RE-ATLAS

|pt019|

Visual Arts Center (CAV)

João Mendes Ribeiro

Collaborators

Manuela Nogueira (on site coordination), Ana Bacelar, Eduardo Mota, Nuno Barbosa, Pedro Grandão, Susana Lobo, Vitor Canas

Technical Consultancy

Foundations and structures: José Carlos Ferreira
Water and sewage installations: Paulo Pereira
Electrical installations and safety: Marcos Pereira Pinguinha
Mechanical installations: Protermia - projectos térmicos industriais e de ambiente, Lda, Eng. Jorge Neves
Stone conservation and restoration: Fernando Marques
History of Art and Archaeology: Institute of History of Art, Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra, Lurdes Craveiro, Conceição Lopes

Contractors

Teixeira Duarte, Engenharia e Construção, S.A.

Client

Municipal Council of Coimbra

Pátio da Inquisição , 6
3000-221 Coímbra,
Portugal

( GOOGLE MAPS )
The rehabilitation of the western part of the former College of Arts aims to recover and enhance certain architectural elements that describe its spatial evolution and to introduce others to resolve its new purpose. Located next to the Monastery of Santa Cruz, the College of Arts was built by Dom João III in 1548, in the midst of the Renaissance reform of the University of Coimbra. A few years later, the college was moved to the upper part of the city and the building became the headquarters of the Tribunal of the Holy Office, a condition that it maintained until the institution was dissolved with the Liberal Revolution in 1821.
The building's restoration process combines the restoration of the original interior space with the flexible distribution of new uses. Thus, the ground floor, which houses temporary exhibitions, allows for various configurations thanks to rotating panels whose arrangement can free up space or divide it into small enclosures. On this same level, a removable wooden floor protects archaeological remains and provides access to the underground rooms. Stairs made of a metal frame lead to the upper floor, where a load-bearing wall divides the space under the roof into two parts.

Original Use Educational, Military

New Use Cultural

Build Date [1997 — 2003]

Preexistance College and Prison
[16th century]