Barroca Museum

Designed by studio DC.AD in Mora, Portugal, the Barroca Museum is composed of a long, single storey volume, located in a raised area of an agricultural estate.

Barroca Museum is composed of a long, single storey volume, located in a raised area of an agricultural estate, which previously served as the manger for the estate.

The structure is characterised by extensive sections of white wall, with controlled openings throughout the construction. The gable roof is held in place by wooden trusses that endow the space with the amplitude of a pavilion. The finishings are typified by the whitewashed plastered walls and the red ceramic paving, which recall the traditional architectonic language of this region.

DC.AD, Barroca Museum, Mora, 2016

The project undertaken defined the installation of an exhibition about the history of the local council, based upon Hitherto unpublished photographic records that illustrate and highlight the social and economic transformations ongoing in the region ever since the early 20th century.

DC.AD, Barroca Museum, Mora, 2016

The exhibition layout redesigned the existing spatial logic and in accordance with the diverse specific requirements of the exhibition content. Conceptually, the project was designed with a strong reference to the surrounding built and natural environments in a play on the interior-exterior relationship.

DC.AD, Barroca Museum, Mora, 2016

The intervention extended to the construction of a volume within the interior of the main nave, which stands apart from the walls and the ceiling to become an object unbound in the centre of this space. This self-standing, white structure proves reminiscent of the outer sections of stone masonry and functions as a replication of the existing construction logic.

DC.AD, Barroca Museum, Mora, 2016
DC.AD, Barroca Museum, plan


Barroca Museum, Mora, Portugal
Program: museum
Architecture: DC.AD
Contractor: JVC
Graphic Design: Love ST. Studio
Client: Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Mora
Completion: 2016