The building of the Pasteur Institute Laboratories, located on Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa, in Lisbon, was inaugurated in 1958. This industrial building, recipient of the prestigious Valmor Award, has now been rehabilitated to become a modern education facility, home to the United Lisbon International School.
In this episode of Net Zero Stories, Chitra Stern (Managing Director of the Martinhal Group), Eduardo Capinha Lopes (Architect), and José Azcue (Headmaster) tell us the story, the details, and the impact of this rehabilitation, which was awarded the BREEAM certification, attesting to the project’s sustainability merits.

“The building has a Valmor Award, which means that the facade had to be preserved, including its exterior color. We essentially stripped the interior and recreated classroom spaces that would offer transparency. This is one of our essential considerations. The reason we have all glass windows in the classrooms is to provide transparency between the classroom and the exterior hallway. Additionally, it brings a lot of natural light into the building, creating a wonderful working environment for students and teachers,” said Chitra Stern.
“I sometimes joke with my architects: are we talking about sustainability? No. We are talking about something that is inevitable in our projects and behaviors today. Just as we have other rules in construction, sustainability now has a mandatory presence. It is no longer an exception; it is an obligation. And here in this building, given that it was an industrial building, we took extreme care and I think we achieved some success,” admitted Eduardo Capinha Lopes, the architect responsible for this project.
For José Azcue, Headmaster of the School, “the school’s design was intended to be environmentally friendly and very efficient in terms of security and energy control. But I am more focused on the activities that come from the students. We have a very active eco-club with volunteers who meet after school and propose many ideas. They are trying to create a rooftop garden, they are recycling, and they collect waste that is used for art projects, among other activities.”

It is worth learning more about this interesting real estate and educational project in detail, in this episode of Net Zero Stories, powered by Crédito Agrícola, in accordance to its Net Zero Transition Plan, in partnership with Welectric. You can check the official site of ULIS here.
The Valmor Award (in Portuguese, Prémio Valmor) is one of the most prestigious architectural prizes in Portugal, awarded annually for outstanding architectural achievements in Lisbon. It was established in 1898 by the Viscount of Valmor, Fausto de Queirós Guedes, who left a sum of money in his will to reward the best new buildings in the city. The prize is regarded as a seal of quality in the architectural community.