The Junta de Colonização Interna colonies: Reinvention of the rural tradition

Abstract

This essay analyses the vision of rural tradition pursued after 1936 and until 1960 by the «Junta de Colonização Interna» through its internal rural colonization scheme during the Portuguese «Estado Novo» authoritarian Regime. This vision is compared with the concrete rural vernacular architecture identified by the Portuguese Regional Architecture Survey undertaken between 1955 and 1961. As preliminary conclusions it’s possible to stress that the settlement’s schemes and the housing design, despite the incorporation of local specificities, can be seen as a reinvention of the rural tradition, revealing the architect’s erudite background and their struggle to introduce modernist design.