formaurbis LAB

the morphological atlas as archive of the Portuguese city

Abstract

This article presents the results of the project “Morphological Atlas of the Portuguese City”, which has been developed during the last decade at Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa. It proposes a reflection on a process of investigation of the city form that establishes a synthesis between the municipal archives, the place where the most important documents of the city are gathered like the original projects, the processes of particular build works, etc., and the “in situ” survey, understood the built city as a repository of its knowledge.

In 2018 the research group “formaurbis LAB” won a grant to develop an extensive inventory of the Portuguese building typologies that address the final chapter of the Atlas of urban form in Portugal. After the accomplishment of the several previous phases with the approach to the city: urban-fabric; urban-layout; theoretical grid, urban samples, and later to the public space: square and street; and finally, to the block, plots and buildings as units of the city's private space it will be possible for the first time, to carry out an articulated approach between all the components of urban fabric having as case study around 100 Portuguese cities.