The notion of limit in architectural theory. Two case studies in Portugal

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2020144293

Keywords:

In-between, Transition-space, Semi-public, Semi-exterior, Porch

Abstract

Modern Portuguese architecture has been seen as the result of an eminently empirical and intuitive practice, dissociated from any effort of theoretical structuring. This paper intends to contradict that predominant view, presenting the notion of spatial limit as a subject that earned particular consideration from a younger, more critical and intellectually demanding generation of architects. Firstly, it introduces two notions directly related to limit - ‘extensions of the dwelling’ and ‘transition-space’ - presented in theses by Nuno Portas (b. 1934) and Pedro Vieira de Almeida (1933-2011) respectively, two highly innovative works in the academic panorama of early 1960s. Next, it focuses on the fundamental role each of the notions taken in investigative works that are parallel in time but substantially different. The first, Habitação evolutiva, is a typological study reflecting the spirit of its time by claiming the ‘right to the city’ as the founding principle of a model critical of CIAM urbanism. The second is an essay stemming from a critical reflexion on the work of an eclectic architect that eludes categorization (Raul Lino, 1879-1974) which sheds light on the need for a critical approach to the history of modern architecture.

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Author Biographies

Tiago Lopes Dias, University of Porto

Tiago Lopes Dias (Porto, 1978) holds a Bachelor degree from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto (FAUP, 2004) and a PhD in Theory and History of Architecture from the Catalonia Polytechnic University (UPC, 2017). He is currently Junior Researcher at the Centre for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (FAUP). His research focuses on the relations between theory, design, criticism and history in the Western context of the 20th century, and particularly in the Iberian context. Within this vast field of interest is his PhD thesis, “Architectural theory and design in Portugal, 1956-1974: Nuno Portas and Pedro Vieira de Almeida”, funded by a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). He teaches at FAUP and also at the Vallés School of Architecture (ETSAV-UPC) as assistant professor. His writings are published in books such as Porto Brutalista (2019),Agostinho Ricca: Architecture, Work, Design (2015), in conference proceedings such as 74-14. SAAL and Architecture (2016), Arquitectura importada y exportada en España y Portugal, 1925-1975 (2016), and also in academic journals such as Edições Caseiras (29/2017, CESAP-CEAA).

Rui Jorge Garcia Ramos, University of Porto

Rui Jorge Garcia Ramos (Viana do Castelo, 1961) is an architect at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto (FAUP, 1986) and full professor in architecture. He teaches the Project atelier of the Master’s Degree and he also coordinates housing studies in the PhD Programme, in FAUP. He has held several leading roles in the University of Porto, having been Vice Rector for the built environment between 2014 and 2018. He developed the practice of architecture and business activity between 1983 and 2003. For the work carried out on Expo’98, he was awarded with the Degree of Grand Officer of Merit. He is a researcher at the Centre for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism and he is the main researcher of the interdisciplinary project: “Mapping Public Housing” (FCT 2016-2019). His main study areas are the spatial devices of the house; the relation between cultural processes and dwelling forms; the identity question in architecture; and housing programmes, of which he has works published, available at http://bit.ly/ruijgramos.

References

Almeida, Pedro Vieira de. 1969. Raul Lino e a responsabilidade da nova crítica. A Capital,November 19, supplement ‘Literatura e Artes’.

_____. 1970. Raul Lino, Arquitecto Moderno. In Raul Lino: Exposição Retrospectiva da sua Obra, coords. Vieira de Almeida, França, Pimentel, Rio-Carvalho, 115–88. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

_____. 1974. O revivalismo árabe e os elementos estruturais da arquitectura. In Estética do Romantismo em Portugal, 211-15.Lisboa: Centro de Estudos do Século XIX do Grémio Literário.

_____. 2013 [1963]. Ensaio sobre o espaço da arquitectura. Porto: CEAA.

Carneiro, Luís Soares. 2016. Casas Ermas: a arquitetura dos irmãos Rebelo de Andrade e os discursos do moderno. Porto: Fundação Marques da Silva.

Lopes Dias, Tiago. 2017. Teoria e desenho da arquitectura em Portugal, 1956-1974: Nuno Portas e Pedro Vieira de Almeida. PhD thesis. Departament de Teoria i Història de l’Arquitectura, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Marino, Margarida and André, Paula. 2018. O valor patrimonial do ‘Ensaio sobre o Espaço da/em Arquitetura’ (1963) de Pedro Vieira de Almeida (1933-2011). In Antologia de Ensaios - Laboratório Colaborativo: dinâmicas urbanas, património, artes. IV Seminário de investigação, ensino e difusão, coord. Paula André, P. Simões Rodrigues, M. Brito Alves and M. Reimão Costa, 56-76. Lisboa: DINÂMIA'CET-IUL.

Newman, Oscar. 1961. CIAM’59 in Otterlo: group for the research of social and visual inter-relationships. London: Alec Tiranti, Ltd.

Portas, Nuno. 1959. A responsabilidade de uma novíssima geração no Movimento Moderno em Portugal, Arquitectura,66 (Novembro): 13-4.

_____. 2004 [1960]. A habitação social. Proposta para a metodologia da sua arquitectura, Vols.I & II.Porto: FAUP Publicações.

_____; Silva Dias, Francisco. 1971. Habitação evolutiva. Princípios e critérios de projectos. Lisboa: Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil.

Ramos, Rui Jorge Garcia. 2011. A perspectiva das coisas. Raul Lino em Cascais.Monumentos, 31: 106-21.

Rocha, Marta. 2016. O Valor do Tempo: o Programa Intelectual e Arquitectónico de Raul Lino. PhD thesis. Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto.

Santos Pedrosa, Patrícia. 2010. Habitar em Portugal nos anos 1960: ruptura e antecedentes. Um caminho pelo interior do discurso. PhD thesis. Departament de Projectes Arquitectònics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Smithson, Alison, ed. 1967. Urban structuring. London-New York: Studio Vista-Reinhold Pub.

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Published

2020-11-03

How to Cite

Lopes Dias, T., & Garcia Ramos, R. J. . (2020). The notion of limit in architectural theory. Two case studies in Portugal. ZARCH. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, (14), 58–69. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2020144293

Issue

No. 14 (2020): Mapping the boundaries

Section

Topic papers