AT THE ROOTS OF ARCHITECTURE. THE PROJECT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN RURAL LANDSCAPE

Almost ninety years after Pagano and Daniel’s research activities, the theme of rural architecture is charged with new meanings considering the most recent environmental crisis and the risk of abandonment of inland Mediterranean landscapes. Is it possible to recognize, in recent architectures, characters of resistance that respond to the most current criteria of renewal of this theme? The Village of S. Lourenço do Barrocal (Souto De Moura, 2017) reinterprets the constructive memory of way of living, agricultural traditions and ecological balance of the Alentejo. The Hillside Chapel (Siza, 2018), defines a space for the collective rituals of the community inhabiting the agricultural hamlet of Monte da Charneca, self-sufficient in water and energy. The Parelada underground winery (RCR, 2022), attached to a rural settlement in northern Catalonia, reinterprets the existing topography to realize a profound relationship between land, architecture and landscape. These interventions represent a return to the roots of architecture that urges further experimentation for the widespread inland rural landscapes of the Mediterranean.