From Mud and Back To Mud

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FROM MUD

AND

BACK TO MUD
ICDPCA 15
Thanima
International Conference on Reinventing Design Pedagogy and Contextual Aesthetics
Aesthetics

A set of principles related to the nature and the appreciation of beauty.


A collection of ideas or opinions on beauty.

Art as document and manifestation of man in his sociological, geographical and cultural context.
Globalization
The concept of beauty and its expressions no longer identifies different societies and cultures but
a uniform world.

Standardization of Beauty
CUT WITH THE PAST
With industrialization, there is sudden break with tradition.
new models,
new materials
new techniques, methods of construction.

Traditional Materials
were simply discarded and forgotten in offspring of industrial and economic development.

In social terms this behaviour reflects the attitude of "modern times" due to an unreasonable
consumerism, with strong adhesion to the New, for the simple reason that it is New.

We have reached a breakthrough point.


Look Back
Study of Art and Architecture History
• the eclectic artistic movements,
• popular aesthetic expressions

The conjuncture of Popular expression together with the artistic Movements demarcate the
individuality of each country, region, society, culture and of each work.

Learn to Look and really See


• what has always been in front of us,
• what we ignore, just because it is popular, belongs to the past, has no value.

Traditional architecture
It is the mirror of a culture, religion, society to which it belongs. In it lies the deep local knowledge
of its morphology, climate and materials used.

This knowledge should be the basis for a new language.


language.
A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
WHAT?
To recognize its value, its beauty,
The architectural object should not be a moving object.
object
The characteristics of its materials, construction techniques, of the architectural form should
harmonize with local conditions.

WHY?
Recognize its Influences - culture, economy, religion, geographic location.
A multidisciplinary research and developing an interpretive reading on the fundamentals of the
constructed.

HOW?
Developing an attitude of reflection, interpretation

For a unique application in the creation of new piece


piece, with character but perfectly dialoguing with
its environment and its users
users.
How can the material define the object?
Materials and their constructive process influence and define the creation of the architectural
object.

MUD
Presents itself around the world the raw
material of choice for the construction of the
man shelters, since he abandons the nomadic
life and seeks to establish in a particular
location.

Even today we find ancient examples where


this raw material persists and characterizes
buildings and urban complexes. Old City of Sana'a
Portugal

Even inside this small


country, Mud Architecture it
has been expressed in
different ways.

To recognize and frame


them, one as to coordinate
difference areas of study.
Local characteristics
Geographical distribution
Rammed Earth - “Taipa”
Found mainly in the South of the
Country with predominance in the
southern part of the Alentejo.
Region demarcated by lower
rainfall, where wood and stone are
less frequent and where the raw
material has better characteristics
for this application.

Construction technique
It consists in the compression of
the earth in a wooden shuttering
"Taipal" with dimensions 1.50 m
length x 0.60 m high and wide, with
the help of a rammer or tamper.
Rammed Earth - “Taipa”
Social activity / collective
Requires a complex collective
participation, in the past a community
activity.
Currently, mud compression process
can be done with pneumatic pylons

Characteristics / Qualities / Weaknesses

Details of construction
- can raise load-bearing walls.
- this walls were usually coated – today the
mud wall is in sight.
Wattle and Daub

It is found in the North of the Country.


Construction technique
consists of a wooden supporting structure connected by
wooden frame, consisting of a crate filled with loamy soil
mortar and plaster and / or lime.
Always together with the stone.

- on the outer walls, the ground


floor consists of stone walls.

- on the interior walls. Present


not only in northern Portugal but
also present in the Center.
Important role in the structure.
Adobe
In alluvium areas, Center Coastline of Portugal, as well as
the Tejo and Sado valleys.
Construction of masonry in sun dried earth brick.

It is possible to identify a large number of


types of Adobe directly related to the
characteristics of the raw material of the
area.
Always covered with lime plaster or tiles.
Plastering, Coatings
Mud is used in the whole country, as mortar and as plastering.

Looking at the constructed heritage we find numerous examples of intentions associated with the
use of plaster.
• Vestment protection from the weather.

• Imitate the noble material, for economic reasons.


reasons
• embossed work - stone and brick

• application of colour - different materials

Decoration
• Illusion effect

• hygienic function

• decorative panels, representative - ex. Frescos


Qualities
Healthy environment
- Regulates the indoor humidity, has optimal thermal performance, free of toxic, removes
static electricity, absorbs toxic substances and eliminates odours.
Economic
- Allows self-construction, use of local materials, consequent increase the local economy, and
reduced energy consumption.
Ecological
- Low cost energy, recyclable, reusable.
Contemporary
- Versatile, creative, decisive for the flexibility and plasticity of the material.
- Directly linked to the rehabilitation of heritage but also applicable to new the construction.
Social
- More humane and higher emotional "quality" in the construction.
Aesthetic Value
- Texture, various coolers, plasticity.
The New Modernity
Different functions, new ways of living does not necessarily result in the break with the past.
"Architecture is a direct product of the materials they use and the aesthetic taste of the time and
place." "Each material takes the form of its own at a given time."

Columns of Mud
by Architecture Office Plan b.

A project of a multi-purpose space for the


activities of the School Farm Quinta da
Bagunça.
The New Modernity
"I like to ensure that the beautiful things, albeit old, do not disappear from the landscape."
"I wanted to build a house that is part of the natural."
natural Teresa Beirão
The New Modernity

"In the studio I want to see but do not want to be seen and I want the tank water reflections to be
seen on the surface of the wall, while softens the temperature of the summer." - Alexandre Bastos
The New Modernity
Playing with textures.

The canvas - Alexandre Bastos Architect


The Artist, Architect
Is as rich as he better knows and appreciates its heritage.
heritage

The process implies a great diversity in concepts and values present in each object at the
same time these are subjected to a process of continuous evolution
evolution.
The choice of these values and how they may impact on these interventions requires a
preparation through a series of decisions in critical selection way that will materialize in the
final object.
object
The project should be based on a range of appropriate options according to a cognitive
process that integrates the collection of information and in-depth knowledge of the future
object and its location.
Interdisciplinary Training, including to the study of the history of architecture, anthropology,
sociology, geography, materials and construction techniques.
This will be a long exercise that has to accompany the architect not only during their
educational course / training but also developed in the course of his practice in architecture.
Just put some of our past
in our future.

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