The relationships that link architecture to the urban context are a theme that constantly accompanies us during university education. The city, as a complex of relations between forms, spaces, time, uses, meanings ... is assumed as a laboratory for architecture, as a model on a natural scale. The student tries to rationalize the complexity of the city by determining themes and conditions for the project. Having reached the end of a training course, or rather a start to the architectural subject, I asked myself about the idea of city. How will we be able to interpret the urban phenomenon, even designing just a single building, without having an idea of city? How much can we approximate the design of a part of a city to models and methodologies? Are there constant issues that can be addressed systematically in the practice of the project? The year spent in Portugal at the end of this cycle of studies allowed me to reflect on the elements that link architecture to the context and how forms can interpret the identity of places. The theme of this work originates from a discussion on the conditions of the architectural heritage of European historic centers. In light of the constant political, economic and social changes, our cities were always subjected to urban transformations in step with historical events. The pretext for further exploring these issues is the real object of the study: the analysis of an area of the historic center of Porto, subject to an unfinished transformation for which to propose an urban project. From that time, architects and engineers attempt to propose solutions for the Avenida, each of which is an example of reading the context towards a city idea. No project will ever be completely accepted, but only a few interventions that are punctual and not very integrated, see the light, fueling a heated public debate, which involves intellectuals and citizens. In this research, the material was collected in the archives, in the texts, in the theses and in the urban planning directives, it does not assume the documentary value typical of the History of Architecture. The thought that guides the reflections is the thought of an architect who creates, rather than a researcher, a transmitter of knowledge. The thinking process resembles project development, moving between various hypotheses and verifying them. In this thesis, as in a project, most of the material produced does not appear in the final result. This work takes the form of a graphic exhibition, accompanied by a didactic text in four parts: theoretical foundations for understanding the shape of the city, the analysis of the urban transformations of the city of Porto, the search for historical-political events that motivate the demolitions in the historic center, the comparison between five project proposals for the Avenida of four different authors. The outcome is the synthesis of two languages: drawn and written. The main sources are in Portuguese. The bibliography includes titles in Italian and Spanish. The text of the thesis was written in Italian, which was later translated into English.
Le relazioni che legano l’architettura al contesto urbano, sono un tema che ci accompagna costantemente durante la formazione universitaria. La città, quale complesso di relazioni tra forme, spazi, tempo, usi, significati… è assunta come laboratorio per l’architettura, come modello a scala naturale. Lo studente tenta di razionalizzare la complessità della città determinando temi e condizioni per il progetto. Giunto al termine di un percorso di formazione, o meglio di avviamento alla materia architettonica, mi sono interrogato sulla concezione di una idea di città. Come potremo interpretare il fenomeno urbano, progettando anche solo un singolo edificio, senza possedere un’idea di città? Quanto potremo approssimare il disegno di una parte di città, a modelli e metodologie? Esistono delle questioni costanti, fronteggiabili sistematicamente, nella pratica del progetto? L’anno trascorso in Portogallo alla fine di questo ciclo di studi, mi ha permesso di riflettere sugli elementi che legano l’architettura al contesto e come le forme possano interpretare l’identità dei luoghi. Il tema di questo lavoro, ha origine da una discussione sulle condizioni del patrimonio architettonico dei centri storici europei. Alla luce dei costanti mutamenti politici, economici e sociali, le nostre città sempre furono soggette a trasformazioni urbane al passo con gli eventi storici. Il pretesto per approfondire tali questioni, è il vero oggetto dello studio: l’analisi di un’area del centro storico di Porto, soggetta ad una trasformazione incompiuta per la quale proporre un progetto urbano. Dall’epoca, architetti e ingegneri tentano di proporre soluzioni per l’Avenida, ognuna delle quali costituisce un esempio di lettura del contesto spinta verso un’idea di città. Nessun progetto sarà mai accettato completamente, ma solo pochi interventi puntuali e poco integrati, vedono la luce, alimentando un acceso dibattito pubblico, che coinvolge intellettuali e cittadini. In questa ricerca, il materiale è stato raccolto negli archivi, nei testi, nelle tesi e nelle direttive urbanistiche, non assume il valore documentale tipico della Storia dell’Architettura. Il pensiero che guida le riflessioni, è il pensiero di un architetto artefice, anziché di un ricercatore trasmettitore di conoscenza. Il processo pensante somiglia allo sviluppo progettuale, muovendosi fra varie ipotesi, le verifica. In questa tesi, come in un progetto, gran parte del materiale prodotto non compare nel risultato finale. Questo lavoro si concretizza in un’esposizione grafica, accompagnata da un testo didascalico in quattro parti: fondamenti teorici per la comprensione della forma della città, l’analisi delle trasformazioni urbane della città di Porto, la ricerca degli eventi storico-politici che motivano le demolizioni nel centro storico, il confronto fra cinque proposte progettuali per l’Avenida di quattro autori diversi. L’esito è la sintesi di due linguaggi: disegnato e scritto. Le fonti principali sono in lingua portoghese. La bibliografia include titoli in lingua italiana e spagnola. Il testo della tesi è stato scritto in italiano, il quale è stato tradotto successivamente in inglese.
Notions towards the city. Urban transformations of Avenida da Ponte, Porto
VARESCO, CESARE
2018/2019
Abstract
The relationships that link architecture to the urban context are a theme that constantly accompanies us during university education. The city, as a complex of relations between forms, spaces, time, uses, meanings ... is assumed as a laboratory for architecture, as a model on a natural scale. The student tries to rationalize the complexity of the city by determining themes and conditions for the project. Having reached the end of a training course, or rather a start to the architectural subject, I asked myself about the idea of city. How will we be able to interpret the urban phenomenon, even designing just a single building, without having an idea of city? How much can we approximate the design of a part of a city to models and methodologies? Are there constant issues that can be addressed systematically in the practice of the project? The year spent in Portugal at the end of this cycle of studies allowed me to reflect on the elements that link architecture to the context and how forms can interpret the identity of places. The theme of this work originates from a discussion on the conditions of the architectural heritage of European historic centers. In light of the constant political, economic and social changes, our cities were always subjected to urban transformations in step with historical events. The pretext for further exploring these issues is the real object of the study: the analysis of an area of the historic center of Porto, subject to an unfinished transformation for which to propose an urban project. From that time, architects and engineers attempt to propose solutions for the Avenida, each of which is an example of reading the context towards a city idea. No project will ever be completely accepted, but only a few interventions that are punctual and not very integrated, see the light, fueling a heated public debate, which involves intellectuals and citizens. In this research, the material was collected in the archives, in the texts, in the theses and in the urban planning directives, it does not assume the documentary value typical of the History of Architecture. The thought that guides the reflections is the thought of an architect who creates, rather than a researcher, a transmitter of knowledge. The thinking process resembles project development, moving between various hypotheses and verifying them. In this thesis, as in a project, most of the material produced does not appear in the final result. This work takes the form of a graphic exhibition, accompanied by a didactic text in four parts: theoretical foundations for understanding the shape of the city, the analysis of the urban transformations of the city of Porto, the search for historical-political events that motivate the demolitions in the historic center, the comparison between five project proposals for the Avenida of four different authors. The outcome is the synthesis of two languages: drawn and written. The main sources are in Portuguese. The bibliography includes titles in Italian and Spanish. The text of the thesis was written in Italian, which was later translated into English.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Cesare Varesco_Notions Towards the City.pdf
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Descrizione: Testo della tesi
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/149008