Belle Court Building A
百麗閣-第一座”
The “Belle Court” consists of three buildings including house and apartment block and was built in 1972 by a famous Macanese architect José Celestino Maneiras, who has a great influence on Macao modern architecture and a civil engineer Humberto Fernando Rodrigues. The housing block is located at the foot of Our Lady of Penha Chapel and directs the main views towards the city. It is quite surprising to find this hidden house along the inclined drifts towards the hilltop church and to explore the peaceful atmosphere in harmony with the surrounding landscape. All three buildings are now used for private residences.
In particular, building A of the “belle court” is relatively well-preserved and recognizable with minimum intervention to demonstrate the original design of José Celestino Maneiras. The building adopted late modernism and brutalist design style and was constructed in concrete, is simple but elegant. This building is also a typical and representative example of José Maneiras’ work during the 1960s. Therefore, it serves as a great testimony of his work and a precious example for future reference. More importantly, as one of the works of his most creative phase, it can probably mark the starting point of adopting brutalism into Modern architectures and of understanding Macao’s urban culture.
The location of the building is quite isolated and secluded in the Penha hill to witness the come and go of visitors to the Penha church from time to time. It also managed to retain the authenticity and integrity with the surrounding environment since there have not been big changes in this area and the street layout has been retained referring to the old maps of Macao. The building also demonstrates great harmony with the setting, including natural conditions and the local contexts of Macao considering the needs of the users, functions of different spaces, and climate factors.
“百麗閣”由三座建築組成，包括房屋和公寓樓，由對澳門現代建築影響重大的著名的土生葡人建築師馬斯華（José Celestino Maneiras）以及土木工程師罗德里格斯（Humberto Fernando Rodrigues）於1972年建造。房屋位於主教山聖母教堂的腳下，面向正前方的城市景觀。沿著通往山頂教堂的傾斜小道找到這所隱蔽的房子，並探索與周圍景觀和諧相處的寧靜氛圍，讓人十分驚喜。這三座建築現在都用於私人住宅。
特別地，“百麗閣”的A樓相對其他兩座保存得比較完好，因此更能展現馬斯華（José Celestino Maneiras）的原始設計。該建築採用了現代主義和野蠻主義的設計風格，並以混凝土建造，既簡單又優雅。該建築也是1960年代馬斯華 （José Maneiras）的典型代表作品。因此，它既可以作為他作品的有力佐證，也是作為將來參考的寶貴資料。更重要的是，作為他最富有創造力時期的作品之一，它在一定程度上標誌著將野蠻主義納入現代建築和探索澳門城市文化的起點。
這個建築物的位置非常偏僻，位於主教山中與世隔絕，見證了來來往往的拜訪主教山的遊客和信徒。它也較好地保留了周圍環境的真實性和完整性，因為根據澳門舊地圖的街道佈局，該地區沒有發生太大變化，幾乎保留了原本的樣子。該建築還展現出與周圍環境的融合，包括自然條件和澳門當地文化背景，考慮了建築使用者的需求，不同空間的功能和氣候因素。
“Butterfly Method” Analysis：
According to the perception of the people living around, this is a peaceful and quiet place to live with beautiful mountain scenery. However, the residents currently living in renovated houses do not have strong emotional connection with the site. Therefore, the “left wing” of the butterfly is quite weak. From rational perspective, the building is relatively well-preserved among the three houses by the same architect. It represents the most creative phase of the architect and the design concept pays a lot of attention to integrating the building components with the local contexts of Macao to provide a better residential area. Therefore, the building can be preserved for its historical and architectural values rather than the need of local community.
據周圍的居民所說，這裡是一個安靜的地方，坐擁美麗的山景。但是，因為他們現在居住在翻新過的房屋裡，與這個地方沒有強烈的情感聯繫,因此“蝴蝶”的左翅是殘缺的。從理性的角度來看，在同一位建築師的所建造三棟房屋中，該建築是保存相對較好的。它代表了建築師最富有創造力的時期，他的設計理念非常注重將建築的組成部分與澳門當地環境融為一體，為當地居民提供更好的居住環境。因此，可以將建築保留下來，但更多是為了歷史和建築價值，而不是當地社區的需要。
References:
Ana Vaz Miheiro. (2012). José Maneiras: Um arquitecto Moderno Macanese. Architecture of Macau: issue 19. Retrieved from: https://issuu.com/architecturemacau/docs/am19-issuu.
Chinese Street. (n.d.). Calçada da Penha, Macau, Recently named buildings.
Nenotavaiconta. (2019). NOTÍCIAS DE 6 E 7 DE OUTUBRO DE 1951 – INTERCÂMBIO DESPORTIVO ENTRE PORTUGUESES DE HONG KONG (CLUBE DE RECREIO) E MACAU. Retrieved from
Revista Macau. (2018). Exposição mostra obra do arquiteto José Maneiras em Macau. Retrieved from https://www.revistamacau.com/rm2020/2018/03/26/exposicao-mostra-obra-do-arquiteto-jose-maneiras-em-macau/
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