BUREAU Transforms Lisbon's Garagem Sul into Dynamic Exhibition Space with 'Garage Encounters'
BUREAU's latest endeavor, 'Garage Encounters,' located at Garagem Sul within Lisbon's MAC/CCB – Museum of Contemporary Art and Architecture Centre, reinterprets the essence of architectural exhibition. This expansive 2,200-square-meter project, envisioned by Daniel Zamarbide and Carine Pimenta, inaugurates the revitalized venue by questioning the conventional notion that architecture's true existence is confined to built structures. The design weaves together echoes of renowned cultural institutions such as Serralves, Sir John Soane's Museum, El Prado, and the Uffizi, recontextualizing them to soften their inherent institutional formality. This deliberate blending highlights the inseparable relationship between process and display, showcasing construction methods, repurposed elements, and infrastructural components as integral parts of the spatial narrative. The project champions exhibition design as a fundamentally architectural act, manipulating space, construction, circulation, and public interaction.
A core principle of 'Garage Encounters' is its commitment to sustainability and historical continuity. Approximately 80% of the construction utilizes materials salvaged from previous exhibitions, ingeniously reassembled to form the new scenography. These recycled components carry their own unique histories, embedding past cultural narratives within the present configuration. Prior to this transformation, Garagem Sul underwent a significant clearing process, removing years of accumulated architectural layers to reveal existing materials and reintroduce natural light. Conceptually rooted in historical and political discourse, the project draws inspiration from figures like Carlo Scarpa and Lilly Reich, who championed exhibition design as a vital civic practice. The exhibition, ‘Interspecies,’ introduces a multi-species perspective to architectural discourse, advocating for the inclusion of non-human entities in architectural narratives, thereby expanding the concept of public space beyond purely human concerns and fostering various forms of exploration and coexistence.
Reimagining Exhibition Spaces Through Innovative Design
BUREAU's groundbreaking project, 'Garage Encounters,' fundamentally redefines how we perceive and interact with architectural exhibitions. Located at the MAC/CCB's Garagem Sul in Lisbon, this 2,200-square-meter installation, developed by Daniel Zamarbide and Carine Pimenta, serves as a semi-permanent scenography that challenges the traditional understanding of architecture. It provocatively suggests that architectural presence extends beyond the mere construction of buildings. The design incorporates abstracted elements from iconic institutions like Serralves and the Uffizi, transforming them into atmospheric references that are less formal and more accessible, deliberately eroding their institutional rigidity. This approach echoes the principles seen in Harald Szeemann's 'When Attitude Becomes Form,' where the exhibition process itself is intertwined with the display. The project openly reveals its construction techniques, material connections, and underlying infrastructure, making them integral to the spatial story rather than concealing them.
'Garage Encounters' exemplifies exhibition design as a comprehensive architectural undertaking that actively shapes space, construction, movement, and public engagement. A significant aspect of this project is its sustainable methodology: roughly 80% of the structural components are derived from repurposed materials from past exhibitions. These elements, carrying vestiges of their previous uses, integrate a rich historical tapestry into the contemporary design. Before the current installation, the Garagem Sul underwent a thorough revitalization, stripping away decades of accumulated modifications to expose its original fabric and enhance natural light penetration. The conceptual foundation for the project is both historical and political, drawing inspiration from pioneers such as Carlo Scarpa and Lilly Reich, who viewed exhibition creation as a civic responsibility—a dynamic negotiation between education, representation, and communal life. The inaugural program, 'Interspecies,' broadens architectural discourse to include non-human perspectives, fostering a space where diverse forms of exploration, observation, and coexistence can flourish, thus extending the boundaries of public interaction beyond human-centric considerations.
Sustainability and Inclusivity in Architectural Scenography
The 'Garage Encounters' project at Lisbon's MAC/CCB stands as a testament to sustainable architectural practice, with a profound emphasis on material reuse and the integration of diverse historical narratives. Central to its construction is the intelligent repurposing of materials from previous exhibitions, constituting approximately 80% of the overall build. This not only minimizes waste but also imbues the new scenography with layers of past cultural moments, giving each element a unique history. Before this innovative reassembly, the Garagem Sul underwent a restorative process, shedding years of architectural additions to unveil its intrinsic characteristics and optimize natural light, creating a fresh canvas for this new vision. This commitment to recycling and renewal transforms the space into a living archive, where the past continually informs the present and future uses of the exhibition environment, creating a dialogue between different temporal layers of architectural intervention.
Beyond its sustainable material choices, 'Garage Encounters' promotes an inclusive vision of public space and architectural discourse. Drawing inspiration from figures like Carlo Scarpa and Lilly Reich, whose contributions to exhibition design were often understated, the project advocates for exhibition-making as a vital civic act. It highlights the role of exhibitions in mediating between educational objectives, representational strategies, and public interaction. The installation is designed to host 'Interspecies,' a groundbreaking program that introduces a wider, non-human perspective into architectural conversations. This initiative challenges the traditional human-centric narratives in architecture by creating a versatile environment within the garage where different forms of observation, wandering, and cohabitation are encouraged. This expanded understanding transforms the Garagem Sul into a truly public and accessible space, fostering engagement with architectural ideas that transcend conventional boundaries and invite a broader spectrum of experiences and interpretations.