Restoring Reason, Beauty, and Trust in Architecture, Part 4: Learning from the Past

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Transcript

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Good afternoon. Welcome all of you. It is a pleasure to welcome José Bagana, a distinct, distinguished traditional architect from Portugal, more precisely from the great city of Coimbra, one of the sites of one of the oldest universities in the world. José is a managing partner of his firm José Bagana Architectos. He studied architecture at Porto and then in Lisbon, and then he received his PhD in architecture from, in San Sebastián, from the University of the Basque Country. Following that, he taught, he practiced and taught architecture for a number of years at the Portuguese Catholic University, both at their campus in Viseu as well as their campus in Lisbon. He's the founder of the Portuguese chapter of Inau, and he's the co-founder of the Council for European Urbanism. In 2011, he won the European Prize for the reconstruction of the city, otherwise known as the Philipp Porter Prize, and in 2017, he received the Raphael Monsano Prize, a prize that is dedicated to traditional architecture and urbanism within the Iberian Peninsula. It is always a pleasure to welcome a friend of the school, but please give a warm welcome to José Bagana. Thank you so much, Samir. Thank you for the kind words. thank you to the School of Architecture of Notre Dame. it's an honor to be here in this great school. for us Europeans, this is something really amazing because, as you probably know, this is something very rare. A school like this simply doesn't exist in Europe. A place where you can learn traditional architecture, both classical and vernacular, as you learn here. It's something I wouldn't say that doesn't exist, but it's very rare. So it's a great pleasure and it's never too much to thank you for the invitation. I would start by, I will show you very quickly my work. I am going to show you mainly architecture, not urban planning, Buildings from the most simple ones to the most elaborated, a little bit of everything in the countryside, in the urban context. So I'll go fast. And try to show you, to give a good idea of the work that we do in our office. first, because perhaps no one, not everybody knows where Portugal is exactly. We are in America, so in another continent. I come from this galaxy here. It's not Corcoran or something, it's Europe. It's the western side of Europe, the most western country in Europe. www. thinknd. com Portugal, which is included in the Iberian Peninsula, and this country, which is a tiny country, it has 10 million inhabitants, and I will focus very much on this aspect of region, the aspect of context, which is very important in my work. So being a tiny country, it's a country which has Great difference from the north to the south. There's an influence of the Atlantic Ocean, but also an influence of the Mediterranean culture. So we also have the two archipelagos Assurge and Madeira, but we'll focus on the continental territory, the north and the south, the difference of the north and the south. The north being a more rough territory with mountains and granite stone and schist stone where you can find beautiful villages with these materials. You see always a much more accidental, territory, but also in the cities of the Northern and Portugal, like Porto, for instance, where you find the granite stone present in the, more, in the churches and in the palaces like, like this splendid church. of the 18th century, a Baroque church of Nicolao Nasoni in the city of Porto or this other palace in the city of Vila Real in, also in the north of Portugal. But when we move south we see a completely different world which is the world of the lime, of the sandstone, of the limestone, of the clay. And of the lime, especially in contrast with these materials. And you see these magnificent white villages. which are so beautiful. So it's a completely different world. You see some examples of the Alentejo, which is a southern province of the Portuguese territory, also in more arid buildings like churches and palaces, we see the presence of the lime in contrast with the limestone or sometimes also the granite stone which is more rare but exists too. Or this other aspect which is quite peculiar because even the great movements of architecture in time like the gothic for instance takes a different shape. In these regions, he adapts, to the material, to the, to, to the way of building of the different So you compare this kind of church with the one we saw in Porto, two different, completely different worlds. I would start by showing some works I did in a rural context, in this southern province of Portugal, the Alentejo. And I will run a little bit fast. I will show a little bit of everything. This is a single family house in a property, a rural property in the, in Alvito, a little town of Alentejo. It's a house with a U shape, rooms for one side, living room for the other, like this. It's a completely new house. We were restrained to, we couldn't occupy Anyplace else but that one to put the house. This is the final result. It's a house where we use the local materials, again, the clay, the bricks, the, the schist stone, the tiles, and also these pigments that we add to the clay. To the line. it gives these fantastic colors, the yellows, the blues, the reds, sometimes even the dark. So it's a family house that, it is very, simple program. And we also use the azulejos. The Windows and doors