Designation
Coimbra Student Union
Current occupation
Sections and services of the Coimbra Academic Association, Canteens, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre
Ownership
University of Coimbra
Art-historical characterisation
The new academic facilities, which began to be built in 1954, are made up of a series of buildings housing various services, as canteens, bars, a gymnasium, rehearsal rooms and a building for the cultural and sports sections, most notably the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre. Designed by the architects Alberto José Pessoa and João Abel Manta, they clearly reveal a stylistic break with the ‘monumental classicism’ adopted in the University City. The modern language of the building plan was criticised time and again by the Superior Council of Public Works for the absence of elements and features of ‘traditional Portuguese’ architecture.
Predominating a strong horizontality and asymmetry in construction, the spatial organisation of the various building bodies follows a functional matrix, according to the functions inherent in each of the buildings.
