The former Abel Pereira da Fonseca wine warehouses, in Lisbon’s East Zone, will be home to a new cultural and commercial space, with restaurants, shops, discos, art galleries and even paddle tennis courts. It will be called 8 Marvila, partially opened this Wednesday, 20 September, and will operate until the building is transformed into a “real estate project”.
The “8 Marvila project“ requalified the characteristic façade and followed a philosophy of recycling, reusing more than half of the rubble, wood, iron, sheet metal, including the counter cabinets from the warehouses,” reads a statement sent to the Lusa news agency.
The space, with 22,000 square metres (m2), “will grow over the course of its lifetime, in a redevelopment operation that aims to energise Lisbon’s East Zone with an offer of local production of culture, commerce, restaurants and even sport”.
Built in Praça David Leandro da Silva in 1917, the building was originally used to store wine produced in Bombarral by Sociedade Abel Pereira da Fonseca, which was founded in 1906 and went out of business in 1993. Since the end of the 1990s, the building has hosted various events and, more recently, coworking spaces and restaurants.
Building to be turned into a property project
Those responsible for 8 Marvila say that the building, which is privately owned, “will have a future destination as a property project in the city”. Until that happens, “8 Marvila aims to be an example of reuse, of Lisbon using its spaces as a showcase for an alternative and enterprising city”.
From Wednesday 20 September, you’ll be able to access the Outra Cena club, a new space at Galeria Zé dos Bois, which has its headquarters in Bairro Alto, and a restaurant.
On that day, Zé dos Bois presents the performance “Woyzeck Fuck’em’ol”, by Cláudio Silva, Carolina Dominguez and Pedro Paiva.
8 Marvila, which is curated by OutJazz founder José Filipe Ribeiro Pinto, will also “soon” have a concert hall with a capacity for 1,500 people and art galleries, including Because Art Matters, a platform that until now didn’t have a physical space.
The building will also house nine paddle tennis courts, 22 commercial spaces, including a bicycle restoration shop, a tattoo parlour and clothing shops, and a central square with an esplanade, a bar and food stands. In addition, there are “various spaces available for events”.
Trees and flowers will be planted inside the industrial style building to reflect the sustainable practice of the project.