made of wood. The above, the bovetage and the, and the ceilings are made with local materials too, with little several slabs of clay or with these tiny, bricks. That makes these vaults, arches. So it's a traditional way of building that we still have in this region of Portugal. All these elements that you see are elements present in the local architecture. And we move to another one, which is a production farm. They produce olive oil here. So you'll see in this, gather of buildings, things that serve for the production and others that serve for This, for instance, is the place where they do, it's the meal where they do the olive oil. It has this kind of little tower, which already has its bell, belt. When, its bell, when we did the photo, the bell was not there yet, but now it is. The bell, Now it's merely decorative, but in time it was used for, calling people for, lunchtime or mark the hours of the several work tasks. So it's something that the owner wanted to keep, and we, It's all new, except this house that had some ruins that we took and reintegrated. Always combining these local materials with different shapes and forms. I call your attention for the presence of the chimney, which is a composition element, always present in this architecture in the Alentejo. the use of the traditional materials, again, in everything. Even the tiles are, that we use in kitchens, for instance, or in bathrooms, are tiles which are made, Traditional craftsmen. The roofs are made with wood, with a wood structure. The chimney, which is very important in Alentejo. In time, it was the the center place of the house where everything happened, people got warm here because in the winter, the Alentejo is really cold, and in, and they used to cook also here, so all the family gather around the chimney, it's a very important element. And we move to another completely different project. Always in the Alentejo, a place that perhaps one or two of you could know because we made a summer school right there. It's Marvão. It's one of our Intbao summer schools and it's a property that has several little houses and this main one which also was a mill for olive oil and the owner decided to do touristic. complex, transforming the middle in the central building, with the restaurant and reception, et cetera. And then all the little houses. were restored and modified in order to accommodate the apartments for the tourists. The several ones, as you see, always the same language, the same materials, even the use of these decorative elements which are very naive but are very much present in the local vernacular So these are the several houses. It's called the Seven Farms. So there are seven little houses. You see the importance of the chimney in the composition and the use of the tiles and all the local materials. Another one, which is completely new, in Montemore, another city of central Alentejo. city, town of central Alentejo. that element, that little tower there, it's very also common in this type of architecture, which is a very simple architecture. Clean, white, without many windows, many, are very simple volumes. So we did this sort of L shaped building, also with the rooms and bathrooms and, all the elements of the modern living of the way as we live today, it's perfectly compatible with this kind of system of building and this kind of materials. Some of the drawings we did to present to the, to our client. And then the final result, which is this beautiful house. These are more recent photos. So the green is much more, has grown much more. Also in the interior, the use of the clay and of the lime, the wood on the windows, in the roofs, and the use of this, tiles which are produced in the local, craftsmen, everything very open. It's these are spaces with which are very fluid. In the space we are not that much rigorous, we are more open to. innovation, to invent things and use the space in a more, let's say, free way. But we combine it with this construction systems. This other one, also in the Alentejo, there was, this element here existed. It was pretty much ruined, but we added everything else and we restored that tower. This is the earth of agriculture. property where they do a delicious wine. so this is the owner's house and it has this area for rooms, this area for, I'm sorry, this area for kitchens and dining rooms and these living rooms. You see everything very open and some of the sketches I did for detailing, some aspects of the project to our clients and then the final result, which is this very organic set of simple volumes with this reverberation of the lime, which is something fantastic with the sun. It gives this texture, which is It's so beautiful and it's a great material. It's something, one of the best materials I know. You simply melt the stone and then you put it again in the walls in the form of a sort of plaster, no? Some aspects of the house, in the interior, again, the arches, the, the structure of the roofs made with, wood, arches, vaults, this sort of free way of using the space. which is not so common perhaps, but we decide to add to our, houses. This is an aspect of the, cellar, which have no bottles yet. It's the private cellar of the owner. Now it's full of bottles. Delicious, right? Now this is another thing in the center of a town, which is roal. It was a former house where one of our last kings Carlos used to stay when he went to hunt in this region. So this was a place to rest and to stay on his huntings. And it was in a very bad shape and we transformed it in a, it doesn't