso de proyecto, alimentando
una evaluación sistemática de las soluciones
previstas, su eficiencia y una eventual
necesidad de revisión.
Palabras clave: Plaza Mouraria, plaza pública;
espacio urbano.
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página anterior
Urban insertion
of the project in
the neighborhood
highlighting the
opposite public void.

Photographic records
of the neighborhood.

1. Mouraria Square

It is alongside a requalified urban section that, years later

and aside from the Mouraria’s Action Plan, it was born the
project of a square connecting Palma Street to Benformo-
so Street, integrating a set of public squares that mark
the pathway. However, according to some municipal ar-
chival documents, there were already initiatives to open a
square connecting the two streets. At the end of the nine-
teen century, shortly after the opening of Palma Street, a
group of Benformoso Street residents requested for an
additional passage to link both streets. Years later, in the
1950s, a demolition plan for the construction of the Martin
Moniz square included the elimination of a set of buildings
where now the Mouraria square is planned to be created.
Heading north, the extension of Palma Street becomes
Almirante Reis Ave., an ease connection to the expanding
city. However, it creates a frontier and isolates the Mou-
raria area from the West side of the city. Therefore, open-
ing a connection between these two streets is not only a
way to address an action problem of local urban design,
but it is also an opportunity to respond to a pressing mat-
ter regarding social cohesion in a multicultural context.

2. A New Mosque

The program for the new square found its guidelines on

the site characteristics. The area is a frontier between
two urban realities, that can also serve as an opportunity
to bring together and put in contact two different social
and cultural worlds. For example, given the dimension
of the local Muslim community, coming especially from
Bangladesh, and the precariousness state of the existing
mosque, it is a reasonable decision to build a new mosque.
Furthermore, the close presence of the Municipal Photo-
graphic Archive, next to the square, become an opportu-
nity to expand the Archive facilities. For instance, a new
multi-purpose room can be built to host exhibitions.
The future square program aims to reflect the natural
condition and composition of the site as a frontier. The
mixed program will allow spaces of multiple uses. In ad-
dition to that, the design principles seek to reinforce the
flexibility of the use of the buildings, ensuring that they
can serve a diversity of purposes, now and in the future.
This vague and plural program also allows the project to
not succumb to the temptation of contributing inadver-
tently to the process of stigmatization by giving visibility
to multi-cultures.
 165

Public Spaces:
01. Comércio
Square
02. Rossio
12
Square
03. Figueira
Square
04. Martim Moniz
Square
11 I
05. Mouraria
Square
06. Intendente Plaza
07. Anjos Church
08. Chile 10
Square
09. Arroios
Marketplace
10. D. Afonso 09
Henriques Mall
Garden
H
11. João do Rio 08
Square
12. Areeiro Square
G
Neighborhoods:
A. Mouraria
B. Graça
C. Intendente
D. Andrade
E F
Neighborhood
E. Inglaterra
Neighborhood
F. Colónias
Neighborhood
G. Penha de França
H. Alto do Pina
Neighborhood
I. Actores
Neighborhood 07

06 C
B

05

04
A

03
02

01

Public Spaces:
01_ Praça do Comércio 02_ Praça do Rossio 03_ Praça da Figueira 04_ Praça do Martim Moniz 05_ Praça-Mouraria 06_ Largo do
Intendente 07_ Igreja dos Anjos 08_ Praça do Chile 09_ Mercado de Arroios 10_ Jardim da Alameda D. Afonso Henriques 11_ Praça João
do Rio 12_ Praça do Areeiro

Neighborhoods:
A_ Mouraria B_ Graça C_ Intendente D_ Bairro Andrade E_ Bairro de Inglaterra F_ Bairro das Colónias G_ Penha de França H_ Bairro
projeto

27.80

23.20

22.30

21.50

21.00

18.50

21.00

Palma Street .a
 167

Cross section.

Elevation from
Palma Street.

Elevation from
Benformoso Street.

27.80

23.20

22.30

21.50

Palma Street
18.50

1:100

Benformoso Street .b
projeto

05 04

08

03 09

19.05
18.55

01 06 07

07

02

19.00 18.50

WC WC

WC

WC
01

01
02

02
03

03
04

04
05

05
06

06
07

07
08

08
09

09
10

10
11

11
12

12
13

13
14
15
16
17

19.00 18.00
COVERED SQUARE

N
01. Courtyard of praying spaces 02. Men's ablution space 03. Men's praying room 04. Minbar 05. Mihrab 06. Courtyard of refectory 07. Cloakroom 08. Kitchen 09. multipurpose room/ Refectory 10. Women's ablution space 11. Hall 12. Women's praying room 13. Cabinet 14. Multipurpose room I 15. Multipurpose room II 16. Storeroom 17. Minaret WC. Toilets GROUND FLOOR
1:100

Plans
01. Courtyard of praying spaces
02. Men’s ablution space
03. Men’s praying room
04. Minbar
05. Mihrab
06. Courtyard of refectory
07. Cloakroom
08. Kitchen
09. Refectory/ Multipurpose room
10. Women’s ablution space
11. Hall
12. Women’s praying room
13. Cabinet
14. Multipurpose room I
15. Multipurpose room II
16. Storeroom
17. Minaret
WC. Toilets
 169

