BIG WAVES OF NAZARÉ
Embracing Local History and Culture in a Changing Economy
Maria DeFeo Spring
2024
Nazaré, Portugal
Project Location
Portugal is located on the Iberian Peninsula with its only neighbor, Spain, to the north and east. To the south and west is the Atlantic Ocean. This project is located along the coast in the town of Nazaré. Nazaré is located between the two major cities of Portugal, Lisbon and Porto.
The town of Nazaré began as three distinct villages: Praia, Sitio, and Pederneira, eventually merging into one town. The original villages now act as neighborhoods, each being separated by geological features. This project is located on the eastern edge of the Sitio neighborhood.
Nazaré, Portugal
Project Location
For many decades, Nazaré has operated as a small beach town with busy summers and deserted winters. There is a deep fishing culture to the town demonstrated by decorative boats, sun dried seafood on beach, and celebratory clothing.
The town of Nazaré represents a small-scale example of the overall economical change happening to Portugal as the shifts from fishing to tourism. With this growing change it will be important to maintain the history and culture that has been around for centuries.
Portugal’s Changing Economy
Transition from Fishing to Tourism
Nazaré’s Changing Economy
A Micro-Scale Example of Portugal
Nazaré’s Big Waves
Nazaré summer waves are similar to the summer waves seen on the east coast of the United States. However, unique to this town are the large winter waves reaching averages of 25ft tall.
Nazaré’s Big Waves
Nazaré Canyon
The big waves of Nazaré Portugal are due to the Nazaré Canyon which is one of the largest underwater canyons in the world with a depth three times greater than the Grand Canyon. The Nazaré Canyon ends at the tip of Nazaré creating a swell of pressure that meets the natural ocean current allowing “normal” waves to be amplified into monstrous sizes.
Nazaré’s Big Waves
Photos
The monstrous waves have always been a common occurrence in the winter season for the town. However, in the summer season with waves averaging 3.5 feet this allows for comfortable heights for both paddle surfing and body surfing. The big winter waves were historically too dangerous to be attempted through paddle surfing. The only way to surf these huge waves is with the help of a jet ski to pull surfers out from the shore, allowing for tow-in surfing.
Nazaré’s Big Waves
Town’s Surf Timeline
Surfing has been seen in Nazaré since the 60’s however, it was only with small waves through paddle surfing and body surfing. It took over a year of in-person collaboration with Garrett McNamara and the town to develop a safe method for these waves to be surfed.
Nazaré’s Big Waves
Surf World Records
The town gained overnight international fame in the surfing community as photos showed Garrett McNamara surfing a “100-foot wave” (it was actually 78ft) and breaking the world record at the time for the tallest wave surfed.
Since the first 78-foot wave surfed by Garrett McNamara in 2011 there have been many world records for the tallest waves surfed in the town. Currently, 7 of the top 10 records are located in Nazaré.
2011 Famous Wave Height Rode by Garratt McNamara
Nazaré’s Big Waves
Town’s Reaction
A town that was once deserted in the winter season has gained tourism and revenue due to the large waves being watched along the cliff side. The town is excited by this development and would like to continue to grow and expand upon the surfing culture. The town has already established a surf museum located in the historic fort/lighthouse from the 1500’s at the edge of the cliffside.
The surfing community has added Nazaré as a location for the World Surf league with a titled event called “Nazaré Big Wave Challenge.” This event can happen at any period of time in the winter season and is announced with only a few weeks notice when high wave heights are expected
Project Goals
Defining Values
This project identifies six main goals reflecting the key values for the site design approach. These goals allow for the design to embrace the culture, landscape, and people to inform design approaches.
