The value of modern legacy for ordinary people illustrated by microhistories of conservation in Portugal

Abstract

Rather than only being a matter of iconic monuments, Modern architecture tried to provide decent housing and facilities, by finding beauty in everyday pieces of social planning. Pieces in which you could find the universal aesthetics conjugated with the local realms. Sometimes those buildings still just exist in remnants, that may be neglected, as well as the memoirs and stories that took place there. Cases of this kind have been pursued as minor examples of conservation of Modern built heritage. Namely this is the plot of two buildings from the early production of Alvaro Siza in which he was experimenting the use of exposed concrete (something rare in 1950’s Portugal); and both of which were altered shortly after the completion, then had a difficult story, laying today almost abandoned. By going into the detail of the, now ongoing, architectural design process for their conservation, we recognize that, in those situations, architectural heritage values are initially perceived as useless; whereas if recognized, they could constitute the gift for a different chapter for a mistreated building. Precisely those micro-histories of conservation emerge as occasions to prove the social potential of Modern heritage, that is to say its value for ordinary people.