Places
Heliântia Building
Francisco Oliveira Ferreira / Manuel Magalhães e F. Abrunhosa de Brito
1930 / 1991
Saturday + Sunday
Building PICTURES
Regular Visits
Tours
Visit accompanied by Architect José Pedro Tenreiro
Maximum 20 people per visit
No reservation required; first-come, first-served
No wheelchair access
Photography allowed
Description
Projected by Francisco de Oliveira Ferreira, in 1929, this clinic is in Vila Nova de Gaia, a city with many of his built works (namely the Sanatório Marítimo do Norte Dr. Ferreira Alves (1916) [Northern Maritime Sanatorium Dr. Ferreira Alves] founded by the doctor that is also at the origin of this clinic). Heliântia is a reinforced concrete portico-like structure, developed in three layers (in which the first floor takes on the monumentality to absorb the other two), with balcony-terraces turned to the four cardinal points and a flat roof. Even if you can find clear references to the classic formal world, the exercise in abstraction is notable, whether in the drawing, whether in the colour (the same to all elements of the building). Far is the formal analogy to Palladio that we find in the sanatorium, or the eclectic nature of the Feniano club designed 10 years before. Heliântia is a totally new building, modern, and rational. Recovered and transformed by architect Manuel Magalhães into a cultural space and teaching institution, the building remains the same, an intelligent sunflower (Helianthus) looking for each seaside sunbeam.
Location
Avenida dos Sanatórios
Directions: Google Maps / Apple Maps
Public Transport
Bus: STCP - ZF
Train: Francelos