Conímbriga: Interpretação do sítio arqueológico pelo projecto

The publication now presented is a collective Project Process from the discipline Project V – Architecture and Memory, related to the exercise developed during the 2014/2015 academic year under the theme Conímbriga, Architecture, and Memory – Interpretation and Enhancement of the Archaeological Site through Design. This project process consists of supporting materials for the exercise, such as theoretical texts and historical information on the theme, study visits, a topographic interpretation model of the site, and case studies that help contextualize architectural design issues. Ultimately, it also includes the projects developed by the students, which are the main objective of the study.

From a pedagogical perspective, the exercise is designed to foster critical awareness of the processes involved in the architectural interpretation of an archaeological site. Archaeological reconstruction is, by nature, an exercise in interpretation, relying on a set of signs regarded as meaningful. In this sense, all architectural work also involves an interpretation—of necessity, circumstance, and the meaning of transformation. However, unlike other architectural exercises, archaeological interpretation necessarily begins with prior knowledge of the data it engages with. This means that the reconstruction exercise requires the study of a set of works considered cultural models for the fragments being analyzed, in an effort to reconstruct both their form and meaning.