Braga City Market

Braga, Portugal

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Braga City Market

Braga, Portugal

Firm

APTO Architecture

Type

Commercial › Supermarket Shopping Mall
Hospitality + Sport › Restaurant

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2020

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$5M - 10M

The main goal of this intervention was to renew the existing 1956 city market, preserving its architectural legacy and expanding it with a roof and a new enclosed wing. All functional layouts were redesigned and new valences were added to help the building reach the demands of today's standards.
The public areas, initially mixed and dispersed across the entire building, were reorganized and concentrated into the central square, where you can now see, read, and quickly reach any stand. This allows to easily experience the market as a whole and heightens the possibility of new connections between sellers and buyers. All the service-supporting areas were also reorganized and separated from public routes, clean and dirty circuits were also kept apart, and new features were added to obtain more efficient operational processes and stricter sanitary conditions: the loading/unloading happens in one single area, a waste disposal process was created and prepared for posterior treatments, and specific sectors were complemented with technical areas, such as a cutting plant, smoke-house, preparation kitchen and a dedicated ice production unit.
A food and beverage court was added to promote the building’s livelihood and be a regular attraction.
The building’s form intervention directly relates to the new areas and flux layouts. In the pre-existing building, comprised by three wings in a “U” shape, interventions were minimized by adapting all spaces to the new functions, thus maintaining its original readability. Every storefront was turned away from the inside and towards the central square. As the square became the new centre for all public interaction, its redesign was more profound, with a bigger impact.
The original open-air square was divided into two spaces: wide perimeter corridors and a smaller central lower square. The height difference between them originated an overall fragmented disposition of the stands, with a need for individual coverings, making it impossible to see beyond. This created a confusing and chaotic segmented perception of space.
To address these issues, we needed to unify the square while resolving the 3 meter height difference. We simplified the building into only two main entrances, united by a main ramp, redesigned and adapted the wide perimeter corridors slopes, eliminated most of the stairs and unified all ramps with smaller paths, limited by stall cores in between. All slopes were carefully thought to make them easy to use for disabled and elderly people.
Creating a canopy helped resolve the weather conditions while enclosing in a new wing. The canopy design resorted to generative processes for the creation of the formal concept and performative methodologies in the optimization of its elements: regular contour (wood), parametric truss (steel) and regular tessellation (glass).
Algorithms were essential to create and control the dynamic structure to ensure the scale of the space remains balanced, as well as a greater aesthetic harmony, optimizing spatial comfort with the wood’s materiality. The system of trusses sustains the wood slats and the glass as the top layer, designed to control the light and define the rainwater drainage system. The performative process was crucial to optimize and prepare all elements for production, contributing to a quicker, technically accurate and economically sustainable building.

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Braga City Market

Braga, Portugal

Braga City Market

Braga, Portugal

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team