Vodafone Headquarters | Barbosa Guimarães Architects

Barbosa Guimarães Architects have made amazing use of the versatility of concrete in Porto, Portugal’s new Vodafone Headquarters. Versatility in form as well as versatility in program. The exterior concrete form creates a shell around the space within, which in conjunction with the two stairwells and three central pillars, is all the structure the place needs. This leaves the interior largely free of space-taking structure and open for function.

Presented with the intellectual problem that is the office typology, usually so linear and stale, the architects sought inspiration from arts such as sculpture, painting and photography which had already faced similar dilemmas. The result was a warping/distending of space, a throw out of balance, an approach of ‘many in motion’ rather than a single visage.

And the headquarters, with its undulating facets, eight floors (5 above, 3 below), and surrounding grounds, does indeed stand as ‘many in motion’ but also as ‘many being one’ and vice versa.