Tropo Subtil - A Ironia como ferramenta válida para a Arquitectura

Abstract

In architecture, at some point, it is possible to understand certain operations which balance between logic and surprise. As a result of these operations it appears Irony, recognized as a mechanism related to Rhetoric. With this work of investigation one tries to understand in what was Irony might be used as a tool in the process of creating Architecture. With this in mind, and as a goal for the whole work, the research begins with the study of Architecture perceived as a communication system based on its intersection with Rhetoric. By identifying its communication possibilities the needed tools to recognize the modus operandis of Rhetoric are enlightened inside the studied #eld. In a moment where the studies related with the power of communication of certain disciplines, like Architecture, are developed, it's established the debate about its capability of communication and, at the same time, the defense of Irony as a precious tool. $is moment, which is materialized in the theoretical crisis of the sixties, functions as a start point for the recognition of a set of #rst works which, at the same time they explain the ironic operations inherent to the communication skills, they also put themselves against the architecture production based on the disbelief of these skills. $e work of architects Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, which formation and method are characterized by clear in"uences from the epochs explained through the work, establishes new ways which enrich the possible use of Irony. $e analysis of their work allows me, at last, to favor Irony, understood as a tool which #lls Architecture with vitality, as long as its approach has the consciousness of the subtle needed for its valuable contribution.