Do Ornamento ao Formalismo: edificio objecto

Abstract

This study aims at presenting and "interpreting" aspects of the history of contemporary architecture's "evolution" focused on the analysis of the architectural construction, with a tendency to iconography. The purpose of this study has to do with a personal wish to understand the influence of current architectural practices on the development of architecture in Porto. The work is divided into three chapters: The first summarizes a historical route through the several theories of urban planning, beginning with the City Beautiful movement, in the 1990s, passing through the theory of Ebenezer Howard's Garden City, from 1920, and the utopia presented by le Corbusier in 1932. These are followed by the study of the Athens Charter, the plan of Brasilia and the analysis of the New Urbanism movement. This part of the work finishes with the analysis of Rem Koolhaas's theory about the contemporary city, named Generic City. The second chapter displays some periods in the history of architecture, highlighting the most significant ones, as far as the creation and spread of the expression sculptural building is concerned. Our journey begins with the analysis of the first Boullée's and Ledoux utopias, the study of the Modern Movement, mainly between 1950 and 1965. We then centre our attention on the Post-Modern movement, breaking the Modern movement. The reading of this movement is based particularly on the analysis of Charles Jencks's theoretical work, as well as on the study of Robert Venturi's work, concerning iconography and the way monumentalization of Modern Movement architecture is criticized, the motor for the analysis of the next movements. We will then analyze the Late-Modern movements associated with several socio-economic and political changes. The last part of the chapter refers, essentially, the architectural production in the end of the twentieth century and contemporary (twenty-first century). This period sets the architectural scene until current days, giving birth to expressions such as Bilbao Effect, Stararchitects e Iconic Building. The last part of this work comprises the practical analysis of several case studies. We will research and analyze several buildings, considering the previously explored discourse on current architecture. We have selected buildings from Porto and Amsterdam. The option for this second city is justified by: (1) personal interest in the city and its architecture; (2) the existence of a great number of contemporary constructions illustrating the theme of this study. Based on the architectural reality of both cities, a first analysis will be dedicated to the history of each building, in order to understand its origin. Afterwards, and based on the theoretical thought of Venturi - 'Duck' and 'decorated shed', a system is created to categorize the case studies, as to highlight their most singular characteristics.