The Construction of the 21st c. and the early 20th c. Architecture Magazines: RIC and A Construcção Moderna

Abstract

Open access to knowledge resources is a gift of this technological era. In architecture, the analysis of 20th century construction descriptions and drawings is paramount for gathering information on how to restore the heritage from this period. Those sources tell us which challenges architects were facing and how they applied construction techniques to the aesthetic and spacial challenges of new functional needs. However, architecture research on print sources, such as magazines, can be difficult, for they are, if not lost, scattered or damaged. This paper argues that open access to this source is important as it may inform the 21st century rehabilitation of the architectural heritage built in the first two decades of last century. The full collection analysis of the first Portuguese architecture periodical, A Construcção Moderna (1900-1919), made possible by the RIC Revistas de Ideias e Cultura (Magazines of Ideas and Culture) program (online since the 3rd CIHCL), will be the case study of our thesis.