Casa em Monção - construção de madeira em Portugal

Abstract

The development of this work investigates how wood can perform, fully and significantly, the construction of a family house in Portugal using only portuguese products and industries. It is intended to investigate the fields of architecture that interrelate structure, shape and space, as well as the limitations that the material itself imposes and that reflects the particularities of a wooden building. The reduced role wood plays in Portuguese construction when compared with other European countries, is justified by a series of conditions related to politics, culture and the history of Portugal. The concept of "wooden house" is strongly linked to foreign archetypes, an almost romantic and fanciful idea of the"challet" on the mountain. It is assumed that the costs and technical factors do not make of wood an attractive material for building, with fire hazards and degradation as fixed ideas. Wooden buildings in Portugal are usually temporary structures due to the supposed low durability and reliability. This work intends to question these assumptions and rethink the usefulness of wood as a building material, developing a kind of report of the wooden construction situation in Portugal: realize which products are available, what tools and technologies exist in the Portuguese industry, and how they limit the ways we build space and influence our conceptual and architectural design processes. The choice of this subject is related to an Erasmus personal experience in Austria, wich is a country with a strong tradition in wood construction. The direct contact with industries and timber production technicians that the Technical University of Graz and a subsequent internship provided me, was influential and important. Throughout this work, I intend to continue the study of this issue and apply the knowledge I have gained.