A modern shopping destination in small, historic town, the challenge–and ultimate success–of Avenida 8° was to create a building both responsive and friendly to the human scale of the town, while presenting itself as a modern and elegant unified whole.

Nestled into a hillside of the small town of São João da Madeira, this new retail center is the largest building in the town. Because of the sheer size of the site, the challenge of the design was to create a building both responsive and friendly to the human scale of the town, while presenting itself as a modern and elegant unified whole. The challenges of the project included a long, narrow and steep site facing a busy street, the necessity of connecting to an existing supermarket, and at the same time remaining receptive and friendly to the existing residential neighborhood. The shopping center is on two levels with two parking levels below grade, taking advantage of the depressed ground of the site. The shopping flows along a single promenade from the southeast to the northwest beginning with a grand receiving plaza at the south entrance. The façade facing the street is partially transparent, which integrates the inner promenade with the town, and opens the shoppers’ experience to the urban environment.

Outside, at the south plaza, a sequence of landscaped stone terraces and stairs intertwine to create a grand entrance connected to the second level of the project, where the food courts expand onto this exterior plaza. Visitors enter the building either from here or through the first floor corner entrance. The massive canopy both physically shelters the outside terrace and creates a visual reception for the project. A bridge had to be built to connect the supermarket and second level of the shopping center, but it need to perform as an integral part of the project rather than an awkward addition. Inspired by inhabited medieval bridges, the bridge of Avenida 8° is double loaded with small scale retail. At the mid-point of the bridge, a glazed opening allows for views of the avenue. The bridge becomes not just a passageway; but a place to shop, to pause and look down on the city.