Xerox Centre

Lisbon, Portugal

2001–1996

The building was designed based on a first-prize entry in a shortlisted competition held by Xerox for its corporate headquarters in Portugal. Given the site’s location at a busy traffic intersection, the building was devised in a U-shape, with two parallel wings of offices, connected by a third block of services (auditorium, showroom, canteen, etc.) and set around a large and enclosed void. With 800 sq. m and five floors, the monumentality of this atrium caters not only to circulation and reception but also meets the less evident need for silence and contemplation within what is a large corporation. However, and notwithstanding the growing privatisation of the public realm, the eminently civic character of this atrium also allows it to function as a space for events, open to the city. The compositional system of both the exterior and interior façades is based on a construction module that endorses the idea of heavyweight tectonics, within which a representational skeleton of prefabricated concrete panels visually holds the more fragile elements — glass and, alternatively, wood or zinc. Drawing on the classical theme of the post-and-lintel, the representational transposition of the load permeates the building, its concrete skeleton resting on a heavy granite plinth with a pronounced stereotomy.

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Views towards west and east

Handrail detail

Staircase and loggia

Façade modules

Location: Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, Lisbon, Portugal
Client: Xerox Portugal, SA
Scope of services: Architecture
Project brief: Offices and dispatch and warehouse facilities
Plot area: 8,880 sq. m
Gross floor area: 24,800 sq. m
Construction cost: EUR 750.00 per sq. m
Total construction cost: EUR 9.5m
Project status: 1996 (concept design) – 2001 (built)
Photography: Rui Morais de Sousa, Augusto Alves da Silva and Fernando Guerra

Longitudinal section
Ground-level floor plan

Atrium study

Façade study

West façade main entrance

Rooftop playground by Fernando Guerra

Photograph by Augusto Alves da Silva