Speech Clinic

SPEECH CLINIC (Lisbon, Portugal)

The clinic is understood as a place of learning, concentration, where the sound and image are mandatory elements.
Capturing the rhythm of words, the pause between them, noise and silence, full and emptiness, is the main idea of the project. From these assumptions and the analysis of the space, a landscape ceiling that vibrates like the cadency of the rhythms of nature is drawn. This mechanism is balanced with the simplicity and strength of the whole. The filter lets the air through and sets the sound, the mass contains both. The sensations of depth, transparency, opacity and flow are given by the subtle organization of materials.

The Speech Clinic is situated on the ground-floor of a residential block in the city of Lisbon.
The idea of the project was based on the creation of a new image and concept for a clinic in the city.
Starting from a reduced budget, the challenge consisted of the reformulation of an existing space, into a speech clinic for a young therapist.

The program is developed as a single space, where the entrance hall is articulated with the main office, where the presence of a mirror is an essential element in the therapy sessions. The possible division of the space is simply obtained by a sliding wall.

Considering the multiplicity of space as unique, the ceiling is proposed as a permeable element, consisted by blades which filter, control and hide all the technical components that are essential for the functionality of the clinic: light, climatisation, security and sound. This mechanism, apart from controlling these elements, has a primal function of creating the feeling of depth and vibration, which characterize all the space.

The result is understood as a void, where furniture is molded of the same material, as part of the whole.

Location Lisbon, Portugal
Client I. Reduto
Construction site supervision MMVARQUITECTO
Construction company António M. Cesário

Architect Miguel Marques Venâncio
Collaborators B. Pedrosa (Models, Digital images)