Odivelas Monestary
Structural survey and seismic vulnerability assessment of the entire Odivelas monastic complex. A ensemble of twelve distinct buildings with diverse constructive stratification, carried out for the Municipality of Odivelas as part of the safeguarding of a significant built heritage site.
Concept & Challenge
The Odivelas monastic complex comprises twelve buildings that accumulate centuries of transformation, introducing radically distinct constructive typologies within the same ensemble, stone and brick masonry, reinforced concrete, steel, and timber. The challenge was to produce a coherent structural assessment across the entire complex and to evaluate how each typology, and the interfaces between structurally dissimilar buildings responds to seismic action.
Approach & Methodology
NCREP assembled a multidisciplinary team that, alongside the structural engineers, included an archaeologist and a conservation specialist direct working instruments in the interpretation of pathologies and historic constructive solutions. The seismic vulnerability assessment was conducted in a differentiated manner according to typology, enabling the establishment of a risk hierarchy for the ensemble and the identification of its most vulnerable elements.
Solution & Results
The work produced a complete structural characterisation of all twelve buildings, with an integrated seismic vulnerability assessment and a prioritised framework for future intervention. The multidisciplinary composition of the team gave the assessment a depth commensurate with the heritage values of the complex, providing an informed basis for decisions on works programming and seismic risk management.
Twelve buildings, centuries of transformation, and a single question: what resists, and to what.
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