BREVIÁRIO ad—HIANTE, 2020
In the 17th of June, 1905, in Aveiro, a group of citizens opposes to the partial demolition of the Convent of St. John the Evangelist — an irretrievable amputation of the city, an unfounded replacement of the relief of an architecture for the void of a ground.
To decree a lacerating operation to open a grand square is a process of authority that compromises the common reason and the heritage of a spontaneous urban genesis, in reproach of the importance of the monastic premises in the fixation and consolidation of the urban tissue.
The dissenting voices from then, turned into indistinct noise from quotidian actions. The square's scale and aridness serve only the purpose of exalting the statal buildings that confine it and lend themselves to a distant reading. The free circulation of pedestrians is a mere consequence of the ability to shelter cars at subterranean levels, considering the lack of qualified permanence attributes.
The remnants of the convent, given the recession that its cloister represents in the general elevation, should not prescind from its capacity to provide an immersion in a more individual scale.
To decree a lacerating operation to open a grand square is a process of authority that compromises the common reason and the heritage of a spontaneous urban genesis, in reproach of the importance of the monastic premises in the fixation and consolidation of the urban tissue.
The dissenting voices from then, turned into indistinct noise from quotidian actions. The square's scale and aridness serve only the purpose of exalting the statal buildings that confine it and lend themselves to a distant reading. The free circulation of pedestrians is a mere consequence of the ability to shelter cars at subterranean levels, considering the lack of qualified permanence attributes.
The remnants of the convent, given the recession that its cloister represents in the general elevation, should not prescind from its capacity to provide an immersion in a more individual scale.
Complementing the cloister, the proposal legitimates the invasion of the square space — that, in practice, isn't orthogonal due to several obstacles — with the creation of an enclave for introspective contemplation, consociated with the perambulation characteristic of both a cloister and a square. Circumscribing a portion of the plaza contiguous to the convent, should entice a protracted observation of the built heritage and an attentive regard at the one espied at the distance, for future (re)discovery.
The proposed ambulatory gives continuity to the existing one and enlarges the inner yard, enriched with a reflective pool that contains the sky in its slow movement and alludes to the primal function of the convent. A surrounding path is, thus, delineated as a search for silence and interiority. The (re)created northwest aisle — that would be the last one to be crossed — defines, externally, the entrance at north and is paved with broken tiles, as if fallen from the ashlar. Walking over fragments summons, metaphorically, the necessary care to live in community and makes us be aware of the steps we take. Only after this section does the exit to the plaza reveals itself, confronting the judicial buildings, resuming our civil condition. Prolonging the gallery covering to the churchyard creates a galilee where once the choir loft was. By intersecting the portal between the door and the pediment, the front elevation is freed from this ornament that was carved along with the square, divesting it and intensifying the experience in the interior of this richly adorned temple.
The proposed ambulatory gives continuity to the existing one and enlarges the inner yard, enriched with a reflective pool that contains the sky in its slow movement and alludes to the primal function of the convent. A surrounding path is, thus, delineated as a search for silence and interiority. The (re)created northwest aisle — that would be the last one to be crossed — defines, externally, the entrance at north and is paved with broken tiles, as if fallen from the ashlar. Walking over fragments summons, metaphorically, the necessary care to live in community and makes us be aware of the steps we take. Only after this section does the exit to the plaza reveals itself, confronting the judicial buildings, resuming our civil condition. Prolonging the gallery covering to the churchyard creates a galilee where once the choir loft was. By intersecting the portal between the door and the pediment, the front elevation is freed from this ornament that was carved along with the square, divesting it and intensifying the experience in the interior of this richly adorned temple.
