Biblioteca da Ética

From the original four volumes designed by Januário Godinho, on the Law Court project, only two would be build, remaining incomplete and in conflict with the limits of the Lisbon’s Penitentiary Center.
This facility, that keeps delaying its deactivation, may now become the meeting point between the campus of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the judiciary pole and the city that lays in the river shore.
Thus, it is proposed the construction of a library over the wall that faces the Law Court main building, claiming to be not only the concrete element that geometrically encloses the judicial square, but also a link between the garden of the Campus' new dormitories, located in the old penitential building.
This library, devoted to law and economic studies, pretends to be a common ground for both student’s and professional’s communities.
The inside of the cafeteria, the bookstore and the amphitheater are partially perceived from the square in contrast with the massive voids that expose the building in the academic side. The social and topographic gaps are overcome by a monumental foyer that invites the user to rise to the reading room. This chamber, divided in several levels, allows the fruition of a variety of spaces, including a green terrace which reveals a remarkable panorama of the city of Lisbon and the river Tagus.