The research project 'The Critical Monumentality of Álvaro Siza – Projects of Urban Renovation after the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition' aims at identifying, characterising, debating, and reflecting upon the works of Álvaro Siza, within the context of the urban policies launched in Portugal in the early 2000s. This research project ‘The Critical Monumentality of Álvaro Siza – Projects of urban renovation after the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition' seeks to articulate the relationships produced by urban interventions and buildings upon the specific contexts they engage with. The distinctive feature of this project is as a critical analysis of the idea of monumentality in Álvaro Siza’s works. Three overlapping analytical focal themes will be used as methodology: territory, urban and architectural culture, and social impact of interventions. For the purposes of this research, from the study cases - Portugal Pavilion of Expo’98 (1998), Atlantic Park in Vila do Conde (2005), Leça da Palmeira waterfront in Matosinhos (2007), Municipal Library in Viana do Castelo (2008) and Nadir Afonso Contemporary Art Museum in Chaves (2015) - will be drawn a comparative hypotheses in order to measure the impact of the project and the architectural culture resulting from these experiences. Comparative assessments will also be made with other Álvaro Siza projects that were part of similar urban renovation initiatives, carried out after other major events from the last decade of the 20th century, e.g. the Meteorology Centre in Barcelona (1992) designed for the Olympic Games, and the Hannover Pavilion projected for the 2000 World Exposition, and actually rebuilt in Coimbra, in central Portugal, in the course of the Polis programme for that city.

The research project called 'Grand Projects - Architectural and Urbanistic Operations after the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition' aims at identifying, characterizing, debating, and reflecting the urban policies and architectural works produced in Portugal after the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition (Expo98). The study is grounded on the conviction that the effects of this 'urban laboratory' cannot dispense a predominantly analytical and interpretative work, capable of mapping and qualifying the urban, projectual, and technological culture implemented in Portugal in the two decades that followed the Expo98 ventures. In 2008, a decade past over the Lisbon Exposition, the Lisbon Municipality presented its 'General Plan for Waterfront Interventions' (Plano Geral de Intervenções da Frente Ribeirinha - PGIFR), aiming at establishing new urban continuities, by extending the model of the exposition from the West part of the city to the East (between the Trancão River and the Pedrouços dock), through the adaptation of some harbor infrastructure under the state administration. The dynamics generated by PGIFR framed the development of projects of both great scale and major strategic importance, e.g., the Champalimaud Foundation in Pedrouços district, designed by Charles Correa (1930-2015); the National Coach Museum in Belém area, designed by Paulo Mendes da Rocha (b. 1928); the EDP Headquarters at Boavista embankment, by Manuel (b. 1963) and Francisco (b.1964) Aires Mateus; the Ribeira das Naus public space, by João Ferreira Nunes (b.1960) and João Gomes da Silva (b.1962); or the future Cruise Terminal in Santa Apolónia, by Carrilho da Graça (b.1952), currently under construction. The research project 'Grand Projects - Architectural and Urbanistic Operations after the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition' seeks to deepen the relations produced by urban interventions with specific contexts in which they operate on. The distinctive feature of this project consists in the launching of a critical ...

Objectives 1) the analysis of the infrastructural process from the mapping of 3 specific typologies of colonial Public Works (PW), which will be addressed in the perspective of its archival, documental and cartographic processing, and of its historiographical description?  2) the identification and critical analysis of the state of these infrastructures (reuse, strengthening or decay), after the 1975 independences. The research is based on the hypothesis that the colonial territorial infrastructure leave resilient marks in the postcolonial built environment, and that this impact should be analyzed in such a way as to support future actions. The Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino owns an essential part of the document collection concerning the colonial PW of the 19th and 20th centuries. The archival processing, cataloguing and description will be a responsibility of the project, making them available to the scientific community. After the mapping, recurring to specialized cartography, all the documentation will be gathered, and casestudies will be selected, based on specific criteria (strategic relevance, scale, impact in the built environment). Its detailed and historical description follows, in order to create inventory records in the web platform HPIP of FCG and referencing in the GIS, together with the verification of the conservation state and with the surveying of the postindependence interventions.

It is a network project based on an international partnership of some 20 organisations from 11 different countries. Its main purpose is to carry out artistic interventions in public spaces through contemporary photography. The Project encourages artists to create new interpretations of the urban terrain, having the concept of flâneur as a starting point and considering the physical context of the city as a social kaleidoscope in constant evolution. Besides the art projects and interventions in the public space, Flâneur is comprised of several other dimensions brought to light in workshops, masterclasses, artistic residences, creative camps and conferences – initiatives intended to foster a critical analysis of contemporary photography and contribute to a discussion about the public space as a social territory. During its two year span, Flâneur will be represented in the 13 partner cities. The artwork is created by photographers invited to pursue artistic residences in each city, as well as local photographers, thus mixing outside and inside point of views, and it’s further complemented by the artwork produced in ateliers open to local residents. The work created in all these cities is presented in photo exhibitions in public spaces, bringing to the squares, parks and streets pieces of artwork, which would normally be enclosed in museums and galleries. It’s, at the same time, a process of deconstruction and democratisation of art enjoyment, sharing it with a heterogeneous audience. The exhibition display, based on modular backlit structures, allows for a specific design in each of the different spaces. The display itself becomes a replication of the city, open and accessible 24 hours a day. Flâneur generates a transversal overview of the different social dynamics which are the fabric of the urban territories. The peculiarity of this particular “portrait” is the fact that it’s produced by a broad and diverse group of creators, who, with a common theme, take a fresh lo...

The research aims to survey, catalogue and contextualize housing projects in Lisbon, Luanda and Macao, built between the 1960s and the 1980s, which stood out for large scale occupation and high number of people housed. It is intended to identify the existing housing and urban models and to map the changes after 40 years of use in order to understand how to adapt to current conditions (urban and social) and to support its future.Methodology: Initially it begins with a detailed description and historical process, creating records of inventory, referenced to the Geographic Information System, and the redrawing of projects (for comparative analyses of the urban design and of the housing cell unit). It follows a visit to the complexes to verify its conservation state, experiencing the urban situation and describing the profile evolution of current populations. Questionnaires will be released for occupation and social satisfaction reporting (district/dwelling). Qualitative interviews to deep-rooted groups (social and cultural groups of belonging) will allow evaluating the integration in the city. The visits will be recorded on video for "future memory" and a documentary (three 30 minutes short-films) will be produced. In the last year, workshops will be implemented with the communities, involving architects, students, residents and local institutions, proposing architectural interventions based on historical and social analysis and in the Portuguese tradition of participatory architecture.

This study aimed to inventory, catalog and analyze the work of sucessive Offices that belonged to the structures of the Ministries of the Colonies and later of the Overseas (henceforth designated overseas ministries) and that were responsible for the architectural project is part of a more comprehensive study about the city and architecture produced in the former colonial territories, the aim of which is to further the knowledge of the intellectual and constructed heritage generated by the Portuguese and to make it available to the public at large by means of an on line consultation system.