THERE'S ANOTHER BORDER

It is investigated how an equipment can obtain a referential status and how it can serve a population, locating a city. Through architecture, an appreciation of knowledge, culture, sports, of the existing territory, is assossiated with the identity, thus maintaining a dialogue with its history.

The architectural proposal found its resolution in the early drawings that enphazised the main axis of Alburrica. Through these axis the form of the building started to take form, stablishing at first sight, two diferences between North and South. In order to control and protect the building's public space from the strong wind felted in Barreiro, there are two main volumes at North who can provide this function, protection, and are simultaneasly referential in the city. In the South, the board and limits between water and land are pretty irregular and narrow, so in order to take advantage from the qualities of the water and the enphasized views and perspectives, the building organizes itself in 6 different volumes with different functions which influence their forms. At East is located the cultural center, which can provide, exhbition centers, auditoriums, libraries, and work places, always with the water as a background. At West is located the nautic center, which guarantees sports activities related to water in the city, these activities are: Rowing, paddeling, gims, working places and so on. The final element that brings all the programs together is the tower of knowledge, which serves the purpose of interpretation of the Tagus river, At last, this tower functions as the referential element of the city of Barreiro.