O projeto arises from IJMC GROUP, Lda's intention to develop a project on its property for the existing building to accommodate a commercial/restaurant activity – a market – with the creation of 30 kiosks and a restaurant area that promotes local products and community, culture, culinary education, and healthy eating in a privileged area of the city known for its scenic views, location, and history.
"It is known that Barreiro, in 1865, already had a cork factory, and its establishment date is unknown but might have been that of Victor Garrelon, located on the Rosário road, which was then an embryonic section of the current Miguel Pais Street. In the preliminary survey map of the Hydrographic Plan of the Port of Lisbon, some establishments can already be observed in the mentioned section, some with apparent landfills on the riverfront, indicating commercial or industrial activity closely related to docks. The cork factories began to establish themselves around the urban nucleus, especially in the open space to the south, aligning themselves along the corridor occupied and reserved by the railway, becoming the new horizon of the town.
Since the beginning, the cork artery by nature has been Miguel Pais Street. The fact that it is a main communication route, its confrontation with the riverfront, and the presence of the railway epicenter at its southern end made it desirable for habitation as well. Thus, coexistence here is affirmed in a blend between industry and dwellings to the west, and residences and a large concentration of factories in yards on the east side, according to António Camarão, "A cortiça nas Ruas do Barreiro" - Espaço Memória da Câmara Municipal do Barreiro.
In the article "A visibilidade da Cortiça Barreirense" by António Nunes Camarão, the Barreira & Cª (Irmãos) family is mentioned as one of the producers, manufacturers, and exporters of cork existing at the time in Barreiro. This can be verified in the sponsorships to Horácio F. Alves – A Vila do Barreiro – 1940, where the ads mentioned Barreiro, as they were conceived for export, "presenting themselves even in bilingual messages targeting the external market, or displaying branding, the brand image through the logo that could differentiate the loads to be exported, allowing the quick identification of cork batches, whether in plank or bagged."
According to the information available, the building in question had the function of the final process of cork treatment, its storage, and subsequent export, through the Tagus River, where frigates docked at the pier. This is consistent with the information published in Portaria, Despachos, Éditos, Avisos e Declarações nº 183 of 6/8/1993, which delimits the demarcation of the Maritime Public Domain of Property A (Travessa de 9 de Abril), the building under study.
With this in mind, the project's concept is to "bring history to life," a narrative developed in the project that consists of articulating two distinct temporalities, exploring the "history" of the object, and simultaneously introducing a contemporary language and atmosphere. Through the interpretation of the existing architectural object, the aim was to preserve elements of our collective and local memory. The addition of elements and their interior redesign was guided by the principle of creating a consensus, a dialogue between the two temporalities. This dialogue is materialized in the simplification of the existing building and the occasional introduction of elements with contemporary lines. These subtle and minimalist rearrangements and additions of volumes inside seek not to overshadow the existing language, highlighting the existing and perceived "history" on the site.
The intention is to reopen openings, restore and respect the rhythm and metric of these on the facade as an organizing pattern in the proposed expansion, and to work with light as the raw material of architecture, revealing the sculptural plasticity of interior spaces and serving as a unifying element.
The approach seeks, through architecture and the application of materials, to assert, prioritize, and promote the importance of the cork industry in the city.