CF Research Centre

The Champalimaud Foundation will build a research centre to fulfill its objective of developing biomedical research activities in Portugal.

The Champalimaud Research Centre will be a multidisciplinary centre for translational research of excellence, with the best possible conditions to attract and retain the best researchers, academics and medical doctors from Portugal and abroad in the fields of neurosciences and oncology. The Champalimaud Research Centre will include laboratories for basic and clinical research, an ambulatory care centre, a vivarium, an auditorium, conference rooms and other teaching facilities and also an exhibition area.

The state of the art facilities for basic and clinical research and for teaching will foster front line research in molecular biology, genetics, immunology, neurosciences and behaviour, and oncology, as well as post-graduate and doctorate programmes, and the diagnosis and treatment of neurological and cancer patients.

The Champalimaud Research Centre will be located in a beautiful site of 60,000m2 in an exclusive zone of Lisbon, on the waterfront of Pedrouços, near the magnificent Tower of Belém. This area, where the river Tagus meets the Atlantic Ocean, is of great historical significance as the great Portuguese pioneers sailed from here to discover the “unknown” in the XV and XVI centuries.  The presence of the Champalimaud Research Centre will leverage this historical heritage by creating an inspirational link between the discoveries of yesteryear and the epic adventure of scientific research.

In order to honour the historical relevance of the site and to promote the relationship of the citizens with the sea and the “unknown”, the Champalimaud Research Centre will allow free access of the public to the waterfront through wide landscaped areas around its buildings.

The project of the Champalimaud Research Centre by the architect Charles Correa expresses and reinforces the objectives of fostering scientific excellence and of celebrating the discoveries, while generously allowing the access and enjoyment of the area to the general public.

The Champalimaud Centre comprises 3 buildings:

- Building A, that houses the diagnostic and treatment units in the lower levels and the basic research laboratories in the upper levels.

- Building B has the Auditorium, the Exhibition Area, and a Restaurant on the entrance level, and on the upper level the offices of the Champalimaud Foundation that are connected to building A by an elegant glass bridge.

- Building C is an open air amphitheatre, facing the river.

The buildings are arranged in such a way to create a 125 m long pedestrian pathway leading diagonally across the site, towards the open seas. This pathway is ramped up so that when walking upwards one can only see the sky ahead. At the top of the ramp there are two stone monoliths, straight from the quarry. When one reaches the highest point, one sees a large body of water which apparently connects to the ocean beyond. In the centre of the water body, just below the surface, there is an oval shaped stainless steel object, slightly convex so that it reflects the blue sky and the passing clouds above; it could be anything – the back of a turtle, a tropical island, a treasure chest…, all included in the mythic adventure that inspired the discoveries.