Root

Iolanda Andrade, Irina Mariné e Rui Ferreira

Group project made during our masters at Uminho, incorporated in the program “No void”, which works the theme of abandonment in public space, landscape and territory. The study case selected by the group are the leftover structures of the old textile factories Veleiro e Caravela, implanted on the margins on the Vizela river.

Our work begins with an analysis of the appropriations of public space in the city of Vizela (currently and historically), to the realization that the population lost its river and margins to the industry. Which, to this day, releases waste on the rivers current, tainting it with different colors.

With this insight, the project seeks a requalification of the area, both in quality and quantity. Quality using wetlands. Quantity moving several amounts of soil, in order to redesign the margins of the river in its dry and spate periods.

This way, we enable people to come close to the water, recovering activities such as fishing, swimming, and rowing. Adding more spaces for possibilities. Summing up, we clean the water, we move soil and we flood the abandoned factories.