Josep Lluís Mateo designed the Cultural Center to float above the Praça Largo da Devesa, which his firm designed during phase one of the urban revitalization plan for Castelo Branco, Portugal. He says he wanted to produce a “unitary, continuous building, with roofs, floors and façades that were equivalent to each other.” Directly beneath the building is an ice rink.
Adrià Goula Sarda Josep Lluís Mateo designed the Cultural Center to float above the Praça Largo da Devesa, which his firm designed during phase one of the urban revitalization plan for Castelo Branco, Portugal. He says he wanted to produce a “unitary, continuous building, with roofs, floors and façades that were equivalent to each other.” Directly beneath the building is an ice rink.

Optimize flow. That was the goal that drove Barcelona, Spain–based Mateo Arquitectura’s design of the Praça Largo da Devesa plaza in Castelo Branco, Portugal, and the 46,000-square-foot cultural center that floats above it on twin piers. Just as the plaza’s basalt cobblestones channel the flow of rainwater, an elegant, thin concrete ramp leads visitors between the cultural center’s two levels of exhibition space.

Stairs would have been easier to build, but principal Josep Lluís Mateo wanted visitors to focus on the art and not on their feet. “My dream was for people to move from one level to another without noticing,” he says. “I didn’t want the transition to be a moment in itself. I wanted it to be lost in the experience.”

The 115-foot-long ramp had to be as discreet as possible; a bulky structure supported by columns or cables would have broken the spell. Designing a wisp of a structure that could bear the weight of dozens of enthralled art admirers became the challenge.

Continuing the flow motif, an elliptical ramp emerges from the exhibit hall’s first level and gently curves up to the mezzanine, which houses more paintings and a video art collection.
Adrià Goula Sarda Continuing the flow motif, an elliptical ramp emerges from the exhibit hall’s first level and gently curves up to the mezzanine, which houses more paintings and a video art collection.

As a result, the concrete ramp emerges imperceptibly from the exposed, smooth-finished concrete floor of the lower level to a thickness of 7-7/8 inches. It gradually curves up past sculptures and canvases to the mezzanine, varying in width from 6 feet 3 inches to 11 feet 10 inches.

The cantilevered concrete ramp by Mateo Arquitectura helps erase the spatial distinction between floors, allowing visitors to focus on the center’s artwork.
Adrià Goula Sarda The cantilevered concrete ramp by Mateo Arquitectura helps erase the spatial distinction between floors, allowing visitors to focus on the center’s artwork.

Working with engineering firm Manuel Arguijo y Asociados, also based in Barcelona, Spain, Mateo Arquitectura minimized the ramp’s bulk with a cantilevered concrete structure supported by eight tapered European-standard wide-flange beams (HEB 320) that tie into steel girders in the building’s load-bearing walls. The concrete ramp itself is re­inforced by a dense grid of steel rods, anchored by six large peripheral rods running beam-to-beam through openings cut into the wide-flange beams’ web. The entire ramp required about 26 cubic yards of concrete and was completed in a single pour.

Enhancing the ramp’s minimalism is an invisible safety railing made from 43-inch-tall glass panels—comprising a 3/4-inch-thick sandwich of tempered and laminated lites—bolted to the ramp with stainless steel hardware. Portuguese company Vidreira Ideal do Fundão supplied the glass.

The ramp has helped erase the spatial distinction between floors. Visitors to the cultural center, which was completed in December 2013, can confront the exhibit hall’s oversized paintings and sculptures from different angles as they rise or descend. “I chose the simplest ramp I could imagine,” Mateo says. “I wanted it to look like a floating canopy.”

Building Section
Building Section
The 115-foot-long concrete ramp was completed in a single pour.
Mateo Arquitectura The 115-foot-long concrete ramp was completed in a single pour.
Eight tapered HEB 320 beams support the cantilever ramp.
Mateo Arquitectura Eight tapered HEB 320 beams support the cantilever ramp.
The reinforcing steel includes peripheral rods that continue through opening cut into the web of the HEB 320 beams.
Mateo Arquitectura The reinforcing steel includes peripheral rods that continue through opening cut into the web of the HEB 320 beams.