O lugar e a Quinta de Vila Meã: do território ao edificado. Uma proposta de intervenção

Abstract

The house of the ancient Farm of Vila Meã, in the parish of Campanhã, in Porto, is the object of study of the present dissertation. With hundreds of years of history, the house with the nr. 403 that is today found, in Dr. Maurício Esteves Pereira Pinto street, does not seem to belong to that place. The place of Vila Meã, ancient site of rural foundation, is today not recognizable, for being crossed and dissimulated by overpasses and railway lines of a contemporary urbanity. Having escaped unscathed to the Via de Cintura Interna highway, the house has subsisted, falling immediately into oblivion - which up until very recently was unbroken. The house of Vila Meã has recently encountered a renaissance, hosting since five years ago a group of people with communitary projects, promoting the aid to the socially needy people of the parish. Meanwhile, a process of restoration of the building has started, in 2015, promoted by the Parish Council of Campanhã. The aspiration of this work is to study the House, the ancient Farm and the surrounding territory, going back in time through brief representations of its composition, in order to inform a project that aims for more than just a definitive solution for the building, intending to bring up possibilities for its better integration in such an incoherent and disqualified environment. Then, the work makes way with new ideas to rethink and change the urban landscape of Campanhã, which urges solutions and qualification.