A ruína como objecto de projecto. O Paço dos Condes- Duques de Barcelos

Abstract

The present dissertation arises from the felt need and importance of observe, register, know, reflect the inherited architectural and archeology heritage, and from the particular fascination aroused by the Paço dos Condes - Duques de Barcelos ruins. Settled on the rocky promontory next to the North end of the medieval bridge, the mentioned ruins present an emblematic and impressive image in the landscape where they are implanted. Located in the medieval historic center and in the considered most beautiful view of Barcelos, pictured so many times, these significant ruins reveal themselves as a potential polarizing instrument of this place, somehow, nowadays obsolete. The dismantled walls of Paço de Barcelos, although admired and appreciated by the majority, are also by them misunderstood and ignored. Therefore, we propose a project of intervention in the Paço dos Condes - Duques de Barcelos ruins which, based on the most possible knowledge of it and its place, pursuit to know (and make known), protect and enhance both the mentioned ruins and the other realites that form its place. The ruin, the object of the project, is simultaneously a drawing motive and a projectual conditioning. Its history is taken as an essential tool for the conception of the project, which pursuit to respond different times: past, present and future.