Project Program
How Goals are Embraced
Surf Museum Public Amenities
Provide dedicated spaces specifically designed for surfing needs
Safety watch tower
First aid
Surfboard storage
Vehicle storage
Surfer locker room
Surf Lessons
Transfer existing exhibits and expand upon them
Nazaré history gallery
Nazaré culture gallery
Native flora & fauna
gallery
history
gallery
Provide gathering spaces and add public supporting needs
Lockers/ bathroom Small food vendor
/ dining area
Increase access from beach to cliffs and create opportunity for nature education
Additional space to help the success of the project
Through the project goals a program could be defined to highlight the needs and desires for the site. The town’s enthusiasm showed the need for surf program to expand. A museum will help to address the drastic change in economy without losing the history and culture. Public amenities allow for greater function by locals and visitors. Outdoor programs allow users to take advantage of the beautiful landscape.
Project’s Location
Site Arrival
The site is isolated from the main traffic of the city. Praia is considered the heart of Nazaré, featuring the majority of the nonresidential buildings. To travel from Praia to Sitio, visitors use a funicular to account for roughly a 300-foot grade difference. Once in Sitio, visitors travel through the Plaza of Our Lady of Nazaré, which hosts small vendor stands around the square. Visitors then travel down the existing road, passing the parking lots and entering the site. From there, visitors can travel to the peninsula where a historic fort/light from the 1500s sits. There is currently no easy way to access the northern beach from the fort, with only steep walking trails.
Project’s Location
Site Photos
The cliffs sides are a beautiful landscape feature with a complex topography for design considerations. The cliff are covered in low vegetation with wind swept trees and bushes. The current vegetation helps to prevent erosion and provides habitat to local wildlife.
It is important to embrace the landscape into the design of the project. To use a color palette that is respectful to the existing materials and massing that will not intrude on the natural beauty.
Project’s Location
Site Analysis
The monstrous wave crash around the entire peninsula, however, the wave crash zone that can only be safely surfed is to the north due to the ocean currents.
The flood zone of the site only impacts beach activities with the cliff remaining free from flooding events.
The existing road of the site provides successful access to the historic fort with ample existing parking at the entrance to the site.
Project’s Location
The town has a typical Mediterranean climate hosting mild year-round temperatures. The ocean water temperature remains similar to the air temperature. However, unique to the site there are strong wind speeds year-round that mostly come from the north.
Any east, south, and west facing windows should take into account the intense sun that will be there year-round. Additionally, there is opportunity to integrate the strong winds into the project’s design.
Site Planning Design Approach
The site features three main existing context features, the town, the fort, and the beach. These three features act as anchors to the site providing a natural user circulation path.
This project embraces the natural flow of the site while providing a seamless program transition from feature to feature.
Site Planning
As users leave the town, they are greeted by an exhibit through a museum featuring the town’s history and culture. As users move through the building the exhibits shift topic towards surfing history and records, building users’ anticipation for the ocean view of the waves. Visitors travel through a program focusing on the fort and wave crash zone. Strategic outdoor interventions are placed in the hillside graduating changing program from public gathering towards outdoor experiences. The inventions flow from the visitor center to the outdoor classroom then to the amphitheater and finally to the play zone. These outdoor interventions are nestled into the hillside embracing the unique topography of the site. Finally, the program shifts towards the beach with a series of beach and surf focused structures that are silted to prevent flooding.
Landscape Connections
Zones of the Site
There developed four zones to the site, the educational corridor, the amenities pathways, the beach passage, and the rugged trail. These zones allow for the site to fit each users desired experience and provide a variety of options on how to circulate the cliff side.
Landscape Connections
Trail Types
The materials of the four trails were selected with very specific design intentions. The education corridor features a mosaic stone cobblestone seen throughout all of Portugal. The amenities pathways use a metal grating system, allowing for quick elevation changes. The beach passage uses wood planks.
The first three trails area raised system to prevent the increase of foot traffic from eroding the cliffsides. Finally, the rugged trail is a more typical dirt trail with small interventions to help with erosion.
Landscape Zones
Education Corridor & Amenities Pathways
Educational Corridor
Amenities
Pathways
The education corridor is the main entrance to the site, leading users from Sitio into the expansive cliffside. The trail features bronze statues at each turn, highlighting a native animal with information plaques. The trail leads to the museum, which is the structure in the education zone of the site. The users then have the option to go through the museum or walk through a passage within the massing, leading to courtyards.
