SHOPYARD

Did you know that the portuguese city of Braga also has its own Galleries Lafayette? However, the only resemblance to the famous Parisian department store is... the name. Braga’s Galleries Lafayette are among more than 20 shopping centres built between the 1980s and 1990s in prime locations across the city, now marked by decline.

With the expansion of large shopping centres on the outskirts and shifts in consumer habits, compounded by the economic crises of recent decades, many of the shops in these spaces are now vacant. Despite the loss of vitality, these empty stores present opportunities for new cultural dynamics within the city.

It is within this context that Shopyard was born, a project curated by Space Transcribers for Braga 25 – Portuguese Capital of Culture.

Shopyard is based on two core programme axes – reflection and creation – and, starting in late 2024 and throughout 2025, will revitalise these shopping centres, foster debate on their future, and provide spaces for cultural experimentation and exhibition.

About the Shopyard headquarters at 
Santa Cruz Shopping Centre

When creating this project, we visited several first-generation shopping centres in Braga to find a space to rent and transform into the project's headquarters. We discovered Shop 33 on the ground floor of Santa Cruz Shopping Centre, just a few metres from Theatro Circo. With three glass fronts and the ideal space, it was perfect to become the  Shopyard headquarters and host the various planned activities.

For the space transformation, we invited the architectural studio
oitoo, who quickly understood the challenge. Their proposal involved removing the glass shop windows, expanding the shop’s private space into the shared areas of the shopping centre, and creating an internal square. This design blurred the boundaries between shared and private spaces. To ensure the flexibility needed for the wide range of activities — including artistic residencies, workshops, presentations, exhibitions, and performances — they designed a circular curtain and a storage area, allowing the space to be reconfigured as needed.

Team

Shopyard Project
Curatorship and coordination
Space Transcribers
(Daniel Duarte Pereira and Fernando P. Ferreira)

Production - reflection axis
Felícia Teixeira

Production - creation axis
Marta Sofia Silva

Project for the Transformation of Shop 33
Architecture
Oitoo

Electrical project
Daniel Moreira

Curtain
Estores Eficaz

Metalwork
Vidrograça Serralharia e Vidraria

Carpentry
Manuel Marques Oliveira Carpinteiro

Tapestry
Donalinda - Mónica Faria

Summer School
Organisational and Production Partner
INSTITUTO
(Paulo Moreira, Sara Pinheiro and Nuno Silva) 

Assemblies
Scenography
Francisco Costa

Promoter
Faz Cultura - Municipal Cultural Company
Braga City Council