ARCHITECTURE AND PLACES: THE CHELAS CASE, A DISTRICT OF LISBON

SACU 2025 recognition for the degree thesis of five newly graduated women in architecture from Poliba    

3 September 2025

Among the 52 projects included in the catalogue and taking part in the XXXV edition of the International Seminar and Prize for Architecture and Urban Culture of Camerino (MC), the section projects includes the “Mention”, “Portuguese identity and experimental innovation in the Chelas district of Lisbon”.

The project was developed within the Poliba degree workshop, “Portuguese architectural language: City and masters”, Department of Architecture, Construction, Design, academic year 2024-25.

The authors of the recognition are: Annalisa Aniello from Andria, Roberta Baglivo (Bari), Luana Baldini (Bisceglie), Valeria Dibenedetto (Mola di Bari) and Ilaria Impagnatiello from Maschito – Potenza. Supervisor and Poliba contact person: Prof. Matteo Ieva.

The XXXV edition of the SACU prize saw about 150 participants, including architects, professors, speakers, professionals, graduates, and students, from Italy, Egypt, Central Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Northern Europe, and Latin America.

The 2025 edition, held in recent weeks at the University of Camerino, focused on the theme, “Architecture and places” to reflect on and investigate new possible paths. Globalized architecture has in fact produced, over recent decades, works of great interest but also a large quantity of by-products, undermining the character of places, especially in smaller towns and rural areas. The ongoing social dynamics and climate change require renewed design awareness capable of addressing the complexity of events. Within this framework of renewal lies the Portuguese design proposal presented in Camerino by the newly graduated architects from the Polytechnic University of Bari.

The contents of the project. The architecture of the city of Lisbon belongs to the broader Mediterranean cultural context, which also includes Apulia. The one-month internship of the five students in the Portuguese city made it possible to carry out an accurate study of the city’s historical and modern architecture and to understand the characteristics of its construction in the various evolutionary phases. It was from these that the design hypothesis developed in the thesis, presented at the XXXV edition of the International Seminar, critically took shape.

The area of interest, in the urban expansion zone included among the urbanization plans of the 1960s, was identified in the partially built district of Chelas, whose morphological configuration of the ground is very similar to that of some Apulian cities in the Murgia. The site was chosen as an area of interest requiring completion, connection, and redevelopment actions. The arrangement of the residential buildings and the special buildings with public functions was adapted to the terraces and level differences.

A semi-underground concert hall, located at the heart of the layout, was shared in order to qualify the connection node of the routes that looks toward the acropolis area, intended to enhance the historical spatial perception of the place. A library, a neighborhood museum, and a building for advanced tertiary services were placed downstream of the built area.

The Seminar on Architecture and Urban Culture was founded in 1990 in Camerino, in the Marche region, at the local University and is organized by: University of Camerino, Municipality of Camerino, Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators of the Province of Macerata.

The XXXV edition of the competition included the Completed Works Section; Projects Section; Critics’ Award; Completed Works Mentions; Projects Mentions.
The works submitted by the participants in the Prize will be collected in a dedicated catalogue.

In previous editions of the International Seminar and Prize for Architecture and Urban Culture, recent architecture graduates from Poliba have distinguished themselves by receiving prizes and recognitions in the various sections provided.

The article ARCHITECTURE AND PLACES: THE CHELAS CASE, A DISTRICT OF LISBON comes from Poliba Chronicle.