The amenities passageway is the second zone to the site, starting at the exit of the museum. This trail wanders through the landscape connecting the various public amenities. The Nazaré fort will be renovated with small interventions to allow accessible viewing of the historic fort through a raised floor system to prevent further wear from foot traffic. Next is the visitor center which has large expansive windows allowing weather protected viewing of the monstrous waves. The roof scape is accessible providing further area to view the waves. The trail continues through the hillside connecting to various outdoor interventions.
Landscape Zones
Beach Passage & Rugged Trail
Beach Passage
Rugged Trail
At the bottom of the site is the beach passage, providing a wandering boardwalk to arrive at the beach. At the top of the beach passage is a seating area along a resting zone to look over the beachside. The walkway is covered by shading elements of light fabric shaped like fish, casting shadows of the fish on the wood walkway.
The rugged trail is a more traditional dirt trail with a small design to prevent further erosion. The trail is a fast way to travel from the museum to the beach, allowing users to skip the amenities passageway. Nestled within the hillside are outdoor interventions, including an amphitheater directly facing the ocean, providing additional zones for wave viewing. There are outdoor classrooms with light fabric canopies to provide shade. Finally, there is the play zone, which features a play structure, wood log balance beams, a rock-climbing wall, and swings. To the southern portion of the play zone area, there are a series of hammocks providing a relaxing view of the ocean and sunsets.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Design Approach
The museum program follows similar design logic as the site approach, with a smooth transition from town to surf. While the ideal zone for the museum was determined through the site approach, the specific location of the museum was selected carefully. The site of the museum is in a relatively flat zone of the site with a 24-foot grade difference. The three key views from the site allowed the museum to develop into three buildings connected through breezeways.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit Story
The museum is experienced in a linear story, creating a gradual transition from the town to the cliffside where the monstrous waves crash. Each building follows a similar pattern of two exhibits focused on the building topic sandwiching an exhibit solely dedicated to the views of that building’s topic.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Massing
The museum’s massing went through many iterations to eventually become what is shown. The goal of this massing was to develop a sculptural like element on the cliff side without taking away from the natural beauty of the site. The three buildings peak at their center point in the directional view of each building’s focus.
Between the buildings are smaller breezeway connects allowing courtyard spaces to be strategically paced to see view between the building massings.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Landscape Connection
A view of the southern side of the building and would be a potential view from the Praia neighborhood. The view shows the dramatic elevation of the museum overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
This is a key view to the project, highlighting the strategic design to create a cohesive partnership between the sculptural design of the museum and natural beauty of the cliff side.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
The building is entered from the east where visitors are greeted by a lobby and small snack stand before traveling through the museum, eventually ending at a café and outdoor terrace. Users who choose to not go through the museum are able to walk through passages carved within the massing.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Entry
The main entrance to the museum is highlighted through a recess utilizing a lighter wood material compared to the stone massing.
This view demonstrates how the project embraces the landscape creating framed views through the passageways to see the ocean beyond.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Materiality
The materiality of the museum was designed to create a monolithic stone structure with a similar color palette to the landscape. The exterior cladding is a local limestone, Cabeca Veada, which is found in a quarry 25 miles from the site. The passageway features tiled walls, alluding to the deep history of tiled facades seen throughout all of Portugal.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum Systems
The building has a concrete structure with column place in a 20 x 30 grid. The concrete material allows for easy development of the folding roof massing.
