the arch/ves
- Architecture, Urbanism and Design Archive of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon (FA-ULisboa) -
presents itself as an infrastructure for safeguarding, critically valuing and democratizing access to Portugal's architectural heritage. With 74 collections of architects, urban planners and designers from the 19th to the 21st centuries and 5 thematic collections, it represents one of the largest and most comprehensive documentation centers in the country, providing a plural reading of the evolution of the discipline, as well as the transformation of the national territory.
Recognized as an autonomous unit within FA-ULisboa in 2022, but with an established track record of more than a decade as an applied research project, arch/ves stands out for its innovative and integrated approach, combining technical conservation, scientific research, critical curation and cultural mediation. As a living knowledge platform, it combines the physical archive with the digital archive, academic production with pedagogical action and collective memory with cultural citizenship. Its mission therefore transcends the passive storage of documents, proposing an active epistemological model in line with the critical paradigms of contemporary archives, in which documentation is understood as a fundamental tool for historical analysis, disciplinary reflection and cultural interface.
The documentary material in the arch/ve's collection, in its multiplicity of media and expressions, gravitates towards information that goes far beyond the domain of its items. Thus, the arch/ves are illustrated by technical and artistic drawings, sketches, models, photographic records, correspondence, administrative documents, private libraries, graphic diaries and personal objects, organized into thematic funds. With this organization, the Archive allows for multiple interpretative crossings and boosts research into practices alongside finalistic ones, promoting intellectual networks, assembling atlases of discourses and counter-discourses that reveal territorial transformations.
Aligned with the principles of the National Arts Plan, the National Archives Strategy and the European Agenda for Culture, arch/ves responds to the challenges of public policies for heritage preservation, scientific research and access to culture.
With a qualified multidisciplinary team, solid institutional integration and a sustainable growth model, arch/ves has established itself as an example of contemporary heritage appreciation and a replicable model of critical infrastructure at the service of sustainable development, collective memory, the democratization of knowledge and advanced training.
