Mercado do Bolhão reopened in September 2022 and has since welcomed millions of visitors, from Porto residents to visitors from across the globe.
The architecture project was extremely respectful and considerate of the preservation of the building’s identity. Reflecting the magnitude of this intervention and asserting a visual identity without superimposing it to the building was one of our biggest challenges. It was crucial that we created a narrative that spoke of both the built and the intangible heritage of the market, a place of collective memory, shared by many of the long-standing residents of the city.
The resulting Bolhão brand articulates recognisable elements of the Porto. brand design, to affirm the centrality and importance of the market within the city. Through this visual integration, Bolhão and Porto are presented as complementary and inseparable. The affiliation with Porto’s visual identity is not only typographical but can also be found in the quadrangular grid evocative of the city’s historical tile panels. Structures and surfaces have adapted to the geometry of the letters. Chromatically, the brand develops in greater harmony with the building and its finishes.
Signage and environmental graphics aim to blend in with the building. Directly outside the market doors, with the logo incorporated into the traditional cobbled pavement. Inside the markets, the signage project draws on memories and details from the past: the signage for the aisles (named as streets) on the ground floor is set in traditional tiles, bringing the city's toponymy into the market.
The stalls in the market’s ground floor are now set along these ‘streets’ with evocative names like Saudade (longing), Alegria (happiness), Encontro (encounter), Abraços (embraces). These were chosen for the project from actual places within Porto, again affirming the symbolic nature of the market and its connections with the city.