go, it doesn't move, please. Oh, it's okay. So we transformed it in a hotel, small hotel. Again, the use of these materials, the clay. The mix of the pigments, this is coal char that is mixed with the lime and gives this graze more dark, more, Very organic. And also this one that I did for an uncle. Also with a vine. Very simple house. And this is the final result. This is just plain chimneys. One of the things that I do is that I challenge the workers to do their own chimneys. And they do a sort of contest, which chimney could be more beautiful, so it couldn't be more vernacular. This is one of the last projects we are working on, a little further south, already in the province of Algarve. We are completely, a little village. This would be the end of the village. With these tiny houses. Always very simple. And now, we move to another type of buildings, which are, what we call, In Portuguese, the Sular, which is the manor house of the country properties. it's not a palace, but it's a good house, let's say. it's several places of Portugal. This one, I did it a long time ago. It has these two buildings that form a patio, together with a portico, with the stairs, and the fountain. There it is. Of course, here we already see the influence of some classical elements, together with the vernacular, in a reinterpretation of the classic, which is very local, and it varies from region to region. It's an aspect that We pay very much attention. It's to get to learn of the region where we are. What is its culture, its way of building. We need to, to dive on the place and get to know it as much as possible. As we can, in order to design the buildings that we then built. The interior is a little bit, it's not so vernacular. It has already these ceilings, made in chestnut wood. And there's the presence of several, trophies of hunting. Because the owner is a, It's one of his passions, it's the hunt. it's what it is. And this one that I did for my father near Viseu, a place where we had a very good school of architecture that unfortunately closed. It's north. So there's the granite stone. It's also a very simple house. My father was a doctor, a medic doctor in Coimbra and this was his refuge. So when he wanted to be away of the stress of life and death of his profession, he used to come here. And do something on the earth, some agriculture, very simple things. And he also used to do some wine. His white wine was quite wood. Always the use of the traditional materials of these regions. The wood, the stone, the tiles, traditional tiles. And you see you can design these in a way. Which is traditional, but as always, perhaps a new touch or something like that. That can differentiate. And finally, this house that I created. We worked mainly in the interiors because it was quite, destroyed. For a friend, also very near Viseu. It's a very nice place to visit, this town, Santar. There's very good houses to visit and gardens, beautiful gardens. So we mainly worked on redoing the ceilings. We did these new ceilings in wood. It's a very traditional way. of doing the ceilings in Portuguese traditional architecture. So it's all new. So if you want to open a room to make it wider, how can we do it and still look traditional so we can do things like this, you see here. Or take advantage of the attic to make a good room. Now we came south again to one that is finished, but the garden is not ready yet. So it has this unfinished. Look, the owner has a taste for classical architecture, and here and there he wants to put something, or a cupola, or a thermal window. Some here and then, there are some elements that transport you to that kind of architecture. Again, in the interior. And this is his library and another tiny house that we arranged for a friend using all these systems which are traditional, made in wood. This one we are working on right now, it's in Cascais, the place where I live. And I work right now, very near Lisbon. It's an original house of the, of 1900, 1900. Okay. that we enlarged and modified a little bit. Getting the original, architecture, elements of composition, et cetera. here we are, a Brazilian client. And this one, which is not made yet. We are waiting for some proposals for the contractors. To see if you can start. So I just show the drawings. It's a very interesting tiny house in the northern Portugal made with stone. That includes a chapel. And now we move to urban context. Big city. Lisbon, for instance. Okay? a residential condominium. in the central Lisbon, that we took an old building, also in not so good shape, and we moved it up as the neighbor buildings were much taller, so there was a will of composing the front of the street, but we wanted to use the same architecture that was present in the original building. These are some of the sketches we did, and this is the result of the project using these magnificence tuco ceilings and elements which are very characteristic of these buildings, in Lisbon, of these, h nine fi, the final years of the 19th century. And another one, which is going on now, which is a former, this building served for. It was created by the Queen Amelia, which was the wife of the King Carlos, one of the last. And she created it to give medicines, remedies to the poor. So it was called dispensario, something you could make sense at that time. beginning the first years of the 20th century and it was completely abandoned and it had a transformation in the 40s by a modernist architect called Carlos Ramos that simply destroyed the building in the interior. It took