Além do [velho] RGEU. Norma e expressão na conceção do espaço doméstico

Abstract

This dissertation departs from the structural tension between norm and expression in architecture, taking as its paradigmatic case the General Regulation of Urban Buildings ("RGEU"), enacted in 1951 and scheduled for repeal in 2026. A foundational document in the Portuguese housing framework, the RGEU established minimum criteria that shaped architectural practice for more than seven decades. Seventy- four years after its publication, a critical reassessment of this regulation proves indispensable, not only to understand the legacy it carries, but also to question its relevance in the face of social transformations and the contemporary challenges of housing. The research is structured around an empirical and critical field of reference: the exhibition "What would you change in the RGEU?". Bringing together forty-two ateliers and architects from different generations and schools, this initiative became the pivot of the investigation, establishing itself as both a meeting ground and a platform of mediation between professional practice, academic reflection, and public debate. In this capacity, it highlights not only the relevance but also the urgency of the issue of regulation in architecture. From this critical constellation, the dissertation seeks to understand both the genesis and the ideological premises of the Portuguese regulatory framework, as well as its resonance in contemporary practice, particularly in the conception of domestic space. Ultimately, it analyses how architecture, between the force of norm and that of expression, constructs the inhabited space and its continuous transformation.