Architecture & Research: a possible structure

This article results from three conferences organized by the research project titled “Architectural research framework” developed by the research center Architectural Lab – LabART – of the Lusófona University, and also by my personal experiences and dialogs with other members of the EAAE research committee. Architectural research always existed, but only recently some major questions have emerged, by the time that Europe started the last universitary reform on the 80’s. Two aspects are crucial in understanding the problematic that we are referring to. On the one hand we verify that the architectural teaching should maintain the articulation and close relationship between the theoretical and practical aspects. On the other hand, there is a need to confer academic degrees, as the MsC and PhD’s in the Faculties of Architecture. Inevitably, discussions began about the scientificity of architecture (its grounding), the types of research, methodological models, as well as on the evaluation criteria and the quality of research, or the relevance of the results. We will try to approach some of these discussions, and by the end, establish a basic structure that allows us to obtain an open model for research in architecture.

The dark side of the Mediterranean : expression of fear from the inquisition to the present

Inside the stones of its most famous buildings, Évora keeps mysteries and secrets which constitute the most hidden side of its cultural identity. A World Heritage site, this town seems to preserve, in its medieval walls, a precious knowledge of the most universal and ancient human emotion: fear. Trying to transcend many of its past and future fears, some of its historical monuments in Gothic style were erected against the fear of death, the most terrible of all fears, which the famous inscription, in the Bones Chapel of the Church of São Francisco, insistently reminds us, through the most disturbing words: “Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos”. If the first inquisitors worked in central Europe (Germany, northern Italy, eastern France), later the centres of the Inquisition were established in the Mediterranean regions, especially southern France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Consequently, the roots of fear in Évora are common to other towns, where the Inquisition developed a culture of fear, through which we can penetrate into the dark side of the Mediterranean, where people were subjected to the same terrifying methods of persecution and torture. This common geographical and historical context was not ignored by one of the most famous masters of American gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe. Through the pages of The Pit and the Pendulum, readers get precise images of the fearful instruments of terror that were able to produce the legend that has made the first grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, a symbol of ultimate cruelty, bigotry, intolerance, and religious fanaticism, which unfortunately are still the source of our present fears in a time when religious beliefs can be used again as a motif of war and destruction. As Krishnamurti once suggested, only a fundamental realization of the root of all fear can free our minds.

Reencantar a educação : a educação básica e a ressocialização dos presos

Esta dissertação teve como objetivo descrever a educação básica no contexto do sistema penitenciário de Salvador em termos de processos educacionais e da Proposta Político-Pedagógica (PPP) com vistas à ressocialização do preso. Especificamente: a) descrever a realidade educacional do sistema penitenciário; b) analisar o processo educacional, método em termos de restauração pessoal, quanto à ressocialização do apenado. Em termos de percurso metodológico, quanto à natureza da pesquisa, trata-se de um estudo qualitativo. Organizou-se a dissertação, dando-lhe coerência e direção. A fundamentação teórica foi organizada delimitando-se os pontos essenciais da investigação. Em termos de tipo de pesquisa qualitativa, trata-se de estudo de caso, o qual vai-se valer, em termos de coleta de dados, da observação, entrevistas, narrativas e análise de documentos. Há que se observar que se torna difícil a situação de reintegração social do regresso, principalmente no tocante à sua recolocação profissional, pois vive-se hoje a realidade de um desemprego generalizado com elevado contingente de trabalhadores desempregados, e que ainda na maioria das vezes ainda contam com experiência profissional. A situação torna-se difícil para uma pessoa que traz consigo o estigma de ex-presidiário, e que na maioria das vezes não tem qualquer qualificação profissional. A „recuperação‟ do preso passa pela manutenção de sua referência com o mundo exterior, tais como a família, o meio de trabalho, o bairro onde reside. Quanto mais essas referências forem afastadas (e o são), mais difícil será sua readaptação posterior à sociedade. Pode ser que, após um longo período, adaptado pelas forças de sua instituição total, o mesmo já não consiga se adaptar a uma sociedade livre.