AB+AC Architects design a cultural center dedicated to promoting innovation and healing through the arts: a space of light and natural materials where the city of Lisbon is invited to detach temporarily from the urban chaos of everyday life and build new, more meaningful connections, thanks to a variety of activities ranging from movement and artistic co-creation, to immersive experiences with international professionals.

In the midst of Covid-19’s second wave, AB+AC Architects is commissioned by the American non-profit organization, Open Hearts Lisbon, to design its first experiential center for conscious gathering, holistic learning, and co-creation. The site is located on the ground floor of a 19th-century building in a narrow alley within the historic neighborhood of Bairro Alto, carrying with it the challenge of turning a dark and inactive commercial unit into a space of light, dedicated to evoking calmness and positive thinking in its users.

The project takes inspiration from the sacred concept of shala - a word that in Sanskrit means home - where people commonly gather to practice yoga, learn and grow. Now the shala expands beyond the initial purpose and is reinterpreted in a communal home with one in-house artist residency. The layout is thought of as a sequence of pure and well-defined rooms that flow from a very public experience in proximity to the street with the multi-purpose main saloon to a convivial zone where the open kitchen extends up the stairs into an intimate patio inhabited by tropical plants and paved with volcanic stone pebbles. In between the public and private areas is the lounge, a long and narrow space with a diffused lighting system that stretches over eight meters and provides an ideal environment for art gatherings and solo exhibitions.