The building utilizes a raised floor system allowing for floor air vents for the comfort of the building users. The floor systems allow for flexibility of the finished material and museum layouts, with a raised floor system, and large wall cavity on the walls encircling the courtyards to account for the building systems.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Building 1 - Town
Building 1 of the Museum is focused on the town of Nazaré. While the town is happy to embrace the new surfing culture and tourism, it is important that the centuries of culture prior are not lost. The exhibits in building 1 celebrate the town’s past while embracing its new future.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 1 – Town History
After users leave the lobby, they enter exhibit one, the town history, from the monumental stairs stepping down into the museum. Throughout building one sky lightings are utilized for the natural lighting in the exhibits. The beginning the story of user being sunken into the hillside and slowing adding more natural light through each exhibit.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 2 – Town View
Exhibit two, the town view, is a mosaic tiling looking down onto the Praia to the south where the main shops, restaurants, and beach zones are. This highlights the unique topographical drop that connects Praia and Sitio.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 3 – Town Culture
Exhibit three is the town culture, where users are greeted with a subtle increase in natural light. This is the last exhibit before transition into the nature building.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Breezeway 1
There are two breezeways that connect the three buildings. These breezeways are simple corridors to prepare users for the transition in topics. The corridors are not specifically catered towards view but more a moment of pause to feel the wind of the site.
To take advantage of the strong northern winds, the breezeways have a metal screening that allows of the wind to creating spinning motion through out the entire spaces.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Breezeway 1
Breezeway 1 is sunken into the earth, further telling the story of the gradual increasing in natural light.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Building 2 - Nature
Building 2 is focused on the local nature and geography of the town and region. This building allows user to appreciate the landscape they are occupying while providing greater knowledge on how the ocean creates these monstrous waves for surfing.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 4 – Native Flora & Fauna
Users enter building number 2, nature, and going into exhibit 4, the native flora and fauna. This exhibit helps to provide further education for both visitors and locals who come to the museum.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 5 – Mountain View
Exhibit 5 provides visitors with a key view to the mountain hillside directly to the south. The view embraces the nature that users are learning about in this building for the museum.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 4 – Nazaré Canyon Science
Finally, exhibit 6, the Nazaré Canyon, provides information about the natural science of the canyon and how the monstrous wave are created. This is an existing exhibit in the surf museum fort and would become relocated into this museum and expanded upon.
The nature building provide a further transition in subject by connecting the town history and features to how the surfing community became what it is today.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit Connections to Exterior Views
This section perspective is taken through exhibit 5 demonstrating the visual connection to the theme of each building. This exhibit allows users to pause and look towards view of the ocean and southern hillside.
The building features several expansive windows which have either horizontal or vertical solar fins based on its orientation to account for the sun while allowing speckles of light to pass through.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Material Meets Massing
The exterior walls encircling the courtyards have a large cavity shaft which allows for return air ductwork as well as space for the other building systems needed such as electric.
An important detail to the project was to develop a wall to roof connection. The detail allows for a “seamless” transition of the stone cladding as the stone encompass the entire envelope. The design allows the massing to appear as a stone sculpture arising from the cliffside.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Breezeway 2
Similar to breezeway 1, breezeway 2 is a simple corridors utilizing a metal screening to creating a spinning wall through the strong winds of the site.
Breezeway 2 is further emerged from the ground compared to breezeway 1, allowing for greater increase in light as user travel to the surf building.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Building 3 - Surf
Building 3 features surf exhibits that have been relocated and expanded upon the existing surf museum. This is the final building to the museum and create a sense of wonder and amazed to the landscape they will be exiting to.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 7 – Surf History
The final building of the museum is the surf building. The users would enter in the surf history exhibit where they would learn about the history and passion the town has held for surfing for decades. This is a new exhibit and would embrace the locals who helped Nazaré be placed on the surfing map.
Users would begin to have large vertical windows directing views to the ocean that creates these large waves.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 8 – Wave Crash Zone View
The next and 8th exhibit in the building would be a view directly aligned to the crashing wave zone of the site. Users can sit and take in the sloping hillside and see the historic fort from the 1500’s.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exhibit 9 – Surf Records
The final exhibit is the main feature in the current surfing museum. This exhibit is the surf records of Nazaré and hold the surf boards that have broken records and been surfed by famous surfers around the world.
Big Waves of Nazaré Museum
Exit Café & Terrace
The museum ends a gift shop and café with an expansive window to overlook an outdoor terrace. This view direct users to the next zone of the site.
