Author(s): MAIA, Maria Helena ; CARDOSO, Alexandra ; LEAL, Joana Cunha
Date: 2012
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/20651
Origin: Escola Superior Artística do Porto
Project/scholarship: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876-PPCDTI/PTDC%2FAUR-AQI%2F099063%2F2008/PT;
Subject(s): Survey; Vernacular Architecture; Modern Architecture; Portuguese Architecture
The research project we are developing is centered on the critical study of Popular Architecture in Portugal volume, published in 1961 by the Architects’ Union. This subject was chosen not only for the importance of the survey on which it is based for the history of Portuguese architectural culture, but also because we consider that the critical discussion prompted by the survey maintains its relevance unaltered, now that the debates on vernacular and regionalism have re-entered the agenda of professional debates. Even so, Popular Architecture in Portugal is not being study in isolation, in and for itself. Instead, we chose to study it within a pondered framework, dialoguing with theoretical elements underlying the expressiveness of some modern architectural erudite languages. Within this framework, Pedro Vieira de Almeida (2010) brought in two complementary key analytical variants of this project. He considered them as “parameters in sordina”: Firstly, the notion of the generic importance for architectural expression of greater or lesser degree of thickness of the walls, shaping what might be called a poetics of thin walls on the one hand, and a poetics of thick walls on the other. Secondly, the notion of transition-space’s architectural expressiveness key significance. This paper aims to present the current state of our research project, bringing its core working lines and results into discussion.
