A Varanda - sobre o seu valor no programa da casa

Abstract

This thesis wants to study the balcony architectural element when it is present in the house's space. The aim of the study is to understand the added value by the balcony in the liveable space, through the analysis of the balcony's physics materialisation and the man experience on it. Considering the balcony as a transition example oriented to the landscape, variable in shape and size and relatable with an interior and exterior program, this study evaluates and asks about the valences of a space with such features. It takes as premise the exploitation of the observation fields which are naturally associated with the architecture: the physical and concrete side, which it sums up in the form and program, and the experience side, which is synthesized in the man's spatial perception and in the character that this gives, after its appropriation. From the physical domains' analysis in the "program-form" and from the experience in "characterperception" result criteria that allows the distinction of various attributes on balconies, attributes that confront in this study, in order to the better understand of the essence of each balcony space. It is through that essence or that particularity that each balcony detains itself that is judged the value that it has in the live program. The presented case studies are justified for being relevant and illustrative of the dominant concepts in this study. Recognizing them as a sample of the balconies' spatiality diversity, the chosen cases gathered themselves the required diversified qualities set for the analysis' criteria constitution, besides to manifest as good domestic's architecture examples. From the analysis' result and the consequent practical application of the explored domains, is expected an approximation to what constitutes the balcony value in the house program.