A never enclosed world

Abstract

This essay, written in the context of an academic MSc Dissertation in Architecture, aims to demonstrate the importance of literary culture in the process of architectural design. Two examples are used to demonstrate such relationship. One is the plan for the Cidade Velha (Cape Verde) coordinated by Álvaro Siza Vieira, a plan which could not succeed because of its detachment from the local aspirations and traditions. Then how to interpret local history, how to understand the links between the inhabitants and the habitat? The answer proposed here is that this is precisely the contribution of literature: it teaches us to inquire the history of places. The work of Agustina Bessa-Luís is used as an example, highlighting the relevance of certain spaces within her bibliography, which can be found in different books, thus escaping the merely fictional realm and crossing over to the personal experience of the author. In the confrontation between these two understandings of place (one, technical and external; the other, emotional and personal) we seek to defend the importance of a larger literary culture in architectural design.