The Iberian Summer School took place from July 8th to 21st, 2024, in Arcos de Valdevez, in northern Portugal.
The program was organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation in collaboration with INTBAU Portugal and INTBAU Spain; thanks to the support of Richard H. Driehaus, the Municipality of Arcos de Valdevez, the Fundação Serra Henriques, Kalam, Robert Adam, the Arquia Foundation, and the King’s Trust Australia; and with the collaboration of the architecture schools of the University of Notre Dame, the University of Miami, the Universidade do Porto, the Universidade Portucalense, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and the Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT), as well as other institutions such as Apatrigal, the Horrea Network, Friol, and Carpintaria Senhora da Paz.
– The place –
The summer school was held in Peneda, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peneda, located in the parish of Gavieira, municipality of Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal, very close to the Spanish border. The Sanctuary is situated within the Peneda-Gerês National Park.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peneda is an important pilgrimage site, known for its impressive granite staircase that ascends to the church. The construction of the sanctuary began in the 18th century and it has been a central point for Marian devotion in the region. Additionally, characteristic of this region are the espigueiros (granaries) made of stone and wood, which are used for grain storage.
While the group was accommodated in Peneda, where much of the program took place, various locations within the municipality of Arcos de Valdevez were also visited, studied, and drawn: Soajo, São Bento do Cando, Branda de Santo António, Sistelo, and Padrão.
– The Work Process –
The program focused on studying the region’s traditional urbanism, architecture, and construction details, primarily through hand-drawing. The aim was for participants to familiarize themselves with the character and qualities of the region’s architecture. Experts in local vernacular architecture, landscape, and building techniques delivered lectures and conducted various workshops on related topics. During the first week, several trips were organized around the region, allowing for the study and drawing of local architecture in various locations. In the second week, drawing on the work previously done, the students worked in groups on an urban design proposal for Peneda. The process also involved the local inhabitants to adapt the proposal to their needs.
– The Proposal –
Building on this initial work, and also responding to the needs presented by the inhabitants of Peneda, a proposal was designed with the collaboration of all the participants of the summer school for the improvement of the surroundings of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peneda, as well as its access and connection to the valley. Additionally, various interventions of different scales and characters were proposed in Peneda, ranging from urban reconfiguration to actions on several of the houses.
– Results and Exhibition –
Both the initial documentation work and the final design proposal were publicly exhibited at the end of the summer school at the Tomaz Figueiredo Library in Arcos de Valdevez. The exhibition, which was attended by the mayor and several representatives of the Arcos de Valdevez municipality, among others, was followed by a closing celebration in Peneda, with the participation of a large part of the local population.
– Other Activities –
Workshops on Traditional Building Trades
Several master traditional builders conducted workshops during the summer school. Master stonemason Guillermo Rodríguez provided a practical introduction to manual stonework; master plasterer Marco Aurélio offered a theoretical and practical introduction to his craft; and the master carpenters from Carpintaria Senhora da Paz conducted a demonstration on the characteristic carpentry work of the region.
Lectures
In addition to fieldwork, experts in urban planning, architectural history, anthropology, landscape, and traditional architecture and construction were invited to deliver lectures on these topics. The lectures were held at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peneda.
Drawing Courses and Workshops
Several participants of the summer school conducted various workshops on composition, drawing, watercolor, and other painting techniques.
– The Organizing Team, the Faculty, and the Participants –
The faculty and organizing team consisted of Fernando Cerqueira Barros (Univ. Porto / CEAU), José Franqueira Baganha (INTBAU Portugal | Traditional Building Cultures Foundation), Alejandro García Hermida (Univ. Politécnica de Madrid | Traditional Building Cultures Foundation | INTBAU Spain), Guillermo Gil Fernández (Traditional Building Cultures Foundation | INTBAU Spain), Rebeca Gómez-Gordo Villa (Traditional Building Cultures Foundation | INTBAU Spain), and Lucas Martí Guitera (Traditional Building Cultures Foundation).
The guest speakers were Joana Araújo (Lantana), Clementina Braga, Álvaro Campelo (Universidade Fernando Pessoa – UFP), Gonçalo Cornelio da Silva, Jorge Dias (Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, IP), Álvaro Domingues (Universidade do Porto FAUP-CEAU), Carlos Henrique Fernández Coto (Apatrigal | Horrea), Rui Florentino (Universidade Portucalense – UPT | INTBAU Portugal), César Maciel (Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Peneda), António Fernandez Medeiros (ISCTE-IUL), António Menéres (Universidade do Porto FAUP), Goreti Sousa (Universidade Portucalense – UPT), Alda Rodrigues (Lantana), Alcinda Tavares (Peneda-Gerês National Park), and Carlos Eduardo Viana (Associação de Produção e Animação Audiovisual).
And the participants were Andrés Belderrain García (Spain), Teodoro Bueres (USA), Nataliia Chernobryvets (Ukraine), Ivo Chytil (Czech Republic), Meredith Fairman (USA), Marta Cristina Follana Delgado (Spain), Peyton Gable (USA), Christa Gabrielson (USA), Ayşe Nur Ger (Turkey), Rocío Gómez Llopis (Spain), Andreea-Larisa Hățiș-Condoiu (Romania), Ai-Vi Hoang (USA), Kalina Jasiak (Poland | USA), Eric Kerke (USA), Margarida Martins Pinhal (Portugal), Nieves Navas Rodríguez-Camuñas (Spain), Manoel Palácios e Cabral de Melo (Portugal), Eva Ribeiro Vaz (Portugal), Miriam Samir Rincon (Mexico), Paul Schickhofer (Austria), Álvaro Schmitt Vergara (Chile), Ashish Singh Pundir (India), Orlando Mattia Surcel (Australia), Theano Vachla (Greece), and Carlos Vallecillos Moya (Spain).
