The conference ‘History of Construction and Archaeology of Architecture: paths of investigation of material culture in some Brazilian cases’, presented by Pedro Freitas, will take place on Thursday 5 June 2025 at 5pm in the Plana Room.

The activity of recognising historical buildings is of interest to various fields of knowledge. History of Construction (HC) and Archaeology of Architecture (AA) have similar disciplinary designs, originating in broader investigations of material culture. Both involve working with direct and indirect sources that sometimes contrast with the narratives and links between social actors, builders and buildings as documents of themselves.

Through examples in some Brazilian cases, this talk aims to demonstrate how the interaction between HC and AA has enabled the development of new strategies for investigating Brazilian cultural heritage, enhancing historical criticism and offering itself as a methodological resource for good rehabilitation practices.

Pedro Freitas is an architect and urban planner with a degree from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of São Paulo (FAUUSP) and a master's and doctorate from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). He has worked in several multidisciplinary architectural rehabilitation teams in Brazil, with a special focus on architectural drawing and documentation practices. From 2018 to 2024, he was an adjunct professor on the Architecture and Urbanism course at the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), working as a collaborator on the Master's and PhD programmes in Archaeology and as the UFS representative on the PHI Brazil Network. Since 2022, he has been a member of and collaborates with the UNESCO Chair ‘Heritage, Cities and Landscapes. Sustainable Management, Conservation, Planning and Design’, based at FAUP, and since 2024, he has been an Assistant Researcher contracted under the 6th Stimulus Competition for Scientific Employment (CEEC) with funding from the Science and Technology Foundation (FCT). He is also a specialist member of ICOMOS International - Scientific Committee on Education and Training (ICOMOS/CIF), a member of ICOMOS CIPA Emerging Professionals (ICOMOS/CIPA-EP) and is a member of ICOMOS Portugal and the Portuguese Society for Construction History Studies (SPEHC).

Free entry, subject to room capacity.
Programme subject to change (without prior notice).
This event may be recorded and publicised by FAUP through photography and video.
FAUP does not issue attendance declarations or online attendance of the event.

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