veredes, arquitectura y divulgación VADo2 Los Prototipos | Page 100

VAD. 02 | Diciembre 2019 | ISSN 2659-9139 e-ISSN 2659-9198
ISSN 2659-9139 e-ISSN 2659-9198 | Diciembre 2019 | 02.VAD
The mass section received a new production line at high temperature
which introduced in 1977 a fuel oil engine to overheat water, reinforcing
the other three situated in the power station.
The Leões factory operated uninterruptedly between 1916 and 1993
when, as a result of the political and economic changes occurred after
the Revolution of April 25, 1974 and Portugal’s entry into the European
Economic Community (EEC) –which dictated the end of the State’s protec-
tionism and the opening up of the European market–,it was impossible
for most Portuguese manufacturing units in the wheat processing sector
to survive, due to the loss of competitiveness of an ageing industrial park,
and the factory was forced to shut down.
These sectors were joined in the following century by the extraction and
transformation of marble, fuel refining, and car assembly. Secondly, be-
cause this industrial heritage is still alive, as unlike other flour mill plants
that after shutting down were abandoned and experienced an accelera-
ted degradation, the Leões factory was purchased in 1998 to be renovated
and transformed in order to accommodate some of the facilities of the
University of Évora and is currently enjoyed by both its users and the com-
munity that surrounds it.
The Arts and Architecture School of the University of Évora
(Portugal) 12
After purchasing the Leões factory, the University of Évora launched a
restricted invitation to tender in 2006 –”Limited Invitation to Tender by
Pre-Qualification no. 2 /UNIV.ÉVORA/2006” for the Rehabilitation of the Old
Leões Factory-Visual Arts and Architecture Complex-University of Évora” 13 in
which the following architecture teams took part: “CIVI4 -Projectistas e
Consultores de Engenharia Civil, Lda.”; “Teresa Novais & Jorge Carvalho
-Arquitectos Lda. (aNCArquitectos) and Newton Consultores de Engenha-
ria, Lda.”; “Atelier 15, Arquitectura, Lda.”; “Filipe Oliveira Dias, Arquitecto,
Lda.”; “Atelier de Santos, Arquitectura, Lda. And Tecnopert, Projectos e
Planeamento, Lda.”, and “Inês Lobo Arquitectos and Ventura Trindade Ar-
quitectos”.
Figure 3. Leões flour factory-Arts and
Architecture School of the University
of Évora Exterior view.
Author: Sheila Palomares Alarcón,
2017.
12 Our special thanks to João Ventura
for giving an interview to Sheila Pa-
lomares Alarcón on May 5th, 2015,
in the Architecture and Visual Arts
Complex of the University of Évora.
13 Archivo de obras de la Universidad
de Évora. Expediente: Leões.
The latter, i.e., the team formed by Inês Lobo and Ventura Trindade Ar-
quitectos was the winning team and, with their intervention, they tried to
restore the original character of the existing structure, which defined the
factory with all its austerity, recovering its original simplicity.
The Architecture and Visual Arts Complex of the University of Évora ope-
ned its doors on November 2, 2008, and offers Sculpture, Visual Arts,
Painting, Design, Architecture, and Multimedia courses. 14 The architectu-
ral intervention won the “2013 IHRU Award. Rehabilitation of Urban Com-
plex”. 15
14 Portugal, O libro dos Leões, 14.
15 Viegas, Aurelina (coord.) Prémio
IHRU 2013. Lisboa: Instituto da Ha-
bitação e da Reabilitação Urbana,
2013.
The factory, which originally consisted of a multi-storey building with a
silo on each side, increased its surface with different modules arranged in
a U-shape around a manoeuvring yard, which is currently a large garden
similar to the ones found in large university campuses, in which the rein-
forced concrete silos converge with the multi-storey factory structure and
other industrial elements.
In the programme of the invitation to tender, the University proposed the
preservation of the complex’s markedly industrial character, but consi-
dered that there was the need to demolish two of the existing modules
(where the library and the Performing Arts course are now accommoda-
ted).
There are different factors that show the importance of the Leões factory
within the scope of Alentejo’s industrial heritage. First of all, it was part
of the flour industry, which was one of the sectors that led the industria-
lization of Alentejo from the second half of the 19th century onwards,
together with the modernization of the textile industry, the development
of the mining industry, or the transformation of cork.
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ANA CARDOSO DE MATOS | SHEILA PALOMARES ALARCÓN | ARMANDO QUINTAS. The origins of the “Leões” flour and pasta factory [...] pp. 94-106
The architects who won the tender found the Leões factory empty, with
no pieces of machinery inside, and proposed a number of changes to the
university, namely preserving the buildings that were intended to be de-
molished, renovating them, and including them in the new programme.
ANA CARDOSO DE MATOS | SHEILA PALOMARES ALARCÓN | ARMANDO QUINTAS. The origins of the “Leões” flour and pasta factory [...] pp. 94-106
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