Academia das Ciências de Lisboa

in collaboration with

André Rodrigues Marques, Baltazar Mateus

This proposal is based on a simple premise: to transform without imposition.

Working within an existing structure of strong spatial identity, the project seeks a direct and quiet dialogue with what is already there. Rather than introducing contrast, the intervention operates through continuity — reinforcing proportions, material presence and the inherent logic of the building.

The architectural approach lies somewhere between silence and invisibility. Each decision is guided by the intention that the intervention feels natural and inevitable, as if it had always belonged to the space.

The programme is organised to strengthen the relationship with the city. The most public functions — reception, bookshop and café — are positioned along the street, activating the façade and extending the building into the urban fabric. More flexible and contained spaces are placed deeper within the plan, allowing for a range of uses over time.

A clear and intuitive sequence connects all areas of the project. Circulation is not treated as residual, but as an active spatial layer — a foyer that accommodates movement, encounter and exhibition.

Materially, the intervention is deliberately restrained. Stone and wood define the project, establishing continuity with the existing building while ensuring durability and clarity. Wherever possible, existing elements are preserved, repaired and reused, allowing the building’s memory to remain present.

More than a formal transformation, the project is an act of calibration — a precise adjustment of space, use and material — where architecture emerges through what is added, but also through what is left untouched.