Património vernacular do Alto Douro Vinhateiro: valores, usos e transformação

Abstract

The vernacular heritage, as it is internationally dened is characterized by a manner of building shared by the community; a traditional expertise in design and construction which is transmitted informally; an effective response to functional, social and environmental constraints and a effective application of traditional construction systems and crafts. As an architecture without architects, the vernacular architecture has functional and technical qualities, sometimes showing us perfect adaptations to the sites and functions. However, the confrontation with reality and the will to preserve it makes the matter much more complex. The maladjustment of the architectures to the way of life and production of the present, has long determined its obsolescence. The preservation of this architecture presents itself as an exercise full of problems where today feelings of nostalgia are projected and there is vast matter of a mythical vision of the balance between man and nature.