Estruturas obsoletas do nosso passado da Destruição e da Transformação de um complexo agrícola

Abstract

The natural evolution of society has led to buildings with agricultural purposes to be no longer needed. Alongside this, emerges the necessity to find places to host new programmes that cater for current needs. In this case there are two options: either building from scratch or taking advantage of an existing building and adapting the new programme to its apparently obsolete form. The refurbishment project for an Agricultural Complex in Carrazeda de Ansiães proposes to stop the natural wrecking process of a rural structure with familiar heritage, giving it a new life by adapting its agricultural and livestock use to holiday housing, as a rest and leisure refuge. This dissertation is an illustrated story about an architectural project development, which goes beyond the refurbishment and the extension design issues. In fact, the project aspires to design an environment that evokes the past forever lost (by Destruction) and simultaneously, that gives us comfort from the pleasure of a new future. (by Transformation). This is, therefore, an experimental laboratory where project themes and visual inspirations are explored and theoretical and physical references as well as artistic ones interconnect during the natural process of time flow either related to the case study or the designing process in itself, in its wider sense and not strictly related to refurbishment Despite being a project in a real context, the essay that we present is not intended to thoroughly gather technical information, supported by absolute truths and unquestionable facts. Conversely, the story that we tell wants to make evident the uncertainty inherent to every creative process that precedes the construction of places, scenarios of our best memories.