Restelo as an urban and architectural laboratory

Abstract

The present study seeks to demonstrate how the Restelo neighbourhood in Lisbon, overlooked, in a tribune oriented to Tagus River,  to the contributions of the most recent History of Architecture, Urbanism and Scientific Research in Architecture and Urbanism in  Portugal. As in a laboratory, during the 20th century, Restelo constituted a “test tube” to multiple architectural experiences and  unfinished urban interventions. While from Paris arrived the  contributions from Institut d’Urbanisme; from Le Corbusier and the  Charter of Athens, the desire to reach the modernity and follow a new “urban  catechism”; and from the scientific research in  Architecture and Urbanism, elaborated in the Construction and Housing Division from the Portuguese National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, came the  opportunity to put into practice the knowledge  (theoretical and empirical) acquired in this laboratory  and apply it at Restelo.