Date
25/09/2025

The paper “Memory. Territory. Identity: Heritage Interventions at the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo in Castelo Mendo, Portugal”, presented by Rita Vasco, lecturer at the IPCB School of Applied Arts, brought to the international debate at the International Conference on Adaptive Reuse (ICAR 2025) a reflection on how collective memory and local identity can guide strategies for intervention in architectural heritage. The study questions how rehabilitation practices can go beyond material preservation, promoting a living relationship between communities and their places of historical reference.
The conference, held from 15 to 19 September 2025 at the University of Pisa (Italy), with the support of UNESCO Italy, was dedicated to the contemporary challenges of adaptive reuse of heritage. The programme brought together different perspectives on ways of restoring buildings from the past — from the enhancement of ruins to the introduction of new uses — always from a critical perspective on memory, identity and the future of heritage.
The work will be published in January 2026 in the conference proceedings, in open access, available in digital and printed format. The lecturer’s participation reinforces ESART-IPCB’s presence in international contexts of research and critical reflection, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge in the field of architecture, design and sustainable rehabilitation.