The Macedo de Cavaleiros railway station represents a rich heritage legacy not only from architectural level but also anthropological / sociological level and has a huge presence in the collective memory with major impacts at local socio-economy, that urgently needs to be reclassified.

The railway line ceased operation in the mid-1980s. Since then, it has been voted to its own fate and its buildings were subject to vandalism and raids. The project thus intends to reverse this process and clarify the existing complex by subtracting the various additions and changes that the buildings has undergone over the years, seeking new relationships, new scales, new spatialities.

The program envisages the installation of GEOPARK Terra de Cavaleiros with its administrative core at the Estação Passageiros and its respective pedagogical service in Warehouse A on the opposite side of the railroadtrack. It also envisages the installation of an art gallery space with the support of artistic residencies in Warehouse B.

In Warehouse A, a wood tribune, capable of receiving a group of 40 people, serves as support for the pedagogical service. In direct articulation with the platform, at the ground floor is located the GEOPARK Welcome Center, the Mineral Room Exhibition and cafeteria service were installed. The Geopark Administration, with a open space co-work and meeting offices, occupies the first floor of the main building.

A purification and cleaning operation was carried out on the almost 100-year-old construction palimpsest, maintaining and recovering the entire original envelope of the buildings (facades, roofs and layout).

On the exterior, new wooden frames and lime plaster coatings were applied to the stone masonry and new traditional tiles were placed on the roof thus maintaining the original siluettes and volumes of the complex.

Inside, exclusively traditional materials such as wood or its derivatives were used to build a resistant structure (floor slabs, roof trusses and cages), floor coverings and a skirted ceiling. Partitions, doors and cabinets take advantage of the expression of birch plywood and tricapa panels.

All in all, the intervention sought to enhance the unique characteristics of the building complex, providing it with new features but without detracting from its character.

This building complex is deeply rooted in the collective memory of the local population. So deep that respect must be paid to the heritage/cultural value that these buildings bring together.