Portugal Bank Headquarters Conversion

In 2007 the Bank of Portugal issued a restricted call for tenders for the full-scale remodelling of its headquarters building.
Located within the part of the City of Lisbon that was erected in the XVIII century after the great Lisbon earthquake, the city block which contains the Bank of Portugal is made up of the former São Julião Church and a number of neighbouring buildings which house the Bank’s administrative departments.
The tender specification highlights the need for a more far-ranging intervention in relation to the Church. Built on the site of the residence of the Cardinal of Lisbon that was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1755, São Julião Church was sold to the Bank of Portugal in 1933 so as to allow vehicular access to the vaults, which are still in use today.
The specification includes various spaces within the Church – a multipurpose hall, an auditorium, conference rooms, a museum, an exhibition and storage area, and a library – and the rehabilitation of the central nave, which is to be turned into the formal reception area for the Bank’s headquarters.
Our solution entails building a new structure containing the auditorium and the multipurpose hall within the central nave. This structure is to be detached from the side walls so as to make it possible to see the nave area as a single whole.
This idea is based on a way of working with church spaces that involves superimposing different styles and objects (altars, pulpits and organs) from different historical periods.