CASA DA MÚSICA

https://www.casadamusica.com/

“Casa da Música is one of Porto’s most stunning contemporary buildings.”

As an architectural adventure, this venue makes the process of liminal transformation accessible.

Casa da Música embodies a culturally accessible liminal space. An inclusive landmark created by a living architect, Rem Koolhaas, he cites, ”its white concrete form stands out in an age of too many icons.” The building was controversial and hated at first for having demolished and replaced Porto’s historic tram terminal and being out of sync with its surroundings. Yet, its all-encompassing philosophy appears to have softened the public’s disdain. Situated on a major roundabout in a mixed upscale residential and business district adjacent to a working-class neighborhood, there’s a nice garden across the street, a market, and lots of restaurant options for breakfast and lunch within walking distance.

The Casa da Música concert venue and the skateboard park outside - two seemingly oppositional subcultures - coexist side-by-side; one doesn’t undermine the other as a higher or lower art form. The dual functionality is an expressive analogy of the liminal/liminoid concept. A sense of creativity and innovation, spontaneity, and playfulness concur.

BOUNDARIES WILL START TO BLUR AS WE FIND OURSELVES LED INTO THE TRANSITIONAL, LIMINAL SPACES OF THIS ARCHITECTURAL GEM

Through a transgression of boundaries, ritualistic practices are performed inside and outside. Liminal thresholds occur using stairs, platforms, corridors, and passageways. Transparency with plentiful glass windows is an inclusive invitation through the main entrance, doorways, and escalators. Outside, the skaters ride the peculiar exterior and unusual shapes and shadows the building provides; the bonding ritual among skaters is evident.

Commenting on Casa da Música, Mr. Rem Koolhaas said, “Most cultural institutions serve only part of a population. A majority knows their exterior shape, but only a minority knows what happens inside. With Casa da Música, OMA wanted to address the relationship between the Concert Hall and the public inside as well as outside the building.”

BY ITS VERY NATURE, IT IS RICH WITH SYMBOLISM THAT CAN BE ANALYZED THROUGH A SEMIOTIC LENS.

“The building was built to celebrate the year when Porto was the European Capital of Culture, 2001. Most people don’t know that the project had already been done – actually, it was designed to be a house for a Dutch family!”

YOU ARE ALL WARMLY INVITED TO EXPERIENCE CASA DA MÚSICA WHILE EMBRACING THE THEME OF LIMINALITY THROUGH A NEW LENS OF MEANING