Recomposition of architecture in the historical city. The Portello area in Padua, Italy, as a case study

The work we propose concerns the theme of the recomposition of public spaces in the ancient town. The working method is based on the belief that, in the study of urban morphology, is basic to analyse the history of the city, clarifying the relationship between permanent structures on the one hand and temporary ones on the other. The methodology looks at the city as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect. Our teaching at the University of Padua is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis. The spatial aspects of the transformations in the city are studied as a premise for the design of the new architecture. The Portello area in Padua is one of the subjects investigated by our students, thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of a very representative place of the city, custodian of its memory and identity.