An abandoned shopping mall in Lisbon, Portugal, has been repurposed as the Oriente Green Campus, a new “innovation hub” stocked with technology, academic, and laboratory spaces.
The adaptive reuse project in Parque das Nações was by KPF and Saraiva+Associados (S+A), a local firm. LJ-Group was the landscape architect. Oriente Green Campus is the first LEED and WELL Platinum development in Lisbon, KPF said in a statement.
Miguel Saraiva, S+A CEO and founder, said the campus “represents a milestone in Lisbon’s urban rehabilitation” before calling it “an open, fluid space where natural light and green areas foster creativity.”
Construction on the mall stalled in 2012. It sat abandoned for years afterward. Today the structure measures 452,000 square feet; it has three stories above grade and three basement levels.
KPF and S+A salvaged 91 percent of the building, and added another 20,500 square feet of green space to it. This approach slashed upfront embodied carbon by 58 percent as opposed to a new build, KPF said.
Users have access to an auditorium, cafeteria, bike park, gym, and locker room, all connected by walking routes, verandas, and terraced courtyards. The walkable roofscape features swirling geometries and verdant planted areas. An undulating plane peeks up from the roof, creating visual intrigue.
The campus is organized around a large rectangular central space that’s subdivided into courtyards. It has stepped floorplates, so the lower floors are larger than the upper floors. The design team leveraged this composition by installing terraces.
Spaces originally imagined as for retail made for flexible interior design, where tenants are invited to customize the spaces as they see fit. The work spaces look out onto the courtyards, and the city beyond.
In certain areas the concrete waffle slab ceilings were left exposed. In others, sweeping ceiling surfaces made of wood cascade above users. Sculptural stairs lacquered in bright white paint facing the courtyards connect the above-grade levels.
Passive shading and specification reduces operational energy. The envelope has high levels of insulation in the walls and roof; KPF stated natural ventilation will be possible for about one-third of the year.
A fleet of roof-mounted PV panels provide 60 percent of the requisite lighting for parking areas, 30 percent of the lighting for communal areas, and 40 percent for elevator operations.
“Oriente Green Campus demonstrates that responsible carbon guardianship and vigorous economic growth can be compatible,” said John Bushell, KPF principal. “Through imagination and purpose the building has been transformed into an ideal environment to work, study, and gather, where courtyards and landscape encourage positive social interaction.”
“The design team worked hard to reduce the whole life carbon, while rejuvenating a blighted site and contributing to Lisbon’s innovation ecosystem,” Bushell continued. In any adaptive reuse project, the key is to understand a building’s greatest potential and create a robust and flexible long-term proposition.”
Development group Multiusos Oriente FIIF backed the project. Today the anchor tenants include Richemont, Piaget, and Universidade Europeia, and others.