The project is located in a special urban situation as it is the end of an important axis of the city and leads to an open green area where the trees are extremely present. The surroundings are composed mainly by small scale residential buildings.
Architects: Atelier JQTS
Project Team:
Tim Simon, Björn Werner Knitter, João Quintela
Engineering: Daniel Maio

The building stands with the solid presence of the concrete which gives a symbolic appearance and character to the museum as part of the language of the city. It is the result of this specific urban context opposed to a very generic approach where a hierarchy of different circles cut the volume and give the right answers to the big cross and entrance to the museum on one extreme, to the trees and green areas on the back and to the rhythm of the city on the other sides. There is a clear confront between this outside constrains and the inside rigid structure of the spaces.


Because of that the museum appears as a simple non-hierarchical sequence of different shaped rooms where the control of the light is given through a real concrete structure that supports the building. In between this sequence of rooms there are three patios that generate the circulation between the two levels and create some special introspective moments as well as a different light situation to the rooms.



JQTS is an architecture studio working between Lisbon and Hamburg. Their work consists in a serial research into the open field of architecture combined with a process of learning from the empirical knowledge.
João Quintela, Lisbon, Portugal
Graduated in Architecture from Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa and Politécnico di Milano. Currently develops his PhD at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid. Curator at KAIROS Pavilion with Tim Simon and Fabrícia Valente. Between 2012 and 2017 was teaching assistant at UD Campo Baeza at ETSAM and currently is assistant at UAL.
Tim Simon, Mölln, Germany
Graduated in Architecture by Universität der Künste Berlin and Universidade Autonóma de Lisboa. Currently develops his PhD at HafenCity Universität Hamburg. Curator at KAIROS Pavilion with João Quintela and Fabrícia Valente. Between 2015 and 2017 was teaching assistant at the Technische Universität München with Uta Graff, and currently is assistant at the HafenCity Universität Hamburg.