A Habitação Industrial do séc. XX: O módulo enquanto ferramenta racional arquitectónica

Abstract

With reference to the module as a rational instrument used in the materialization of architectural and construction concepts, this dissertation is to contextualize the route taken by this instrument, in particular since the Industrial Revolution. The module capabilities, which are sometimes subtly manifested in the architectural project, can assume various configurations, all of them with the purpose of achieving a simplification of procedures used in the construction of structures focused to the mass response of different social needs. Reaching the essence of this rational instrument is to recognize the ideal point of the possible balance between the repetition and the exception of a standard, between the architectural typification and diversity of a certain system. Focused on a study of the modular structuring, integrated mainly in multifamily housing context, the content of this dissertation is located in the discussion of aspects that are taken into account in a prefabrication process of industrialized and also handmade elements. The relevance of the module in industrial production is grounded with some practical and theoretical examples that served as a model for the architecture of the twentieth century. Among these examples stand out works of architects, of which we can highlight Le Corbusier; Walter Gropius; J.P. Oud; Charles e Ray Eames; Mies Van der Rohe e Hans Schmidt. The social housing project of the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza for the neighborhood of Malagueira in Évora, is a case study that intends to raise key issues in order to understand the role of the module, or if you prefer, the impact of streamlined processes in a very particular context of Portuguese society. Community participation during project implementation; guarantee of flexibility and diversity in housing modules; the SAAL's vicissitudes; the vernacular language of the Alentejo architecture; the compatibility with the handmade production process; the austere nature of social housing; the adaptability to contingencies of an arid region supported by aqueducts; these are some of the subjects faced by Álvaro Siza, from which resulted solutions that had in its genesis the modular composition in different aspects: constructive; structural; visual; aesthetic and architectural.