More than Cities Workshop between POLIMI and UBI

Rita Ochoa, as Intermittent City co-coordinator,  participated at as a Critic Guest in the final presentation of project and works at the School of Architecture & Design, Politecnico di Milano Polo Territoriale di Piacenza (Italy), within the scope of the International Workshop “More than Cities. Rural-Urban Spaces in a Post-Agriculture Age”, coordinated by Pedro Campos Costa e Maria Ave Romani (Polimi / Ortus – open office for architecture). It featured the participation of Professor Luis Ginja (CiAUD.UBI / FAL.UBI) and Paolo Catrambone (Ortus – open office for architecture).

Organized by the Centre for Architecture, Urbanism from the Faculty of Architecture University of Beira Interior (CIAUD.UBI), the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), the Network of Historic Villages of Portugal – Rede de Aldeias Históricas de Portugal (RAHP) and the Wool Museum of the University of Beira Interior (Museu de Lanifícios da UBI).

This participation by professor and architect Dr Rita Ochoa in Milan follows on from the first stage of the workshop, when Polimi’s students visited Covilhã, Portugal. As can be read:

“On 28 and 29 March, UBI hosted the workshop ‘More Than Cities – Rural-urban spaces in a post-agriculture age’, with the participation of the Historic Villages of Portugal, led by professors and architects Pedro Nuno Campos da Costa and Maria Ave Romani.

The initiative brought together a group of 23 students from 19 countries, from the Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani course at the Politecnico di Milano (Polimi).

Divided into six groups, the students developed proposals for the future of six agglomerations with a strong rural identity: the Historic Villages of Belmonte, Maçainhas, Bendada, Sortelha, Peroviseu and Caria.

The responses to the challenge were creative and disruptive, offering an enriching look at an imagined future that values vernacular architecture in rural contexts with low population density.

The programme culminated in a public presentation and critical discussion of the projects under development, attended by professors Rita Ochoa and Maria Neto (DECA.UBI), professor Luís Ginja (FAL.UBI), Rogério Cunha and Rita Salvado (Wool Museum), Pilar Reis (Network of Historic Villages of Portugal) and architect Maria Ave Romani @meriromani (Polimi). This moment corresponded to the mid-semester assessment for the students involved.”

More information at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DILoVBptPdi/