O papel do arquitecto na construção do comum: intervenção pós-catástrofe

Abstract

Abstract When the built space ceases to exist, and only memory (idea) of the space remains, the architect does not have the usual resources available, not being able to work thru direct observation. Thus the architectural project has a limbo as its birth, a place that belongs simultaneously to past and future but from them only carries ideas, fragments of abstract realities. From the past, it retains ideas of reality in the form of memories and, from the future, in the form of ambitions and claims. In this reconstruction process, who are supposed to be the intervening actors and what is the architect's role among them? Will the architect be just a tool in the way to the problems resolution? Or will he be allowed the artistic freedom in the way to the solution? Therefore, the highlight of this study leans over acknowledging the steps of projecting process in searching of what is common to a certain group, in other words, the set of elements, practices and recognizable ambitions by those who share the same built territory. In this search, how come the architect - most of the times, not being part of the affected group - manage the available resources, evaluating the importance of each one of them and so enhancing its reflection in the new built environment? How to identify what is common in a group? Is culture a set of identifiable phenomena in this process? What are the concepts behind "common", "collective" and "public"? Will the studying of behavior relations between the individuals and their environment, be enough to ensure the success of the architectural work? Or, on the other hand, will its direct application represent purely a functional position of "fit and effect"? Can architecture be ethnocide? How to evaluate the success of the architectural work?