Virtual models: an instrument for the archeology of the landscape: case study of Rua Direita in São Paulo (1809 - 1920)

Abstract

When one weights the researches that perceive the city as a sum of physical artifacts (edifices, paved ways, their connections...) and the researches that perceive it as a sum of social facts (a space for living, exchanges investments ...) the result is a considerable contrast. For over a decade, now, multi disciplinary teams have developed methods in this line of research - the combination of constructed and social space. This studies find support mainly in historical planimetry, serial data basis, city directories, construction permits, demographic census, legislation and iconography. This researches have proven to be productive and worthwhile, thus this research proposal. The present project consists in developing methods and instruments to spacialize the processes of urban transformation and consolidate epistemologically it´s results, thus creating new tracks for research and contributing to a better comprehension of the phenomena that take place in the production of the actual urban space of today. With Rua Direita (Direita Street) being the case study at hand, it is intended (by means of gathering all informational fonts available - with a special place taken by the architectonic projects of São Paulo Historical Archive and historical photographs) to reconstruct it´s buildings profiles between 1809-1920 and analyze the transformation process of the central São Paulo, identifying the remaining edifices from that period still standing in today´s city. (AU)