«The design of Archipelago – Contemporary Arts Center – maintains the industrial character of the whole and highlights the dialogue between an existing building (former factory of alcohol / tobacco) and the new construction (arts and culture center, storage facilities, multipurpose hall / performing arts,laboratories, artist studios). The design does not exaggerate the differences between the old and the new buildings. On the contrary, it seeks to unite the different scales and times of its parts throughout a pictorial manipulation of the form and materiality of the buildings – the existing buildings demarked by the volcanic stone masonry and the new buildings characterized by an abstract form, without reference or allusion to any language, built in concrete with local basalt inert continuously working with the variation of surfaces, textures and rugosity, complementing the mass of the building with the emptiness of the patios.» Menos é Mais Arquitectos