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Case Study: Casa de Portugal by Marcos Torres
Here on Abduzeedo we also like to share some of our projects, events and ideas. The commissioned project I'm going to show you today was done early on this year and it's a candidate for my best project of 2013. I gave a lot of myself into it so I hope you guys like it, thanks a lot for the support. On the following I describe all the process behind the execution of this two commissioned murals for Casa de Portugal, I hardly see this kind of Case Study on this media (wall painting) so I thought this would be a good oportunity, hope you learn a lot from it. If you're interested in seeing more, you can see this and other projects on my Behance profile. Luís Vaz de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that ofShakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads). His recollection of poetry The Parnasum of Luís de Camões was lost in his lifetime. The influence of his masterpiece "Os Lusíadas" in Portuguese is so profound that it is called the "language of Camões".[1] (Wikipedia) Project The briefing that I had for this job was to make this artwork with a theme that could be at same time a tribute to the portuguese culture and also could convey a image. I decided to use the image of Luiz Vaz de Camões because he's a strong symbol (if not the most) of the portuguese literature. I also decided to use his most famous poem "Amor é fogo que arde sem se ver". As photographic reference for the illustration I took this picture of the Camões chest statue that we can found on Casa de Portugal. The angle I took the photo was choosen to give it a feeling of power and strength. I decided to make this on black and white to enhance the details and make reference to classic art using many hachures. I rather divide the poem in two blocks to make a better layout, I used the Dirty Sanchez (http://www.legacyofdefeat.com/). I added some arabesques on the base to make reference to classic emboss used on portuguese art. Process Bellow you can see the grid I used to organize the elements in order to translate them correctly to the wall. After I took all the measures of the wall I decided to convert the original project on Photoshop proportionally. This way it was way more easier to find out the measures of each element on the wall. Of course, I decided to do a few minor changes some of them just happened naturally on this step, anyway it did not compromised the final result. Making the type work, letter by letter using a kerning next to perfect was probably the hardest part of this project. I draw the letters using a triograph pencil because it has a bigger graphite and it won't broke on friction with the wall. After, using a acrylic light brush I did all the strokes and later the fill of each letter using red acrylic paint. When drawing the Camões head I first did a sketch using pencil and eraser to correct the mistakes, it was necessary to use a beveled brush that would not drip during the inking. I began by making frill that is the most abstract part of th drawing and later went into the beard and the rest of the head. Final Result Casa de Portugal - Mural 2013 from Marcos Torres on Vimeo. Mural realizado por Marcos Torres em 2013 na Casa de Portugal, Porto Alegre, Brasil. D. Vasco da Gama D. Vasco da Gama (c. 1460 or 1469 – 23 December 1524), 1st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. He is one of the most famous and celebrated explorers from the Discovery Ages, being the first European to reach India by sea. This discovery was very significant and paved the way for the Portuguese to establish a long lastingcolonial empire in Asia. The route meant that the Portuguese wouldn't need to cross the highly disputed Mediterranean nor the dangerous Arabia, and that the whole voyage would be made by sea. (Wikipedia) Project This is another project I did for Casa de Portugal as they invited me to do, the idea was to create another panel that could be more thematic than the previous, but at the same time could maintain a unique style. I decided to embrace more the portuguese culture e to use her symbols. First I used the Portugal coat of arms, symbol that you can even see on their flag. I also added the picture of Vasco da Gama for his historic importance for the portuguese people as for the world history, so the choice of using a background with caravels and a sea was consistet with the theme. Here's a previous sketch of waht would become: I decided to use a grid to translate the sketch to the wall as I believe this is a technique that works really well for this purpose of expanding the image without leaving big distortions on the final product. I did this division on many columns and after just numbered to facilitate to identify each part that would produced. So, besides the decisions I had to made during the execution of this project, the grid obviously contributed for the final product be not exactly like the sketch, what actually did not compromise the final result. Process First thing first, I took the measures of the wall so I could scale properly and make the correct translation to the wall. I used masking tapes to mark the X and Y axis of the image, after I did the quadrants using a pencil and a ruler. Over this I drawed with pencil on the grid and little by little just added each shape on it's place then I just inked the whole thing using a few brushes and acrylic. I choose to make a few details in red in order to skip a little bit from the old BW color scheme. Final Result Casa de Portugal - Mural 2013 from Marcos Torres on Vimeo. Mural realizado por Marcos Torres em 2013 na Casa de Portugal, Porto Alegre, Brasil.
