This is what the future Martim Moniz Square will look like

The project for the new Martim Moniz Square was selected through a competition of ideas and belongs to the landscape architecture studio of Filipa Cardoso de Menezes and Catarina Assis Pacheco.

Illustrative image of the new Martim Moniz Square (via F|C Arquitectura Paisagista/CML)

The results of the ideas competition launched about a year ago for Martim Moniz Square. The first images of the winning project show a large pedestrian and green square that connects with Mouraria and promises to create a new centrality in the city, at the gates of Baixa. Road traffic will be redesigned to be restricted to just one side of the square. And there will be a new traffic circle.

The project was drawn up by atelier of landscape architects Filipa Cardoso de Menezes and Catarina Assis PachecoFilipa and Catarina, who responded to the Lisbon City Council's challenge to create a garden in that part of the city, after Manuel Salgado's idea for the square's redevelopment was rejected by the public and a long participatory process was carried out. Filipa and Catarina's work came first in the ideas competition and will therefore be awarded 36.9 thousand euros (VAT included).

Illustrative image of the new Martim Moniz Square (via F|C Arquitectura Paisagista/CML)

The winning team of architects will now be responsible for drawing up the execution project, i.e. the more detailed design of the work, so that a public tender can then be launched for the work. The expectation is that the new Martim Moniz will be a reality in the first half of this year. 2026.

The project by Filipa Cardoso de Menezes and Catarina Assis Pacheco's studio - F|C Arquitectura Paisagista - was based on a series of premises given to the architects by the Lisbon City Council: The aim was to create an open, barrier-free garden that would promote encounters between all citizens, connect coherently with its surroundings, encourage pedestrian movement, contribute to a less noisy and healthier environment, and adapt to the challenges of climate change.. The proposal presented by the two architects responds to these premises as follows:

  • Martim Moniz square will no longer be surrounded by road infrastructureRua da Palma will be extended to "abut" the Mouraria area, the shopping center and the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Saúde. Rua da Palma will thus be extended with two lanes per direction, one of which will be a BUS corridor/tram line. A The Avenida Almirante Reis cycle path will continue along this "new" Rua da Palma - which will have a central green separator - but in a bidirectional channel, next to the square.It will connect, as it does today, to Praça da Figueira. The new extension of Rua da Palma will have "two generous crosswalks, with two-stroke crossing, improving pedestrian circulation". At the north end of Rua da Palma, where it meets Martim Moniz, traffic lights will be introduced and a new street will be built. "revision of the road layout" and connections with other streets, "discouraging entry into the historic center, but making the necessary connections possible";
General plan of the proposed intervention (via F|C Arquitectura Paisagista/CML)
  • in the central area of the square will be created "the new garden of the historic center"a space that you want to "comfortable and sheltered, open onto the Mouraria hill"but also "permeable and naturalized, detached and protected from the noise of the city". The aim is to create a "generous and consistent green structure, alternating moments of forest/woodland, in a contrast of shade/sun, generating diverse environments". The garden will offer several pedestrian routes, will have an inclusive playground (which will be designed with input from the public), and will also offer a cafeteria and terrace area with public toilets. The cafeteria will have a viewpoint on its roof "over the garden and square, open to the hill of Mouraria, with the Castle of São Jorge in the background";
  • a The central part of the Martim Moniz square and the entire area around the Mouraria Shopping Center and the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Saúde will now be interconnected by a "exclusively pedestrian zone, wide, versatile and free of obstacles" and where a "generous amphitheater facing the hill of Mouraria". This amphitheater will serve as "transition element from the level of the square to the level of the garden"and will have "comfortable and efficient flights of stairs" e "a set of long benches". The surroundings of the Chapel and the Shopping Center will be dignified "with the planting of trees in a caldera and the integration of water games (fountains embedded in the sidewalk)". The pedestrian plaza will have one exception: at the north end, a support area for the shopping center will be delimited for loading and unloading, with conditioned vehicle access. There will be other loading and unloading points along the square, but no surface parking area;
Illustrative image of the new Martim Moniz Square (via F|C Arquitectura Paisagista/CML)
  • the Escadinhas da Saúde, the escalators that help sell the unevenness of the Mouraria hill, will have a "sister" on the opposite sideIt will take place in Travessa da Palma, where you can find the historic Torre do Jogo da Pêla. A "integral requalification" of this platter with the "rehabilitation and improvement of green areas" and the creation of small "places to stay/viewpoints". The escalators installed here will make it possible to overcome the Santana hill and access Rua do Arco da Graça. On Rua da Palma, between these escalators and the square, a new street will be designed. "large crosswalk"to allow a "accessible connection" not only to the central garden, but also to the Chapel and the Escadinhas da Saúde on the other side of the square;
  • the revision of the road scheme will require the creation of a new traffic circle south of Martim Moniz, "designed with two traffic lanes to guarantee U-turns and access to the Hotel Mundial". One of the lanes will be for buses and streetcars. In this area, the sidewalk will be "limestone cube, marking the arrival at the historic center, privileging the pedestrian and establishing a matrix relationship with Rua Barros Queiroz and Largo de São Domingos". In the center, the traffic circle will have a "raised and shaped green area, with integration of existing trees".

"In a deconstruction of the central "island", the square's road circulation system is remodeled, where various means of transport converge, and it is proposed to restore the full layout of the old Rua da Palma, giving it back the importance of the past. This street will once again exist in its entirety, becoming the exclusive axis of traffic circulation in Martim Moniz", can be read in the winning bid, which you can read in detail here:

The project by Filipa Cardoso de Menezes and Catarina Assis Pacheco was scheduled to be discussed and voted on at the town hall meeting on Wednesday, November 8, through a formal proposal submitted by the Town Planning Councillor, Joana Almeida. However, this moment was rescheduled for the next meeting on November 22, at the request of some opposition councillors, who wanted more time to analyze all the information provided.

F|C Arquitectura Paisagista, in addition to receiving a prize of 36.9 thousand euros, will now be responsible for developing the idea it presented, drawing up the detailed implementation project - for this task, it will have 531.36 thousand euros (VAT included), which will be paid between 2024 and 2026. The second-placed entry will receive a prize of 25,000 euros; the third, fourth and fifth-placed entries will receive 18,000 euros each. At the town hall meeting on November 22, opposition councillors are expected to approve the decision to distribute these prizes and to hire the studio of Filipa Cardoso de Menezes and Catarina Assis Pacheco to continue this project.

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