Cultural
2024
Centro de Luz
A limestone cultural centre on the Tagus where a single slot of western light marks the start of every evening performance.
Location
Belém, Lisbon
Year
2024
Area
6,800 m²
Status
Completed
Coordinates
38.6955° N, 9.2079° W
(Notes) Project text
Drawings and photographs © Solyno Atelier. Photography in daylight only.
The brief asked for a place for music, film and talks on a site that had been a car park for thirty years. We answered with a quiet stone enclosure: one long wall to the river, one long wall to the city, and a courtyard of umbrella pines in between.
A wall that keeps time
The western façade is pierced by a single vertical slot. At the hour each performance begins, a blade of sunlight crosses the foyer floor and climbs the opposite wall. Audiences began to arrive early simply to watch it.
Lioz limestone from quarries near Sintra was laid in long courses with lime mortar, so the wall can move and breathe. The only colour is the terracotta of the doors, the oxide of the soil it came from.
Programme
A 420-seat hall, a 90-seat cinema, rehearsal rooms, a library of scores and a public courtyard that stays open until midnight in summer.
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