Gallery Pavillion / Atelier JQTS


© Diana Quintela

© Diana Quintela
  • Architects: Atelier JQTS
  • Location: R. de São João, 9500-107 Ponta Delgada, Portugal
  • Architect In Chare: Atelier JQTS
  • Commissioner: KWY – Walk&Talk – Arts Festival
  • Team: André Santos, Belén Goñalons, Carolina Costa, Daniel Borges, Inês Almeida Peixoto, João Quintela, João Rebelo Costa, Leonor Peixoto, Luís Brum, Mariana Santos, Tim Simon
  • Area: 120.0 m2
  • Project Year: 2017
  • Photographs: Diana Quintela, Sara Pinheiro, Filipa Couto

© Sara Pinheiro

© Sara Pinheiro

From the architect. GALLERY is placed in front of the building that hosted the previous editions of Walk & Talk which was recently sold, forcing the festival to move elsewhere. The title of the project is a reference to Walk & Talk’s own history.


Site Plan

Site Plan

The pavilion’s basic element is a single frame with 3 openings (as the Ponta Delgada’s monument “doors of the city”). It has no stability enough to stand by itself so the use of the triangular geometry created by the assembly of 3 frames generates the basic unity from where the project grows in and endless system. That repetition allows the creating of a space, a building or even a new reality.


© Diana Quintela

© Diana Quintela

Floor Plan

Floor Plan

© Diana Quintela

© Diana Quintela

GALLERY is a about physical experience and haptic sensations. It’s made of local Cryptomeria wood with a rough finishing that ask us to feel its texture. It has local bagacina on the floor that creates sounds and rhythms while walking inside. It has a translucent black net that creates different degrees of transparency/opacity along the spaces. It has a collection of 18 small rooms (identical in size but different in their relations) asking to explore it and discover the labyrinthic path to main room from where one can see the Atlantic Ocean.


© Filipa Couto

© Filipa Couto

© Diana Quintela

© Diana Quintela

GALLERY is imagined as a small landmark structure that creates new possibilities of reading a territory in a non imposing manner. It has and abstract relation to a castle, placed on the highest point. It also creates a new diagonal axis from the city towards the ocean, encouraging a dialogue between the tower of the theatre and the former Walk & Talk gallery. The rigid geometry allows flexible and informal uses on the inside. Apart from the exhibitions and performances, this is a gallery to walk, to sit, to enjoy and to stay.


© Sara Pinheiro

© Sara Pinheiro

© Diana Quintela

© Diana Quintela