Worldwide Photography #30: Porto
Worldwide Photography is a series of posts where every week we're going to show a city or location around the globe bringing the coolest photography samples of it. The photographs authors are all credited right above their pictures. Today feature: Porto, Portugal. For the next week we're going to feature Phnom Penh, Cambodia so if you want to send your submissions for the next Worldwide Photography, please tweet the tag #wwphoto and the link of the photo(s) on twitter. I'll be wainting for your submissions :) ferlomuferlomuFrancisco-PortoPortugalFrancisco-PortoPortugalandre santiagoMarcilakSonia Cardoso Sardinha aka BlueDolphimsmOOth.n.FunKyM.PatTempi enormi?ù?üÐ?medeiros28?ù?üÐ?YET TO COMEYET TO COMEalexbaxtercanunomatosphotographynunodantasLisArtromanovskaFrancisco-PortoPortugalFrancisco-PortoPortugalFrancisco-PortoPortugalYen Baet - www.yenbaet.comaManFromPortoFrancisco-PortoPortugalFrancisco-PortoPortugal?ndreiaLothannandre santiagoFoto Smaugmiki**zwigmarAntónio OliveirajvverdeJan HerremansLuis Ferreira FotoszwigmarRvDariojoaojapCorsarzantidotum
Flight of Birds House, by Bernardo Rodrigues
Okay, I know that Beautiful Houses is another post, but I had to steal this one from Gisele. This is an architectural masterpiece, an amazing house located at St. Michael Island in the Azores, a project by portuguese Bernardo Rodrigues. The shape and design of this house really caught my attention, it was done very carefully, being both subtle and very striking, like a bird preparing to fly. This is the format and name of this project, Flight of Birds. Interesting? Well I should say that this house is more than that, the way that they designed the environments favoring the view of the woods as well as natural lighting and large walls around the house to protect from rain and high winds - characteristic of the area. These are some of the characteristics of this house, beautiful, modern and why not say exciting?! Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan The microclimate of this farmland offers frequent wind and showers so the first design strategy was to block with a wall those winds, offer diverse patios and covered courtyards on the ground floor protected from rain and open all living space to the natural green around by glass walls receded from the exterior. Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan Photography by Iwan Baan
Museum of Art and Archaeology of the Côa Valley
Despite being a project of 2009, I found it only this week and was impressed by the concept of the project. The Museum of Art and Archaeology of the Côa Valley is like the architects say, "an installation in the landscape. " Simply amazing! Designed by portugues earchitect Camilo Rebelo, along with Tiago Pimentel and Sandra Barbosa, is located in Portugal, in the Côa Valley. The building is practically part of the landscape that has a stunning view, it's a monolithic form made?with stones and local color. Built with clean lines, thin and vertical windows to not lose the horizontal concept adopted for the project. It is a place that I would love to know personally. The pictures are from Camilo Rebelo, James Pimentel, and Nelson Garrido. © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido The Palaeolithic art in the Coa Valley is perhaps man’s first land art manifestation. The Museum is conceived as an installation in the landscape. The monolithic triangular form is a direct result of the valley’s confluences. Its materiality evokes the local stone yards and reflects two different natures: the concrete’s matter, and the local stone’s texture and colour. © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido
Awesome Typography Works by Andre Beato
I came across André's work because of the Daily Inspiration and was really stunned about his typographic work. I really dig the concept and the choice of his colour palettes in his works. André Beato is a Portuguese Graphic Designer & Illustrator currently based in London. His work is mostly vector based graphics, illustrations, corporate identities and typefaces. You can found more about him on his website.
