The pavilions of the Medical School of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa are an exercise in construction, a structural challenge and the juxtaposition of different architectural objects in terms of time and space. The option here was to juxtapose without touching, marking the new momento of construction. The form corresponds to an inversion-levitation of the new object, born from the mirrored composition of the existing 19th century building. The new cornice is the building’s base and the sill is a thin line that finishes off the inverted window located at the cente of the volume, ensuring a symmetrical composition. The object is simultaneously abtract (a box) and recognisably classicist. The composition is Rossian, with Lioz marble reliefs which stylise the cornices of the old building to achieve a new, (post-)modern form. It is the construction of a time analogy in which the two periods are seamlessly told apart.
project:
pavilions of the medical school of the universidade nova de lisboa
client:
universidade nova de lisboa (unl), portugal
location:
lisbon
date:
2003 - 2005
building area:
196 m2
architecture:
nuno brandão costa
collaborators:
andré eduardo tavares,
marta reis
structural engineer:
josé nuno varandas (gesbau)
hydraulic engineer:
vitor serpa (gesbau)
electrical engineer:
alírio góis (multitec)
mechanical engineer:
alírio góis (multitec)
photographs:
arménio teixeira