BUILDING FACADES OF OPORTO CITY COVERED WITH GLAZED TILES. GUIDELINES OF CHARACTERISATION FOR PRESERVATION

摘要

Glazed tiles as a building cladding are associated with the return of Portuguese emigrants from Brazil. The first facades using this type of cladding emerged between the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century and in large part were produced by factories located in Oporto city and Vila Nova de Gaia - in the estuary of the Douro River. Recent rehabilitation works have caused the gradual disappearance of glazed tiles or have employed inadequate methodologies to restore them. To reverse this condition, we intend to discriminate the materials of the building system by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and absorption and drying test, in order to sustain traditional constructive techniques as alternatives to contemporaneous materials.