A Referência em Arquitectura. Reflexão sobre a presença e uso de referências na arquitectura contemporânea

Abstract

Departing from the premise that architecture will always be simultaneously referenced and a reference, the aim of this study is to reflect upon the presence and processes of its references. The purpose of this work is thus confined to the references' world and history, focusing on architecture projects since the last quarter of the 20th century, seeking to crisscross different methods and paths in architecture, as well as their outcome. It looks to understand the complexity of the creative process in its use of references, providing a pondered reflection about recurring patterns, present in every work of architecture. This dissertation is therefore a personal take on the idea of architecture as a sum of multiple circumstances and references, resulting from a glance which is as rigorous as intuitive on the subject of references within the discipline. The theme was explored spontaneously, underpinned by an interest in clarifying concepts linked to the subject and in understanding referencing processes, including their role in producing mental and constructed architecture. It is an investigation that is not based on isolated case studies, but on a thoughtful reflection about the work of selected architects - Rossi, Siza Vieira, Zumthor, Herzog&deMeuron, Nouvel and Souto de Moura -, which were analysed in an intertwined mode and appeared flexibly along the research path. While the authors' projects and discourse were not the key targets of the study, they were the basic building-blocks constituting the research structure. They illustrate, exemplify and unveil the reasoning processes behind the theoretical discussions and the different ways of using references. Departing from the general idea of reference, the work then moves on to look at these authors' projects, case by case, underlining relational and interpretive criteria expressed in the search for references, going from those which the architect is most conscious of, to less linear and clear-cut examples, recognized and at times even interpreted by others. It is a piece or research that derives strength from its broadness, seeking to embrace the dynamics behind referencing processes in contemporary architecture. These can be found in any element of the project: form, structure, atmosphere, light, materiality, or can be specific, conscious or intuitive, very direct, practical or subjective and based on their meaning. The key theoretical contribution lies in the categorization proposed for different referencing provenances, broken down along three different chapters: self-reference - non-discipline references, from the author or the projects' place/context, split into memory, context and site -; the architectural reference - which includes the historical vocabulary of the discipline and existing architectural models, divided into types and archetypes, styles, and authors -; and non architectural reference - brought into architecture from other areas, such as nature, everyday life, the arts and sciences, creating new processes to create and give meaning to architecture. From enduring and persisting references to more recent ones, this is a review that identifies the essential themes of architecture, recognizing, at different times and places, references to history as much as to the site, to the 'self' as much as to the other, to inside as much as to the outside of the discipline.