Book Review: Centro das Artes | Casa das Mudas

Centro das Artes | Casa das Mudas by Paulo David and Fernando Guerra



A fitting companion to this week's dose is this self-published book by photographer Fernando Guerra, of Paulo David's Center of the Arts in Calheta, Madeira. As Guerra admits in one of the introductory essays, "the book tells the story of a day spent...from daybreak to nightfall." This concept is apparent even if one focuses only on the pictures and ignores the words, though doing this, of course, would deprive one of the insights Guerra, the client, and other architects offer. The concept is a fitting one, as much of the power of the design, derived from its site, is its relationship to the sun, particularly as it rises and sets. The way the sun illuminates the surfaces -- vertical and horizontal -- illustrates that the architect's considerations of material and texture are not arbitrary; they are grounded in the building's location.

A wonderful quote by Daniel Carrapa captures the cycle the book presents:

In leafing through the pages of this small book, one discovers a quality so often absent, that is, the aspect of time in architecture: the eastern façade flooded by the morning’s clarity, the awakening surroundings, the rhythm of its existence. One witnesses the light’s path and colour changes in the basalt, in the sky, at daybreak. The interior enkindles warm tones contrasting with the more dramatic clouds outside, culminating in a theatrics filled finale provided by nocturnal lighting at day’s end.

Architectural drawings and essays by architects José Mateus (ARX Portugal) and Ana Vaz Milheiro close the book, the last giving their unique insights into the building's inner pulse and the humanization of the island landscape, respectively. The photographs, drawings, and essays give the reader a deep understanding of the building and its place, all the while small enough to fit in one's pocket, a great precedent for presenting architecture to a wider audience.