all the decorative elements, it took, it has a patio, it has a patio with steel columns that were beautiful and that just disappeared and were substituted by concrete pillars. So we tried to get back, put again some of his characteristics, original characteristics, in a modern condominium with all the comfort. The apartments With this inner patio, keeping the original architecture, the original design in everything that we, did. we, took the original idea of the, steel beams and steel pillars with a new design. And these, some images of the interiors. Another one in Lisbon also, which we did redone within the 18th century. very characteristic style of buildings in Lisbon, that it's a typology that was used after the great work of the 18th century in Lisbon in 1755. and which is commonly known as the Pombaline style. It's something that comes from our prime minister of that time was called the Marquise de Pombal. So it came the Pombaline style. So we used the Cartulario Pombaline, that means the lexicon of the 18th century of the reconstruction of the building of the Lisbon to redesign. of this building and the form of these, roofs. Now, a more public building, if you can say so, it's, a building that we did for the Medical College of Portugal. so it's an institution, a state institution, and it's, there are three buildings which are linked to each other by bridges and passages. This one here is what existed. This was based in ruins and we just added the shapes and we made it completely new. It was in this, the main building was like this. So it was impossible to restore. It was very bad shape. And like this. So we decided to demolish it and reconstruct it. As it was, exactly. We had a very strong opposition from our colleagues of the local municipality. That, we're saying that you cannot do. That is, a crime. You cannot, go against the story, the history. So if you want to make something new, it must be clearly new. and the mayor didn't believe them and believed in me, fortunately. So we did reconstruct the building as it was, exactly. It has its presence in the, in, in the city, which is quite important, and it's a place for retired doctors, play, doctors with some difficulty, let's say on moving or, people that need assistance. So these are the new buildings which are, which have elements which are inspired in local architecture. A little bit reinvented. The different buildings are linked by these arches and passages, also these ramps that we need to insert to solve, accessibility issues. So there's a combination of more, let's say, modern, elements but inspired in the old elements you see here in Windows, for instance. Which is a sort of typology that is quite present in the local architecture. And the use of the traditional materials everywhere. The cement tiles which are made in crafts, of the area. And the use of the, of the, wood too. So this is a very recent opened, new little hotel in Figueira da Foz, which is a town near my hometown Coimbra, that we completely restore. It was like this, and this is the final result. It's a restoration project, very simple one. Another one, which was a great challenge because this building was completely destroyed inside. But completely, it's a very important 18th century building in the one of the most important squares in Lisbon, which is the Rossio. This is the downtown Lisbon. Reconstructed after the Great Earthquake. That's one of the main piazzas, and this is the most important one. And the building is over there. And it includes that passage that you just saw, which links to the street. So these are, There are several plans of the interior. These are apartments, housing apartments. Two bedrooms, three bedrooms. And this is the arch that we conserved. And this is the final result in the interior. Everything was redone with the same construction materials. Which are wood, mainly, combined with, clay and lime. and this other one, again, the 18th century Lisbon style, in this, housing building, which has this U shape forming a patio. Very near, this is the, our, ancient art museum of Lisbon. It's a very good museum. So it's a very good place in real estate terms in Lisbon. so this was the state of the building when we took it. This is how it stayed after our intervention. We tried to make it not as only a single building, but we tried to divide it in three buildings together, and try to like this to make it more according with the, Urban typology of this neighborhood, which has not a big palace, but this, succession of buildings, one after the other. This is a very characteristic roof of the, of this era. which is the. Mansart roof comes from a French architect that also worked in the reconstruction of Lisbon. Some images of the patio. This is a project of, it's not mine, it's from a landscape architect that built it. was part of the team. Some details. And finally, one or two projects, which are very simple projects of, intervene in very simple buildings in the city, which are like this one with no interest. This is a, 1950 building, which is a poor building. And we try to make something out of it. kind of simple interventions, but that can help to change a lot. Or this one from the 40s, that we try to give it something more, to add some more joy in these facades. And finally, some work in progress. More, housing in the Alentejo, like this one in Montserrat, or this other one in Alenderwal, or this one that we are doing to a big, wine company, which will be a cultural center in, also in Montserrat. These are projects going on right