Experimental studio FAHR0213 has completed a concrete structure that makes a continuous loop in the garden of the Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto, (UPTEC).

Dubbed Loop, the new structure has specifically been developed for the garden in front of the central building that symbolized this mark in time and made it last in the future as a symbol of the park. The structure was created for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the design of the Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto. 

The architects started by looking for a silhouette capable of being a center in Asprela, mainly characterized for being a pole of great concentration of health and educational facilities. 

"Those facilities generate a daily flow of people without many reasons for permanence by the absence of points of interest in the public space," said the team.

In the combination of a concrete circle bench with an organic texture, LOOP assumes the idea that repetition is never equal, the same round will never be the same. 

With each circle that closes new textures are generated, bringing their own identity. The meeting in the garden allows the conversation, democratizes the themes, leaving without limits the participation of those who pass by. 

"In the studio we wanted to believe that we were developing a new locus, a reference in the public space that allows any type of appropriation," the architects added.

Project facts

Project name: Loop

Team: Filipa Frois Almeida, Hugo Reis, Sérgio Marafona, Catarina Azevedo

Engineering: Streng

Construction: Fernando Moreira da Silva & Filhos, OpoLab

Client: UPTEC 

Location: Porto, Portugal 

Built: 2018 

All images © João Morgado

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