Reuse of buildings in Portugal: the transition from history to project and from project to history

This paper is the result of a postdoctoral research at the FAULisboa. It explores and analyses the potential value of architectonic pre-existences in the transformation of Portuguese cities in the 21st century. To select the buildings, it has been explored the recently completed national research project “On building typologies. Composing a morphological inventory of the Portuguese city” (FCT, ref. PTDC/ARTDAQ/30110/2017). Three interventions are analysed: the reconstruction of the Chiado district (1988-2015) in Lisbon’s Baixa Pombalina, the conversion of a former slaughterhouse in Torres Vedras into a cultural centre, and the revitalization of a decrepit market in Braga to establish a music and dance school. Focusing on the individual creative process, the question at hand is: how have architects incorporated history into their design work? The analyses focus on the mutation of the buildings and the fusion of different times, between pre-existence and new construction, but also on the production of new urban forms in the city, which give continuity to the old layouts. The result is a critical sample of urban fragments in which the project of mutation of the buildings has served to generate new typologies of public spaces – a courtyard, a square, a passage – designed at the right scale, offering new walking routes and places to be, sit, rest or meet. The architects have made an original interpretation of what already exists making an interesting dialogue with history: by recalling old plans of the city like Alvaro Siza, by integrating the surrounding landscape, like José Neves, or by highlighting previous architecture reused with a new meaning, like Eduardo Souto de Moura. In conclusion, these examples have outlined three useful strategies for the building metamorphosis and urban sedimentation.