090 PERSPECTIVE

ARCHITECTURE Champalimaud Centre / Lisbon, Portugal

091PERSPECTIVE

ore than 500 years ago, during the

Age of Discovery, navigators

journeyed from Lisbon, Portugal,

where the Tagus River joins the

Atlantic Ocean, to venture out and

explore unknown territories. These days, a

different sort of exploration is taking place in

the city through the Champalimaud Centre for

the Unknown, a translational research centre

located on the waterfront of Lisbon.

Specialising in neuroscience research,

translational cancer research and clinical

practice, this cutting-edge facility required an

innovative design. To that end, director of the

Champalimaud Foundation João Botelho

contacted Charles Correa Associates, headed by

principal Charles Correa, after seeing the Brain

and Cognitive Sciences Centre the firm had

previously designed for the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology.

Correa recalls his first visit to the site in

2007, when he and Botelho spent a drizzly

evening walking along the coastline. He describes

the image of the Tagus River converging into the

Atlantic Ocean as particularly striking: “For me,

this was a very special place. How did Vasco da

Gama and the other great navigators find the

courage and imagination to sail down that bend,

take that corner and plunge into the unknown

ocean that lay beyond?”

After this initial visit, Correa recognised, as

he put it, the “extraordinarily apt metaphor”

the site provided for the research centre and

aimed to create a building that fully interacted

with its surroundings. Three-and-a-half years

later, his plans finally came to fruition in

October 2010, result ing in a piece of

architecture that complements its setting, but

still remains a contemporary, state-of-the-art

facility in its own right.

MLocation,location,locationThe waterfront setting of the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknowninspired the overall design concept of this research facilitiy

text : gabriella leephotography : josé campos

093PERSPECTIVE092 PERSPECTIVE

ARCHITECTURE Champalimaud Centre / Lisbon, Portugal

The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown

consists two bui ldings and a public

amphitheatre. Key to incorporating the

environment into the overall concept was

creating a space that was open to the sky and

the water. This was answered in the public plaza

that separates the three volumes and runs from

the entrance of the facility to an existing public

waterfront promenade.

The plaza has an almost indiscernible

incline, so when walking up the pathway and

approaching the ocean, one is slowly

surrounded by the sky, an entity that Correa

views as both vast and enigmatic. Two 15m

monolith stone structures mark the end of the

plaza, where a pool of water is located.

Intentionally placed so as to appear from a

certain perspective as if it is flowing into the

river, the pool also contains a partial ly

submerged, reflective object. The identity of the

object is unknown, a deliberate decision on

Correa’s part, to represent “what you have set

out to discover”.

Like the plaza, the open-air amphitheatre

also open to the public. The research facility

was also planned to serve the community and

“more than half the site has been given back to

the citizens of Lisbon”, according to Correa.

Of the other two volumes in the site, the

larger building houses the main facilities for

the doctors, patients, and researchers, while

the smaller houses additional spaces for

offices, an auditorium and a restaurant. With a

minimalist design emphasising clean finishes,

the buildings are clad in Lioz stone, also used

in the historic Belém Tower situated nearby,

and used in Portugal for centuries, according

to Saloni Parekh, an architect of Charles

Correa Associates. Connecting these two

buildings is a glass bridge suspended above

the public plaza.

The use of Lioz stone is just one example of

how the location and background of the site

impacted the overal l design concept.

Architecture remains a unique art as it always

connects with the environment. Placed in

another location, the Champalimaud Centre for

the Unknown would not have taken its current

form. “A musician can play the same Chopin

concert one evening in Tokyo and the next in

Brazil and the third in Paris with every note

exactly the same, but not an architect,” says

Correa, “for a building is rooted in the soil on

which it stands. This is why the same building

cannot be repeated anywhere and everywhere

in the world.”

