Entre a Reminiscência e a Transformação: Reconversão da Aldeia do Barbelote

Abstract

The intervention in a heritage context has been an increasingly central theme in the contemporary architecture panorama. In the face of growing awareness of the average edification's importance - formerly disregarded and underrated - emerges the interest in understanding how this heritage can adapt to the living requirements of the present. Thus, the following dissertation wishes to explore this issue, from the reflection on the topic to the project exercise, through a case study. This way, the focus of this work concerns a small group of buildings with a vernacular character, found in the west slope of Fóia, in the Monchique mountain range, in Algarve. Commonly known as Barbelote's village, it is in an advanced state of disrepair and, due to its condition and context, revealed itself appropriate for the topic. The work process focused, firstly, in a documental and iconographic investigation, complemented by field work, in order to understand and contextualise the circumstances of the place and the case study. Only then to define an intervention strategy in several scales, establishing a set of project and construction premises, through a theoretical investigation of built works and intervention methods in similar contexts. In the end, the last chapter displays the final proposal along the several plots of the village through an analysis of their evolution process, assuming in itself as a synthesis of the thought process. The solution has in mind not only the group coherency, but also its several eras, seeking to safeguard the heritage through its transformation and adaptation to a new reality.