now. This is another house for a farm in Alvito. Another one also in Alandroval. Very rural context in the province of Alentejo, as we did just now. So these are all projects that we have right now. And that's it. Thank you very much. Would you like me to take some questions? Okay. If you have questions, please, go ahead. In the north and also, in the buildings in the south, how do you Deal with the weather and how what are the systems that go inside your building because we talked about that a lot in class and how to Insert that into a building that's precedent doesn't have it. Okay, so you're talking about thermal insulation and things like that we use there are some fantastic materials like the cork for instance That you can use. And when you use those ceilings that you saw in wood, after that you can use, thick, how do you say that? Thick elements in cork, and then after that you have a sort of, under tiled element, which allows you to defend the cork from the water. And then finally, So this, depending on the local where you are, can be thicker or not so thick, but you must calculate it to have the proper insulation. In the walls, it's a question of mass. So you can add more mass, less mass. More brick, less brick. And in the windows, we use Wood windows, which, but, that have double window, double glasses, and they have all the, let's say, more up to date systems to, isolate, the houses, but it's basically that, okay? And we do it that every, we do that everywhere, because the Alentejo also, it can make, zero, or even, negative temperatures in the winter, but in the summer it could go to 42 or something like that. So there's a huge, Temperature gap. Yes. Lucian please. Ventilation. You can open the window. So you have you can open the windows. And we also use a very ingenious system, which is a sort of little, grill. you say that in English that you can control it. Okay? You can move it. And it's insert on the. It can be on the base, or on the top, or even on the side, depending. One thing about the chimney, because it's such a wonderful sculptural feature, but it's also you're using. So what is it used for? Is it used? Also for ventilating the pipes and the bathroom, or is it just used for the heating and for the fireplace? we have chimneys, as you saw. We have lots of chimneys. And we also use a system that the engineers don't like very much. But we use it, and it works. The tube goes to the roof, and then there's a tile, which is a little bit, that exists. It's fabricated like that. And the tile goes sorts of the, of the roof a little bit and has holes in it. So the roof, the tube comes and goes to there, so it can, ventilate like this. It's the two things that we use a lot. And sometimes we do even something that the engineers don't like at all. And I think it's not legal. Which is the tubes come in the attic when the attic has no use at all. So it's a void. But it's ventilated. So the tubes get to that place and it's naturally ventilated. In time, it was very much used, but now the strict regulations that we have don't allow that. But we do it all the same, because it works. I very much enjoyed the variety of media that you used for graphic representation of the concepts, and I'm wondering if there's a sort of standard process of, you, your practice begins, with graphite and then move into polychrome and then into the digital representation, or is there a natural variety per project, whatever? That's a very important question. That's the main issue. Each project is different from the other. And in each project, you must understand where you are. What's the place where you are? And what is, if you speak about color, you go around the place and you just make some drawings or take some pictures. Drawings is better, but sometimes you don't have time. you try to get as much as possible. of each place where you are. That's our methodology. That's why we have so different buildings from place to place, from region to region. It's never the same thing because there are, as I said in the beginning, it's a very small country, but it has much differences. Tiny differences, subtle differences, even in a province like the Alentejo in the south. If you go north, for instance, that the windows are a little bit larger, because the climate is already not so rigorous that you come as you come to the south, the windows start to shrink, so these kind of things, the shimmy are different from region to region. When you design the chimney, you must pay attention. You cannot put, chimney of the northern part of the A in the certain part because everyone will look at it, oh, this guy doesn't know how to do it, So you must really. Study the place, study design, and it's something which is, I take pleasure doing that. I think it's one of the good things. It's when we go to the place and we try to learn about it, and we speak to the people there, and we go have a glass of wine or something with it. with the guys that are there, or, and they try to learn really what is about that place where you want to build. Could you say something about your relationship with, you mentioned that the, People who make the chimneys, but, the carpenters, the plaster workers, right? How do you establish relationships with them? How do you find people who have the skills? Do you yourself have training in these fields? Another very important question. I do work a lot with them. I don't pretend to know everything. And I learn a lot with them. So in these, different places, there's always a carpenter or the plaster or the