"The Art of Looking Sideways" kicks off the prompt for this project. Challenged to find the main characteristics of the places we coexist with, Cascais blooms between a heritage of being a traditional fishermen's village, a desirable place for holidays, and a city in constant metamorphosis with its' eyes in its' past, present, and future — and the main challenge relies on finding a fixture that is somehow transversal to a city that lives several lives.
The main entrance in Cascais concentrates an accolade of different stimulations, such as beaches, hotels, traditional houses, mixed-use buildings, commercial areas and an ever-growing amount of gardens. The east entrance of Cascais concentrates and represents a versatile, contemporary, and green place in the city that has been working in the past years to evolve and serve its' best for residents and visitors.
In order to distinguish itself from the city center, nascentecascais was born — and its' visual identity is based on a minimal and contemporary shape inspired by Parque Palmela — one of the areas concentrated in the district — honoring the different geometries that can be found in there. Based on the Cosmica font, the visual identity balances the geometry with a more curved and sleek font to partake as part of the logo, honoring its' contemporary side.
In order to create its' visual identity for this district, there were different creation approaches, such as symbols, merchandising, and wayfinding, among others. However, the most structured part of creating a district is to define its' areas — and for that, the brand's language and philosophy was put into use to graphically create maps in order to help guide its' visitors and to enhance its' visual identity.
nascentecascais is divided in two areas: the land axis and sea axis. The land axis is surrounded by the Marginal avenue and the train line it includes the train station, Bayview— a mixed-use area and Loureiras*, designed to be a garden and a BUS terminal.
Meanwhile, the sea axis is also surrounded by the train lines and connected by the promenade with an array of beaches, as well as Parque Palmela and the Estoril Sol Residence, which defines the city's skyline, as well as it features several traditional areas and artistic features.
The creation of these maps prove the existence of several facilities and ends concentrated within the district.
The importance of giving an identity to an ever-changing area that is deeply compromised in giving its' welcome to residents and visitors of Cascais comes at a time when the area itself is in constant revamping turned this into a fun and challenging project to develop.
Disclaimer: As of November 2021, the Cascais Villa shopping centre, included in the cascaisnascente district, was slated to be demolished. For this academic project, Loureiras was created in its' place.
