jose carlos cruz: lordelo pharmacy

‘lordelo pharmacy’ by jose carlos cruz, vila real, portugalimage © fernando guerra

located in inland north portugal in the town of vila real, the ‘lordelo pharmacy’ by portuguese architect jose carlos cruz stands as an architectural image in a region devoid of them. bold light graffiti of the archetypal pharmaceutical cross on the corrugated perforated aluminum facade on a metal grid substructure creates a strong identity for the oval form that contains no openings, save the entrance at the street corner.

as the modern-day pharmacy steadily encroaches on the commercial market, selling and promoting cosmetics and toiletries along with medicinal products, the project aims to assuage the effect of marketing in the world of health and sanitation by lessening the existence of propaganda and focus on the sale of medicinal goods. the interior is organized over two levels, a stark white sales area on the ground floor that allows the individual items to inject color in the space, and the second storey contains an advanced laboratory for the research, creation and manipulation of pharmaceuticals.

exterior with the cross stamped in light on the corrugated skinimage © fernando guerra

image © fernando guerra

elevationimage © fernando guerra

perforated metal sidingimage © fernando guerra

interior sales floorimage © fernando guerra

product packaging adds color to the interiorimage © fernando guerra

sales deskimage © fernando guerra

image © fernando guerra

seating areaimage © fernando guerra

(left) prescriptions niche and window(right) laboratory entranceimage © fernando guerra

hallwayimage © fernando guerra

reception deskimage © fernando guerra

site plan

floor plan / level 0

floor plan / level 1

section

elevation

elevation