The appreciation of ruins as open spaces

Abstract

The ruin is singular, sublime and picturesque, formed by stratifications of the time and gaps that allow the inseparable relationship with the landscape. The ruined work, although shapeless, provides the interpretation of the past and assists in the construction of the memory, as it is a material witness to history and bear the marks of time. Because of its condition of emptiness as absence, promise and expectation, and, apparently, abandoned place, residual and with accentuated cultural charge previous predominant, we associate it with the notion of terrain vagues. In this way, ruin is adopted as an open space, with the objective of confirming in the discussions about the preservation of heritage ruins, points that contribute to conservative interventions. We analyze the case of Hospedaria dos Imigrantes in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, an unfinished construction, underutilized until its consolidation as ruin and terrain vague, debating the possibility of an intervention based on the currents of conservation and the approach of the verdant ruins, capable of guaranteeing the permanence of the ruin as a vegetated open space in the city.