“Time Out Market is a concept that values and celebrates the best of Porto and we are very excited to soon be opening its doors. We've selected award-winning chefs, renowned restaurants and some local treasures - all of which represent Porto's incredible gastronomic scene.

“We bring them together in a unique space, renovated by Souto de Moura, one of the biggest names in national architecture. We are dedicated to making Time Out Market Porto a new gastronomic and cultural centre in the city and an added value for downtown Porto”, says Inês Santos Almeida, general director of Time Out Market Porto, quoted in a statement.

The architectural project, designed by Porto native and Pritzker Eduardo Souto Moura, occupies an area of around two thousand square meters where 16 spaces will operate: 12 restaurants, two bars and a tower with two units with a privileged view over the city.

The 21-meter iron and glass tower – considered “intrusive” by UNESCO – is inspired by the elevated water reservoirs that existed next to railway stations.

In information sent to Lusa, Time Out states that the exact day will be announced soon, as will the remaining names that will be present in the south wing of the century-old S. Bento Station.

Postponed

The opening of Time Out Market was scheduled for November or December 2023; however, it ended up being postponed. At the time, Time Out's communications office justified the postponement based on the size of the project in question.

The Time Out Market project for the south wing of São Bento Station, whose works advanced in March 2023, involved an investment of around 7.5 million euros and the recovery of the existing building, previously used as a support area for station, as well as outer space.

Built next to the main building, the 21-meter tower, made of iron and glass, is “the great central and fundamental piece” of the project which, respecting the building’s DNA, ends up being “a renovation”, he highlighted in statements to Lusa, in August 2023, the vice-president for the Iberian Peninsula Ana Alcobia.

At the time, the person responsible still stated that she did not fear the return of the contestation surrounding the construction of the tower, showing confidence that Souto Moura's “installation” will be understood as “a piece of art”.

When it was announced in 2016, the project was the target of criticism, and its promoter, in 2017, the year in which its opening was planned, decided to suspend the assessment of the Request for Prior Information regarding the market they intended to install at the Station de S. Bento, after criticism from the then Urban Planning councillor, Rui Losa, who called Time Out's proposal for the station, classified as a national monument, "unqualifiable".

Controversy

Shrouded in controversy ever since, the project was approved, in May 2019, by the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, despite criticism from the International Council of Monuments and Sites - ICOMOS, UNESCO's consultative body for heritage, which recommended that the project was not accepted.

In a first opinion, dated April 2, 2018, ICOMOS argued that the project was an "example of excessive demolition" and did not "take into account international recommendations regarding intervention in built heritage".

Regarding the 21-meter tower, they considered that "it would have no visual impact on the surrounding environment", since "at its maximum height, it does not exceed the height of the station", a position that would change after additional information, recommending its reduction.

In January 2021, the project emerged as one of 14 works or projects that put at risk the heritage value of the Historic Center of Porto, classified as world heritage since 1996, and included in the most recent World Report on Monuments and Sites in Danger.