Nogueira da Regedoura Civic Centre Refurbishment

Like almost every town in the region, Nogueira da Regedoura grew around the churchyard, which worked for decades as the element that held it together. What followed was a century of disorganised growth, made of isolated decisions, that stripped the place of its character.

The diagnosis was clear. There was no central square and no public space to stay in. Shops had settled in, but the road infrastructure and the parking could not cope with the movement they generated. The chapel, alongside, was cut off from the whole.

The project widened the area of intervention so that several problems could be answered at once. A central square to stay in was created, with shade and planting, and the surrounding road infrastructure was stitched together, improving the routes on the edge in order to free the centre.

Priority moved to the pedestrian. The area is largely pedestrian, with raised surfaces and redesigned materials that make that hierarchy legible without any need for signage. The chapel was reconnected to the whole and the area around the pillory was upgraded.

One premise runs through the project: stitch this space back together and return it to the condition of a civic centre.