“A building is rooted inthe soil on which itstands. This is why thesame building cannot berepeated anywhere andeverywhere in the world”

PERSPECTIVE

ARCHITECTURE Champalimaud Centre / Lisbon, Portugal

094

人路往海邊走，會緩緩走進天空的懷抱中，

Ch

arle

s

認為這片海與天既浩瀚又奧妙。兩座高

十五米的石柱就在廣場的邊緣，旁邊還有個水

池。水池的位置經精心設計，使得從某角度看水

池像是流進河裡一般，而池中還有一個半浮半淹

的反光物體。這個物體實際是甚麼無從稽考，

Ch

arle

s

特意將之設計成這樣，代表﹁要去探索

研究的奧秘﹂。

圓形露天廣場與廣場一樣，同樣向公眾開

放。據C

ha

rles

指出，C

ha

mp

alim

au

d

醫學研究

中心的目標之一是服務社會大眾，而超過一半的

佔地都回饋里斯本市民。

至於中心的另外兩座建築，較大的一座設有

供醫生、病人與研究員使用的主要設施，而較

小的則設有額外的辦公室空間、一個禮堂

與一間餐廳。建築物的設計簡約且強調精簡

潤飾，外牆鋪上L

ioz

石材。據C

ha

rles

Co

rrea

Asso

ciate

s

的建築師S

alo

ni

Pa

rekh

指出，這種

石材葡萄牙已使用了上數百年，而鄰近的歷史

建築貝倫塔亦有使用。公共廣場之上有一條玻

璃橋連接兩座建築。

選用L

ioz

石材只是其中一個例子，顯示選址

的地點與背景如何影響到整體設計概念。建築

仍是門獨特的藝術，因為總是與四周環境互相

緊扣。要是C

ham

palim

aud

醫學研究中心位於另

一選址，設計就會隨之改變。C

ha

rles

說：﹁音

樂家可以在東京的黃昏時分演奏完一個蕭邦音

樂會，然後又在巴西、再到巴黎演奏同一音樂

會，而且演奏的每個音符都一模一樣；但是，

建築師卻不可如此。建築深深植根於所在的土

地之中，正因如此，同一建築不能複製到世界

不同的角落去。﹂

數航海探險家早在五百多年前的大發

現時代，從葡萄牙里斯本位處塔古斯

河流入大西洋流域交界起航展開大冒險，探索未

知的大陸。今天，探索冒險以另一形式在這個城

市出現，C

ham

palim

aud

醫學研究中心屹立里斯

本海邊，探究轉譯醫學的奧秘。

這間先進的研究中心專門神經學科研究、癌

轉譯研究及診療服務，於是中心設計務求創新。

為此，C

ham

palim

aud

基金董事J

oão

Bo

telho

找

來由首席建築師C

harles

Co

rrea

帶領的建築事務

所Ch

arle

sC

orre

aA

ssocia

tes

主理設計，全因

他知道事務所曾為麻省理工學院設計過出色的認

知與腦科學中心。

Ch

arle

s

憶述他零七年首次視察選址，在濛

濛細雨的傍晚與J

oã

o

漫步海邊，發現塔古斯河

流入大西洋的風景尤其壯觀。他說：﹁對我來

說，這是個獨特得很的地方。華士古達伽馬與其

他偉大航海家怎麼會有如此勇氣與理想，敢於駛

下彎流轉向，衝進前方未知的茫茫大海？﹂

首次視察後，C

ha

rles

認為這個地點為研究

中心提供了最適合不過的隱喻，竭力創造一所

能徹底與四周環境互動互通的建築。三年半過

後，C

ha

rles

的計劃終於在一零年十月全盤實

現，創造一座與周遭環境相襯、卻又當代創新

的研究設施。

Ch

am

pa

lima

ud

醫學研究中心由兩座建築與

一個公共圓形廣場構成。令四周環境融入整體設

計概念的關鍵，是要營造一個與天空和大海連接

的空間；而公共廣場便正由此而生，分隔開三個

結構部分之餘，亦從中心入口一直伸延到原有的

公共海濱行人徑。

廣場的傾斜度輕微得幾乎察覺不到；走上行

Ch

amp

alimau

d

醫學研究中心從四周海天一色

的美景中取材，誘發整體設計概念

地點至上

無撰文：g

abriella

lee

攝影：j

osé

campos