Gulbenkian Música

The Gulbenkian Foundation is a private, non-profit institution involved in the fields of art, education and science since 1956. It is the most important cultural institution in Portugal. In the 1960s, a concert hall considered to have the best acoustics in Portugal was built at its head offices. Among the bidders for the job to modernise this hall, SBS was found to have the best technical concept and was thus awarded the contract by the Foundation.

The understage machinery of the hall consists of ten double-deck podiums. A special feature of the stage structure is the integration of a large organ, two large film screens and several secondary podiums. The biggest challenge was to adapt the new drive system to the existing stage geometry and the extreme space constraints.

Regarding the overstage machinery, it was necessary to find a way of installing the 35 winches and 42 cable drums in such a way as to retain the numerous grid openings for the 17 chain hoists.

Construction work began in August 2013 with the dismantling of the existing machinery. The new COSTACOwin computerised control system was installed and commissioned over the next five months. The system was handed over on schedule on 1 February 2014. The official opening was celebrated with a special concert attended by the Portuguese President