Alto Homem Valley: permanences, transformations and opportunities in landscape construction

João Ferreira Silva

Considering the size and complexity of this landscape, the developed research focuses on the Vale do Alto Homem. Here it capture the transformations at various scales along the path that leads to Minas dos Carris. The work is based on the collection of the biographical data of the path, which allows the construction of a new perspective over a territory that, in the last decades, has been subject to a process of abandonment and degradation of its material and immaterial patrimony.

The decoding of this landscape arises from the identification of the layers of events and memories, as well as the practices that, although fragile, are still part of this place.

For the development of this research, and in order to comprehend this place, it was considered three structural moments - the context, the sample, and the analysis - based on a methodological process in which it translate this landscape through the collection, interpretation and representation of all the compiled data.

The main goal of this methodology is to construct a new perspective, which reinterprets this territory through its representation. The intention of this material is to demonstrate the exceptional character of this territory, using the design of several elements and structures that make up its construction.

Finally, the last moment of investigation appears as a practical reflection. The last chapter intends to demonstrate, through the project’s exercise, the qualities and opportunities of this territory - ending with a intervention proposal.