Beato Convent – Events Centre/
RISCO
Project Details
Location(City/Country):
Lisboa / Portugal
Tipology:
Renovation Transformational use
Year (Design/Construction):
2019 / 2022
Area (Net/Gross):
5574 m2 / -
Operational Carbon emissions (B6) kgCO2e/m2/y:
-
Embodied Carbon emissions (A1-A3) kgCO2e/m2:
-- The project involved the renovation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, reducing the need for new construction materials and minimising waste.
- The new ceiling in the cloister was designed to be structurally light and technically efficient, enhancing energy conservation by improving insulation and thermal comfort.
- The new design includes skylights that allow natural light to penetrate the space, reducing reliance on artificial lighting during the day.
- The project balances modern technical installations with the preservation of historic architectural elements, avoiding over-engineering and ensuring that the space remains functional while retaining its heritage value.
- The restoration process involved minimal disruption to the existing structures, ensuring that the environmental footprint of the project remained low.
The dozen or so buildings that make up the Convento do Beato complex date from a number of different eras. The project developed by RISCO, for LARFA Properties, includes the remodelling of the Events Centre and the renovation/refurbishment of the remaining buildings for new uses, namely, services in the old church and housing in the old industrial buildings.
Work began in 2018 and is scheduled for completion in 2024. In March 2022, work on the Events Centre was completed. This had focused on improving the comfort and safety of the thousands of people who come here each year for parties, corporate meetings and product launches.
The most important transformation took place in the cloister, the space that hosts larger-scale events. Since the 1980s, this had been covered by a pyramid-shaped roof, covered with acrylic panels. This did not offer the smoke clearance or thermal and acoustic insulation required for this type of use. It also had no air-conditioning system, making it pretty uncomfortable on very hot days.
The design for the new ceiling resulted from a long process of technical and formal research, made necessary by the desire to ensure that it was structurally light, technically efficient and architecturally coherent with the cloister elevations. The solution adopted consists of a system of orthogonally arranged trusses that form a set of “honeycombs” that are lit from above by skylights.
In this project, as in many others, we did not follow a single “recipe”: in some spaces we hide the new technical installations, in others we accept them as elements that add to the composition as a whole. In some cases, our language is decidedly contemporary, in others we take a more conservative approach, by replicating the design of the old carpentry work, masonry and metalwork.
This was an extensive and complex job that required frequent and ongoing adaptations as the work progressed. When we look at the results of our labours, we find that we have managed to incorporate everything that is required to run a modern events centre and do so without disfiguring spaces that are quite remarkable for their architectural and heritage value. This was always the main aim of our work.
- Architects: Tomás Salgado, João Almeida, Francisco Lebreiro, Inês Reis, Inês Melo, Inês Fonseca, Margarida Pires, André Luís, Duarte Silva, Peter Kornerup, Tiago Farinha, Karolinne Alves, Maria Martins and Vítor Alves
- Site Architect: Tomás Salgado, Francisco Lebreiro
- Signage: Ana Cruz
- Landscape Architecture: NPK
- Structural Engineering: A2P
- Electrical Engineering: Caon
- HVAC Engineering: Dimensionar
- Hydraulics: Sopsec
- Acoustics Consultant: Sopsec
- Fire Protection: Redifogo
- Light Design: Filamento
- Client: Beato Lux
- Photographs: Carolina Delgado
