Free Entrance - 3 of December of 2015 - 9.30h - Clérigos Church
On the date
that marks the International Day of Disabled Persons, was inaugurated the Accessible
Path and the Room A + (Accessibility +) in the Clérigos Tower.
Taking
advantage of the recent renovation and conversion works of one of the most
prestigious buildings in the Porto city, supported in a project that soon
solved the accessibility constraints of the building, it was proposed by the
municipality, the installation of a multisensory perception cocoon, to simulate
the experience of being in the top of Clérigos’ Tower, accessible and available
to all visitors.
According to
Architect Lia Ferreira, Ombudswoman of Disabled Citizens, the goal of this work was
to alert for the need of a paradigm change and show that even in Heritage
Secular Buildings, it’s possible to do more and better, promoting the
integration and inclusion of everyone.
Rui Moreira
said to believe firmly that, endowing the city of accessibility and inclusion
policies, its working on the foundation for a more competitive and attractive
city, a closer, more familiar and more attentive Porto. A Porto of all and to
all, without exception.
"We
brought the top of the Tower of the Clerics to all those who, for various
reasons, cannot get there. We want to open the city, blur the boundaries of
inclusion, go further and innovate," said the Municipality President.
The
Accessible Path comprises an access ramp to an elevator, which travels to A +
room on the fourth floor. Inside the room integrates a cylindrical cocoon
(produced from the superposition of cork panels) which has seven monitors around
it, transmitting, in real time, images that are captured by strategically
positioned cameras, toward the cardinal points at the tower top.
At the
moment, the cameras are able to transmit, in writing, subtitles of the spaces that
you can visualize. In a second phase, audio transmission will be possible,
which includes, in addition to speech, also broadcast in real time, the sounds
that can be heard on top of the Clérigos’ Tower.
To recall
that the Clérigos’ Tower was recently considered a building with high
accessibility rate.
The project
was developed by Porto City Council, in partnership with the Regional
Association of Cultural and Naturaleritage Protection (ARPPA), the Clérigos’
Brotherhood and the company Amorim insulations.