Vodafone Portugal Headquarters
I'm sure that architecture is made by emotion, a building should express sensations, rhythm and should put together art and use. A bit complex, but is this way I believe architecture must be, and I think I'm not alone, the people at Barbosa & Guimaraes agree with me, and they've shown that on the Vodafone Portugal project. Simply exciting! Called Oporto Vodafone Building, the construction has 8 floors, 3 of them are underground. The building is a shell of concrete irregular shapes, forming a kind of mosaic that plays with the acute forms of the glasses becoming a unique and formidable piece of art. The geometric forms full of movement seems to dance and convey the Vodafone idea: "Vodafone life, life in motion." This game with free-forms extends to the interior, witch was carefully planned to every single function, being a complete building, and like the architects said "monolithic building, bringing cohesion and unity to the set". © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido "In July 2006, when we were invated to the new building competition, through the media, radio, television and newspapers we could notice the following slogan: 'VODAFONE LIFE, LIFE IN MOTION.' This sentence reflects the attitude and philosophy of Vodafone. We believe that the new building should be faithful to this idea, adopting a dynamic image, conveying the sense of movement, challenging the static." Barbosa & Guimaraes © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido "The technical complexity of the building leads to a periphery structural solution, a shell of concrete, like an egg, reducing internal support to the two stairwells and three central pillars, allowing great versatility in its interior space use." Barbosa & Guimaraes © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido Photos by Nelson Garrido - ngphoto.com.pt
The Bold Building Axis Viana Hotel in Portugal
Portugal was presented with an hotel called Axis Viana Hotel, this building is a prove that architecture and enginnering can work togheter and create structures beyond the regular floor over floor. If you look at the side view you will understand what I'm talking about. This hotel has been built with materials like glass, aluminum and stone. When you see the front view it seems that it has no order in the windows, with different widths and spaces. And looking by the sides, it's like when you play with Lego, building the way you want no mather what is gonna happen. But in this case, the shape looks awesome and besides the fact of this huge pending floor, the team of engineers and architects made things happen and the building is standing up. Like David Basulto, from Archidaily said: "This Business & Spa Hotel is an ode to cantilevering". The contemporary project was designed by Jorge Albuquerque, from VHM, and is located in Viana de Castelo between the Lima's and Monte Santa Luzia's river, a few minutes from the historic center of Viana do Castelo. The Axis Viana Business & SPA Hotel, is the most recent unit of the group Axis Hotels and Golf. © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido © Nelson Garrido More at: archdaily.com Photos by: Nelson Garrido - ngphoto.com.pt
The Future of Newspaper Design
I saw this post today on core77 and I thought it was a great story to share it with our Abduzeedo readers. I'm sure you've all heard the notion that "print is a dying medium." Advertising in print is down, and seems to continue declining, because more people are going online to read content. So what do we do? Do we just write Print's obituary and sit around remembering it fondly, or do we try to salvage it? A brand new daily publication in Portugal, simply titled i, is trying something new and they are getting positive results. i's circulation had increased from 11,000 in May to 16,000 in August. So how are they doing it? i is not structured like a traditional paper. The paper's team worked with media consultancy Innovation to come up with a new way to organise the product. "Our feeling was," said Figueiredo, who came on board at an early stage, moving from Diário Económico, "that people were not concerned about traditional sections any more. Traditionally, journalists have to fill a politics section even if there is nothing relevant going on in politics. We wanted to come up with something different." So the team came up with five key needs that they wanted the paper to address, with five key words. A New Design Apart from restructuring the content, they've also broken away from the traditional minimal design of a newspaper and they have gone for a more magazine-like approach. Nick Mrozowski, i's American art director, said that "I think the overriding concept, not just in the design but in the newspaper as a whole, is that we want to try to set out to produce a magazine every day." The 56- to 64-page paper is tabloid size and stapled, so looks as much like a magazine as a newspaper. A huge amount of work goes into designing the paper every day. At first, Mrozowski explained, the idea was that the paper would have a template that would leave some pages fixed each time, meaning that some pages would require no design work on a daily basis and that editors would simply put their content into the pre-designed format. "But from day one that strategy fell apart," he said. "We realised that the sort of paper we were making had a lot of very specialised content and each page would have to be custom-made to the needs of a reporter or editor." Of course this appeals to me as a graphic designer but I wonder if this can become too much work to keep up with. By restructuring their content areas they were able to alleviate the need to fill up whole sections with worthless news, but now I feel that the pressure to deliver has been transferred over to the design aspect of the newspaper. Only time will tell if this proves to be the case. I really hope this newspaper continues to be successful. I hope it inspires other newspapers. Read the full article on www.editorsweblog.org This video is in Portuguese with English subtitles.