Eduardo Souto de Moura - Portugal
Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira
Rua do Arq. Viana de Lima, Porto
1998 - 2003

This building is considered to be a turning point in the oeuvre of Eduardo Souto de Moura, establishing a quite different relationship to its environment
than his previous works. With the two protruding volumes and the complex geometry, the Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira receives a rather strange apperance,
opposed to the familiar descrete designs by Eduardo Souto de Moura. The construction is of a cubic shape, similar to the neighbouring houses, suffering some inflections
in order to better respond to the shape and dimensions of the parcel. In knowledge, that there were planned two towers in a distance of only 35 meters, the space of
the library was split in two parts. These to parts of the library were oriented towards the river and the sea. The inclined roof above the auditorium is covered in zinc.
The building volume of the first floor is realized with a dark grey plaster, while the ground floor is clearly articulated as a base covered with plates of stainless steel.