As atmosferas do Memorial Minas Gerais: uma análise sensível da relação entre o sujeito e as intervenções no patrimônio edificado

Abstract

Research on the concept of atmosphere pervade discussions on architectural theory and environmental perception, but this concept is rarely used as an instrument for built heritage analysis. After a trajectory marked by an object-oriented gaze, studies on built cultural heritage are turning to its immaterial dimensions in order to support interventions that dialogues not only objectively with theory but also subjectively with those who experience the space. The contemporary debate on intervention in the built heritage has incorporated, in part, a more balanced relationship between subject and object. The part that we understand that has not been incorporated concerns mainly the theory of restoration proposed by Cesare Brandi (2019) in the mid-twentieth century and until today is widely used as a theoretical ground. This, is mostly dedicated to the object and, because it was not developed specifically for architecture, leaves gaps in what architecture differs the most from other artistic expressions: the space. Thus, the analyses of these interventions reproduce the understanding of the Brandian legacy and continues to be based predominantly on the materiality of the heritage. This paper seeks to interwine the concept of atmosphere and the built heritage, analyzing the latter through the lens of the former. Similar to the studies on dealing with the built heritage from more subjective guidelines such as the works of Riegl (1903), Muñoz-Viñas (2005) and Carsalade (2014), the insertion of the atmosphere’s concept in the theories, practices and analysis of contemporary interventions becomes important in order to continue the path towards the valuation of the subject's relationship with the space. For this, we unravel the concept of atmosphere into some of the multiple dimensions that composes it. Among them there is memory, image, affection, materiality, narrative, scenography, perception, and experience. These elements are based on studies derived from the phenomenology of Bachelard (1989), Ingold (2012; 2013; 2015) and Merleau-Ponty (1984), the perception of Yi-Fu Tuan (1975; 1978; 1979; 1989; 2013; 2014), the collective memory of Maurice Halbwachs (1990), and the architecture theory of Norberg-Schulz (1965;1973;1975;1984) and Juhani Pallasmaa (1994; 2005; 2013; 2017; 2018) in dialogue with the specific contributions from Gernot Böhme’s (2017) atmosphere concept. The Minas Gerais Memorial builds the scene in which the atmosphere is to be analyzed. Commented walks were used as a methodology that better gathers objective and subjective information from the space’s experience. These walks helped us understand the atmospheres of the place, triggering in an analysis of the general atmosphere and the fragmented atmosphere identified in the relationship between the pre-existence, intervention and the exhibition design. It is hoped, therefore, to present new possibilities of interventions analysis, as well as to illuminate possible guidelines for intervention in the built heritage. By inserting the atmosphere concept on the Minas Gerais Memorial analysis, we intend to look at the intervention actions beyond the materiality, highlighting especially the way the participants relate to and perceive the building.