20.58 20.63
20.62 20.69
20.81 20.87
20.98 21.03
21.38 21.45
21.66 21.71
20.69
22.00 22.07
22.29

21.00 22.30

21.70

22.38
08
14
11
07

06

05

04 04

03 03

02 02

01 01

21.57 21.27
LATERAL ACCESS PATHS

LATERAL ACCESS PATHS

12

GARDEN
VOID
22.30 21.00 20.50
VOID

10 11 13 13
QE

QE
22.30 22.30

19.00 20.50
VOID VOID

15
23.20

MINARET 22.30

05

04

03
01

01
02

02

02
03

03

01
04

04
05

05

21.50

22.30
08

08

05
09

09

04
10

10
11

11

03
12

12

02
13

13
14

14

01
15
16

21.50
17

WC 16 16 WC

N
01. Courtyard of praying spaces 02. Men's ablution space 03. Men's praying room 04. Minbar 05. Mihrab 06. Courtyard of refectory 07. Cloakroom 08. Kitchen 09. multipurpose room/ Refectory 10. Women's ablution space 11. Hall 12. Women's praying room 13. Cabinet 14. Multipurpose room I 15. Multipurpose room II 16. Storeroom 17. Minaret WC. Toilets FIRST FLOOR
1:100
projeto

Mouraria has a unique reality, it is a territory where dif-
ferent cultures coexist; so, when people share a common
place like a square, a neighborhood, or a public space in
general, a great opportunity to effectively integrate the
OTHER is created.
Even though one might consider that urban interven-
tions search to act on the obscure side underlying the
ambiguity of interstitial spaces it’s, here, appropriate
to note that being ambiguity of interstitially conditions
inherent to our contemporaneity, maybe it would be
important to also take in to account the potential of
those conditions. This is, I believe that the possible in-
vention of a neighborhood as a segregated and stig-
matized space, implies admitting that Mouraria is
one of the reflections of contemporary urban space,
a patch was coexist distinct parts or a multiplicity of
Mourarias. (MENEZEs, 2004, p.282).
3. Design Process
The intention was, from the beginning, to take a personal
approach, believing that this is a result of a broad and
ambitious reading of reality, while facing its complexity,
multifaceted, and consistent vision to then transform the
real world. The aim was to serve to each particular con-
text — cultural, social, and economic — with an adequate
and sustainable response. In order to do so, it was ne-
cessary an in-depth analysis of the challenges that must
be accomplished through design. Second, in every stage
of the project, a continuous joint reflection of the design
teams needs to assure a wide, plural, and coordinated vi-
sion. Even though sustainability is as multifaceted chal-
lenge, the project must focus on the necessity of attai-
ning an optimal response: broad in sense and strict in the
affection of means. The purpose is to achieve maximum
efficiency, both during and after the construction.
The exercise of critical thinking, which is the corner
stone of our design process, feeds a systematic assess-
ment of expected solutions and their efficiency, and the
necessity of an eventual revision. Therefore, the project
relies on multidisciplinary design teams, believing that
interdisciplinary dialogue stimulates creativity and the
overall quality of the design. Every project starts with a
careful diagnosis, which allows both the design team and
the client to create a critical vision of the project and be
part of the involved challenges.
171
Author
Inês Lobo graduated at the School of Fine
Arts of Lisbon in 1989, and since then she
teaches design studio. Currently, she is a Guest
Professor at the Universidade Autónoma de
Lisboa and at the Universidade de Lisboa.
Her professional career began in 1989, and
in 2002 she founded her own company: Inês
Lobo, Arquitectos. In 1999, she was honored
with the title of Oficial da Ordem do Mérito by
the President of the Republic of Portugal and
in 2013 she received the Mulheres criadoras
da cultura prize, granted by the Portuguese
Government. She is also a curator and
commissioned of Architecture exhibitions.
Lobo was responsible for the Portuguese
representation in the Venice Biennale (2012)
and the Eighth Ibero-American Architecture
and Urbanism Biennale.
Team
João Rosário, João Vaz, Júlia Varela, Vasco
Lopes and Sónia Ribeiro.
Collaborators
ADF Engenheiros Consultores and Pedro
Morujão (structures); Fernanda Valente
(hydraulic installations); GPIC Projectos
Consultoria e Instalações, Fernando Aires and
Alexandre Martins (electrical installations,
telecommunication and security); Natural
Works and Guilherme Carrilho da Graça
(heating, ventilation, building physics, thermic
and acoustics); Rui Prata Ribeiro Lda and
Paula Balseiro (project revision); 3Dhelp
(renderings); Paulo Catrica (photography).
references
MENEZES, Marluci. Mouraria: retalhos de um
imaginário. Oeiras: Celta, 2004.
Proposal for Municipality of Lisbon/Local
muslim community from Bangladesh.
Lisbon, Portugal, 2013-16.