TERRA AMADA is a volunteering initiative for architecture students, devoted to the conservation and rehabilitation of rural villages, aiming the improvement of the life conditions, the preservation of the heritage and local development
The TERRA AMADA initiative, organized by the Architectural Course of the Portuguese Catholic University in Viseu, focuses on the development of volunteering actions, open to the participation of architecture students, both Portuguese and foreign, with the objective of carrying out preservation and rehabilitation interventions in rural villages, in particular with regard to improving quality of life, conserve and rehabilitate the tangible and intangible heritage and contribute to local development.
In 2013 we developed an action in Covas do Monte village, that included interventions in 7 buildings plus the public space, all done with the labor of 60 volunteers students, under the direction of master craftsmen and technicians, also volunteers, and with the materials donated by more than 50 companies.
This is an initiative that aims to promote the connections between different sectors of the society (universities, public authorities, private sector and civil society), between knowledge and practice, between urban and rural, and between the young generations and the most elderly populations.
For 2014 we are trying to make possible to repeat this initiative, this time in Vale de Papas village, in Cinfães municipality, in the Viseu region.
Vale de Papas
Vale de Papas is located in Montemuro Mountain, Ramires parish, and is a village with around 30 inhabitants. It has unique characteristics, like the houses in yellow granite, the close link between the natural and the built environment and manly the remaining haulm roofs. This village maintains the traditional economic structure, devoted to agriculture and cattle breeding.
The village’s way of life is reflects in the built environment – in the constructions for animals and agricultural products, in the public space, shared by people, animals and plants, in close connection between man, nature and the sacred. However, although all the life and heritage still present in this village, the ageing population, the risk of total loss of some unique characteristics – the haulm roofs -, and the degradation of the buildings and the lack of basic infrastructures (like piped water supply or w.c.), are visible threats to its continuity for the future generations.
The interventions
The group of interventions that we are trying to make possible include the construction of basic infrastructures (water supply), the improvement of life conditions (installation of w.c. in 3 houses), the conservations of the architectural heritage (roofs, communitarian threshing-floor, etc.), the development of facilities for the installation of new economic activities (traditional cheese factory, crafts atelier, etc.) and the requalification of public space.
So that we can make these interventions, that can be structural contributions for the future of this village, possible, we need your support. Be a part of this life changing initiative for this community, help us to help!
