Uma chave para a Aurifícia

Abstract

The subject of rehabilitation of Industrial Heritage sites in Portugal has had a weak and slow development. Porto has bared witness in the second half of the 20th century to the disappearance of many industrial era monuments. The city left to abandonment a high number of iconic buildings while generally replacing them with projects that degrade its architectural and urban matters. This loss relates to Porto as representative of the Industrial Revolution in Portugal, a situation that greatly influenced urban population growth, and subsequently the strong social changes at the time. We may blame this on the conjecture of the current economic situation, but history shows that for more than half a century it has been common to neglect the old and build from scratch in a city that was born from factories and their associated neighbourhoods. These factories were the city's economical, cultural and social strength. With the will to seek the preservation of industrial heritage as a major subject in architecture, and to understand the social matter in how it relates to Porto, an object of study was chosen. This was a 19th Century factory in the city centre whose activity ceased almost six years ago and has suffered a consequent degradation of its facilities. Thankfully, the value of the property makes it almost impossible to be sold these days. Around this building there are a lot of public services and shops that enable its openness to the community as a first step towards the preservation of heritage. The aim and final conclusion expected to be achieved is how to make a private space into something economically, culturally and socially beneficial to the community, consisting of those directly receiving its rents, the neighbourhood and even by city dwellers.