Designed to mark the festive year of 2001, in which the city of Porto was designated European Capital of Culture, Casa da Música is the first building in Portugal aimed from its conception to be exclusively dedicated to music, either in public performances, or in the field of artistic training and creation.

Casa da Música’s project was set in motion in 1999, as a result of an international architecture tender won by the project presented by Rem Koolhaas-Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Excavations began in 1999, at the old tram’s terminus station in Boavista roundabout (Rotunda da Boavista), and Casa da Musica was inaugurated in the spring of 2005, on April 15th.