Lisbon (Portugal), Nov.19: Indian architect Charles Correa has been appointed as designer of the "Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown", a 26,000-square meter research centre.

The Lisbon Centre will be a major scientific centre in cancer and neurosciences. Charles Correa and Leonor Beleza, the President of the Foundation made a presentation of their proposed design last week.

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. It 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.

It will be located in a beautiful site of 60,000m2 in a 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 Champalimaud Centre will comprise of three buildings:

- Building A, that houses the diagnostic and treatment units in the lower levels and the basic research laboratories in the upper levels - read more here;

- 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. Read more here.

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

The buildings will be arranged in such a way as 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.
 
The Champalimaud Foundation was created at the bequest of the late Portuguese industrialist and entrepreneur, António de Sommer Champalimaud. At the end of 2004 it was officially incorporated as the Anna de Sommer Champalimaud and Dr. Carlos Montez Champalimaud Foundation, in honour of the benefactor’s parents.

As stipulated by António Champalimaud prior to his death, Leonor Beleza, former Portuguese Minister of Health, is the Foundation’s President. The Champalimaud Foundation supports individual researchers and research teams working at the cutting edge of medical science. It aims to stimulate novel theoretical and practical methodologies by utilising the experience of both research scientists and medical practitioners.

The impact of progressive research – basic, applied and clinical - is typically far-reaching, affecting how illnesses and diseases are diagnosed and treated throughout the world. The Champalimaud Foundation aims to maximise the work being done in the fields of cancer research and neuroscience. Another primary objective is to make advances in the field of international vision research. As a result of this, the Foundation intends to make a significant contribution to the fight against vision-related illness and disease. (ANI)