(Overview)
A 420-seat concrete theatre that steps down a steep hillside above the Douro, freeing a great public stair that has become the city’s newest meeting place.
Client
Municipality of Porto
Location
Porto, Portugal
Year
2024
Duration
4 years
Budget
€14M
Services
Architecture · Acoustics coordination · Landscape
02
Our approach
The volumes step down the slope, releasing a public stair that doubles as an open-air auditorium. The main hall was tuned with acousticians for two years using physical and digital models.
03
The outcome
Opening night sold out in four hours. The public stair is used from morning to midnight, and the hall is praised by musicians for its warmth and clarity.
Before
After
Early section studies of the stepped hall
1:20 acoustic model
Pouring the board-marked concrete walls
Seating and stage-edge details
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(05) — Results
420
Seats in the main hall
1.6 s
Reverberation time
4 hrs
To sell out opening night
3,200 m²
Total floor area
(06) — The full story
Teatro Leve
Building a theatre for sound, daylight and the city
A stair for the city
Rather than fight the slope, we let the building descend it. The result is a sequence of terraces that became a public stair — a place to sit, meet and watch the river long before the curtain rises.
Built for sound
The hall’s geometry, materials and even the seat upholstery were tuned over two years. Board-marked concrete gives weight and diffusion; cork panels from Alentejo forests soften the upper walls.
Open from morning to midnight
A café, bookshop and rehearsal rooms keep the building alive all day, so the theatre is part of daily life, not only evenings out.
Calm, rigorous and generous with their time. The theatre sounds as beautiful as it looks — the audience noticed on opening night.
Clara Nunes, Artistic Director
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