The Porto-based architecture firm DepA has designed a mirrored lodge on a lake in the heart of an 18-hectare park that is home to Serralves, Portugal's most visited museum.
The architects were inspired by the museum created by Alvaro Siza Vieira to create this polygonal structure. The shape corresponds to the layout of the museum and its characteristic bow windows, the hexagonal pattern is repeated throughout the museum and the surrounding park. The depA architects explain: "The extracted polygon, once implanted in the park and modified in its original context, including the transformation of its form and materiality, becomes something new and detached from its original source. The pavilion is thus connected to the site through an understanding of space as opposed to a pursuit of aesthetics. While the mirrored exterior is disorienting - seeming to be confused with its surroundings - the interior of the space retains the necessary neutrality for a white cube space.
