Art and Architecture

Included in the ambitious plan for the renovation of the physical space of the university, the Department of Mathematics was given new premises in a T-shaped building. The initial project, which aimed to congregate the departments of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in a single complex, was abandoned, and Lucínio Guia da Cruz designed an independent building. Its construction began in 1964.

Following the stylistic canons adopted by the Administrative Committee of the Coimbra University City, the building of the Mathematics Department displays a soft monumental classicism in its architecture.

The main façade doorway was decorated with bas-reliefs sculpted by Gustavo Bastos, evoking “Mathematics as a Natural Science”, on the left, and “Mathematics as an Abstract Science”, on the right.

The entrance atrium is adorned with two frescoes on the side walls, one dedicated to “Portuguese Mathematics at the service of the nation’s epic history” and the other to “Mathematics since Chaldea and Egypt until our time”. They were made by Almeida Negreiros.

Proposed Intervention

The building of the Mathematics Department of the Faculty of Science and Technology will maintain, in general, its educational and administrative services and other units, preserving the current functional and programmatic organisation.

Maintenance and/or rehabilitation of the whole building will be carried out in order to eliminate spurious elements that mar its spatial features, and especially to improve equipment and infrastructure networks, in particular the electrical, informatics and heating, cooling and ventilation systems.

Circulation is to be adapted to the current legal requisites, as well as to the programmatic and functional requirements of the building.

Technical Document PDF