Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown - Charles Correa

The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown - is a research and diagnostic centre designed by Charles
Correa located in Lisbon, Portugal. This was one of his last projects and also radically different from his
earlier designs in terms of style and material.

The location of the project was the main catalyst that aided Charles Correa’s design for this centre. The
location is where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean and from where the Portuguese navigators set on
their journeys into the sea. He has called this as an analogy for the discoveries of contemporary science
today. He has used.

The project consists of three main units which have been arranged in a yin- yang pattern of interlocking
spaces. The buildings are a metaphor for stone ships which are set to sail into the surrounding ocean.

The pathway that leads up to different spaces is in the form of a ramp that has a gentle slope of 1:20.
Like most of Charles Corrrea’s projects this one too comprises levels which allow distinction between
spaces with different functions, but in this case he has used ramps instead of stairs to meet these level
differences as it is catering to patients. This highlights the fact that the primary users of the building are
given priority and the entire design revolves around their being.

Another reason for him to use this ramped pathway was for the user to experience a gradual ascend
where he/she can only see the sky above. At the highest point of the ramp the user can see a water
body which connects to the surrounding ocean. The water body has a reflective object placed below the
surface that shows the image of the sky and the passing clouds above.

Since Lisbon has a warm climate the best place to be in late evenings and early mornings would be
outdoors under the sky. For the users to experience the sky in this manner he has kept all the functions
meant for the people of Lisbon open to sky. He has maintained a hierarchy when it comes to transition
into these open to sky spaces. The user steps out of an enclosed space into the rainforests or the semi
open space which is shaded by trees and pergolas and then out into the open under the sky.

He has kept in mind the tropical climate of Lisbon with abundant sunlight and used appropriate
materials on the curved walls like that of stone which do not absorb heat. Also the size of fenestrations
in these walls are minimal which allow only a certain amount of the heat wave to enter into the
structure. These elliptical openings provide only a glimpse of the rainforests or the transitional spaces
which are shaded with pergolas and filled with trees, thus maintaining the curiosity of the user by not
revealing the entire experience at once.

He has thus used “NATURE as THERAPY. The WATER around us. The SKY above. The healing presence
of RAIN FORESTS. All these are therapies for patients.”