Competition - Vila Franca do Campo City Market

​The competition for the market of Vila Franco do Campo, in the Island of São Miguel, Açores, asked two complementary demands: create of a permanent roof for the municipal market and the redraw one of the access streets to the market in order to realize temporary covered fairs. This last demand also requested the design of the necessary support structures (temporary roof structure, vending stands and other urban furniture).
The final proposal was inspired in local references: the local tradition of basket weaving and a flower common in the archipelago, the hydrangea, in order to create an original solution, contemporary, but with a strong connection to local tradition. The chosen references were reinterpreted in different ways on the two requested commercial spaces to create create distinct enviorments, but also maintaining the unity of the whole intervention.
In the municipal market, we designed a roof structure constructed in wood from a common local tree (Cryptomeria japonica) with a waving design and waterproofing with violet colored ETFE plastic with openings for the existing trees.
In the temporary fair space, the roof was designed to be made by umbrella like elements dispositioned along a corridor formed by the vending stands, these also constructed with wood and EFTE plastic. All of the fair’s equipment was conceived to be functional, with easy transportation and assembly as well as offering several forms of use.