Lisbon's Técnico Innovation Centre breathes life into old rail depot
Lisbon's century-old Arco do Cego railway station fell into disuse in the 1990s. Thirty years later, the depot's original features are part and parcel of the Técnico Innovation Centre's unique structure.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 The Technical Innovation Center, co-funded by the European Union,
00:07 opened its doors to the public in October 2023.
00:12 This huge renovation project, which was two years in the making,
00:15 complements the Alameda campus and is close to the Arco do Sego garden.
00:21 Anna-Sophia Gulich is a student from Germany
00:24 and is studying architecture at the University of Lisbon.
00:27 The plans for the new building were designed by a team of architects
00:31 from the Technical Innovation Center.
00:33 Preserving the building's original character
00:35 with innovative energy-saving techniques was a top priority.
00:40 The windows flood the space with natural light,
00:42 while layers of insulation in the windows
00:44 help regulate the temperature inside.
00:55 I've seen pictures of how the existing building used to look before,
00:58 and I think it's really interesting to see how they kept
01:01 the character of the building.
01:02 You can still see the train lines of the trams that used to be inside here,
01:06 and you can still see the original walls outside.
01:09 And they did a really great job by keeping the character,
01:11 also by keeping the shape of the roof.
01:14 [Music]