B.I.G - Urban Fashion Village in Portugal

BIG has collaborated with global technology platform for luxury fashion Farfetch and Portuguese real estate developer Castro Group to create "Fuse Valley", a purpose-built urban fashion village on the slopes of the Leça River in Porto, Portugal. The platform's newly unveiled HQ will feature 12 uniquely-designed interconnected buildings that represent the different elements of the company’s organization. The project is set to break ground by early 2023, and open its doors in 2025.

The project is nestled within BIG's Fuse Valley site, a master plan of 24 buildings that will be home to various tech companies and startups. The 178,000 sqm art-filled site will also include plazas, parks, and landscaped courtyards. Each building sits on a series of green terraces that connect the main road with the Leça River. Along the riverfront, several public programs and amenities are placed to make the best of the natural resource.

The roofs of the buildings are placed to form a manmade extension of the hillside, creating slopes and terraces that provide employees and visitors with vast open spaces for leisure. Natural paths extend from the landscape to the roofs, creating flexible platforms for people to circulate around the complex. The facades on the ground floor are receding and chamfered on the corners, creating additional spaces for the public.