Reabilitar para a cidade: o Cine-Teatro de Vale Formoso

Abstract

The study for the rehabilitation of Cine-Teatro de Vale Formoso was the fundamental goal for the elaboration of the present dissertation. Thinking about Cine- Teatro de Vale Formoso allowed us to reflect on the city of Porto and its active and abandoned buildings, that are framed in a cultural structure, composed of parts and elements that integrate an urban, social and historical unity. From the equation on the relationship between the city and the Cine-Teatro, a search was made on the reasons that led to its current state, defined by the omission of its urban presence, taking in account its original function in the city. The objective of the present work resided in the study on the manner to rehabilitate this building, so as to return it to the community experience. Hence, we drew the architectural valorization of the Cine-Teatro and its integration in the cultural patrimony of the city, finding, in this way, the reasons that justify its revitalization. The necessity of understanding the building, from the urban, typological and hystorical point of view was the starting point for the research carried out. From the beginning, the analysis of the 'cineteatro' typology became indispensable, as well as the research of its origins, in cinema and in theatre. The intervention sought to preserve the building, adapting it to a new context, a new program and a new 'client'. That new context, the current cultural structure of the city of Porto, was also explored in an effort to search for references and examples of stability of cultural equipments, thus finding a programmatic solution that could be translated in stability, in a long term, for the Cine-Teatro of Vale Formoso. The proposal developed had the University Theatre of Porto as its 'client', since the institution is currently settled in a temporary accommodation, granted by the Porto's City Hall. The goal is to provide TUP with a new 'home' and, at the same time, ensure a stable and lasting use and promotion of the Cine-Teatro. Thus, both theatres, the physical and the associative, curiously founded in the same year of 1948, might come together and stand generators of attractiveness in the cultural life of the city of Porto, in constant dialog with the community.