A Casa no Vale do Tâmega. Pontos de projecto

Abstract

The present dissertation emerged from the project exercise "A house in the Valley of Tâmega" with the intent to expose the process and contemplation it comprises. The subject encompasses the contemplation of the procedural path between knowledge, expression, and representation. Each work deals with a different architectonic problem. The desire to search for the best way to inhabit an area was the "bridge" between the project's attitude and the architectonic though "o espaço que se deixa é tão importante como o espaço que se preenche"3 . The answer to a programme "simplesmente como punto de partida cuantitativo, no cualitativo"4 led to a practical experience of the project which was recorded, analysed, and supported by other practical and theoretical references. In a process where the "points of the project" are not valuable on their own, the questions raised during the exercise will be portrayed and pondered through the usage of graphic registration, models, memories, images, experiences, and writings. The way the "points of the project" are described reveals a reflection and architectural attitude shaped throughout the process. The dissertation focused on the intent to demonstrate the process as a whole when responding to the balance between existence and form. This equilibrium has been promoted in parallel with the development and transformation of its underlying factors. The perception and sensitivity I was able to reach through the means used in the process assumed the character of an "unstable organism" under transformation, where the architectural process (knowledge, expression and representation) started to recreate the levels of consciousness from "the beginning", from the moment I was incited and the interest for the uniqueness of the of the project's challenge was sparked.