Project Description

Like other European countries, Portugal has many thermal sources as well as a varied and rich thermal architecture. There are several generic and/or informative publications of this or that complex, but there are no architecture-related studies that analyse its architecture, pointing out its qualities and vulnerabilities and developing ways for its recovery. This thesis seeks to fill this gap.

It begins with the historical evolution of the thermal architecture inaugurated in ancient Greece. Afterwards, the concept was magnificently developed in the city of Rome, mainly with the process for its recovery after the fire started in 64 AD. It was later exported to the whole Empire, including the territory now recognized as Portugal. At the same time, examples of thermal renewal with recognized quality in Europe and particularly in Portugal are analysed and their essential concepts are researched.

It concludes with a development on the "ideal thermal building", where it is considered that the thermal architecture is like a process of evolutionary creation that at the moment seeks to realize the synthesis between the nature and the construction, between the art and the philosophy in order to satisfy the needs of man and his essential aspirations.

Research Team

• Rui Solla Soares Lacerda
• Joaquín Fernández Madrid (supervisor)
• Fernando Brandão Alves (co-supervisor)

Financial Support

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Stage of Progress

• Concluded in 2013