whatever that knows how to do the things and knows how to do the things there. Or it's done there. of course, you try to take out of him what he has to give. Combine it with your idea, what you want to do with. So it's a question of give and take, and, between us and the craftsmen, which is so rich. There's wonderful people and it's a real pleasure to work with them. I respect a lot the craftsmen. So they are, at what point do the feedback, those concepts, right? how does comments from them who have the manual? I think that, I have an idea when I begin how it's done. Of course what comes is that when you go to the working site. The carpenter comes. You don't know. You could not know who he is. Perhaps you could, but sometimes you don't. you start to talk with him, and he looks at your drawings. Oh, architect, you did this like this, but usually I do it otherwise. Oh, okay, let's see, what do you do? And it's this dialogue that the final solution comes out. Sometimes this is very difficult. Because there are rigorous budgets and we must do it without getting out of the budget. but we do it. It's usually we can, and sometimes we even save money to the, to clients. So it's possible to do it. It's very good to do it. An online viewer, his name is Sam. He says, thank you for presenting your beautiful work. I was able to travel to Portugal recently and was enchanted by its architecture. Do you have a favorite Portuguese architect from history that we should know about and who we should learn from? Yes. I should recommend, for instance, Raul Lino, which is an architect that did extraordinary buildings in the first half of the 20th century. He's an extraordinary architect. It should, it's something, someone that I would strongly recommend. It's an inspiration for me. You were mentioning there is some pushback, with the facade. You had to tear down and build up. Yeah. And I was just curious too, what's the present state of Portugal and their take on traditional architecture? And how have you found that changing over the time you've been practicing? Good question. now it's getting better, but it was very difficult. As I said when I showed you the building for the assisted residents for the doctors, there was a very strong opposition from the, from my colleagues, because they still think that one cannot, reproduce, building as it was. It was more or less forbidden. It was something forbidden. You could not do that. And in a certain moment, when we were in a meeting on site, and the mayor, which was present, didn't realize that the building was so ruined. And when I show it him, I could put my arm on those cracks or I took the mortar and it was like sand, it was completely impossible to restore it. And the guy stood, oh, I didn't know this was in this shape. this is a disaster for me because the people in this town love this building. It has a huge history, so there are so many memories about it. If I destroy it, I will be hanged on a tree for sure. So what can I do? And I thought, I can rebuild it. And there were two girls, two young architects. Oh, and the mayor cannot do that. No, it's not correct. the, the charters that are well understood like the proper thing to do, etc. Don't allow that kind of thing. When you do, when you intervene in a building, if you must demolish it, there's no other way. You must do something modern. Modern in a modernist way. That's impossible. Can you do it? He pointed at me. Yes, I can. So let's do it. And we did. at that time, it was much like this. Now it's different. Because people started to realize that the, we had a huge fire in the center of Lisbon in the late 80s. And this fire burned most of the, it was the heart of the city of Lisbon. And they called, the star architect of the regime in Portugal, which is called Cesar Vieira. to rebuild this area and Caesar choose to rebuild it as it was. He was very much criticized by doing it. Because everybody expected him to do a new, I don't know, pyrotechnic, something that would mark Lisbon. And he chose to, to rebuild it. And, since then, people started to accept, things in another way. And today it's possible to do it. Sometimes when you don't know how it was exactly, they still want to oblige you to reinvent something. But if you know how it was, if it's documented, it's perfectly possible nowadays. Fortunately. Last question, Lucien. Wanted to ask you, because your work is really quite wonderful, and one thing I wonder where, how come that you always have these beautiful skies in your photos? you, you must be well connected, but also I, what I really like what you do well, so the way you handle topography. But also, a lot of your projects have a strong horizontality. That's something which is so difficult to make. Buildings which were just simple, with the same color, and which have this horizontality, and still have a great space. sense of identity, variety. So there's a kind of simplicity, but also a great complexity at using very simple materials and very simple. Thank you so much. Yeah. And then into the topography and to the morphology, it's something that I learned a lot with this architect that I just mentioned with Rauline, which is a master in doing it. It has magnificent buildings. in a mountain with huge cliffs in Sintra, for instance, which are magnificently adapted to the site, So the idea is not to go against what you have, but try to use it, use that difficulty, apparent difficulty, as an element for your Creative. Design. Instead of wanting to. Turn it down. Very much Jose for your time.