Porto's 2 Deconstructivist buildings represent bold formal interventions in a city better known for its granite and tile traditions. Rem Koolhaas's Casa da Música — a faceted concrete polyhedron dropped onto a public square — is the city's defining contemporary landmark. Its form was generated by cutting and folding a block rather than composing it conventionally, creating a concert hall whose angular geometry produces unexpected acoustic and spatial qualities.
Barbosa & Guimarães' Vodafone Building contributes a second Deconstructivist voice at commercial scale: a slashed, angular facade that fragments the conventional office block into dynamic, shifting planes. Together, these buildings show Porto embracing architectural experimentation as a strategy for urban renewal.
