Site Mausoleum located in the Jaspe Quarry, ‘Serra da Arrábida’ (PT)

A perfect reduction of the intervention into one single wall. A balcony to the sea, you turn around and see a human made hole. You cross it and discover an open air space for contemplation. There, only a little bit of water, like a dry dam. A great balance between an engineer infrastructure and a land art intervention. Not looking for mimesis, neither stand out.
The strength of this project is that it disappears into the landscape. It provides a new program that is visible from every point but it blends with the surroundings making evident the particularities and contrasts between nature and a man made structure but avoiding an imposing structure in the site.
A single disruption allows the user to be immersed in the past of the place. The passage, removed from the rock, introduces the visitor to a hidden interior, where soul and memory are successfully found. Although It succeeds better in the relation of the user and the inner mountain than with the sea, it solves with a single (and very adequate) gesture most of the emotional demands of the mausoleum.
Congratulations !