An immersive interpretation centre turns the territory, memory and biodiversity of Alqueva into a journey to see, hear and feel.

Beside the Alqueva Dam in Portel, the Centro Alqueva presents the story of a territory reshaped by water. Across two floors, visitors move through landscape, engineering, memory and biodiversity in an exhibition built around participation.

At its centre, a large video-mapped model creates a shared extended-reality experience. Up to four people can explore the region at once, while a holographic timeline reveals the construction of the dam and tactile profiles bring the region’s soils within reach.

The journey changes scale and sensation from room to room. A bat cave uses ambisonic sound, headphones and air movement; Aldeia da Luz appears through projection mapping; and a wall of testimonies invites visitors to add a personal memory through their printed ticket.

The Central Box looks upward and downward at the same time, pairing a starry sky with a reflective water surface and a camera-responsive floor. Technology remains almost invisible, allowing the ecology, people and transformed landscape of Alqueva to take the lead.