Under the sun of Acauã: an intervention proposal for the ruins of Cuó, in Caicó/RN
intervention in heritage; ruins; fort house; northeastern sertão; vernacular architecture.
The Cuó historical site, located in the city of Caicó/RN, comprises the archaeological ruins of two pre-existing buildings: the Casa Forte do Cuó (fort house) and the first Capela de Santana (Santana’s Chapel). With constructions whose records date back to the end of the XVII century, they are considered the first buildings in the region that today is understood as the Seridó Potiguar. Although it is very visited, mainly because of the views provided by the geography of the site and the traditional sunset, the Cuó is still little recognized for its historical importance. In this context, this work has as main objective to conceive a preliminary project of intervention for the Cuó ruins, aiming at the protection of the pre-existence, the strengthening of its protagonism and symbolism within the site and the insertion of equipments that provide a social and dynamic use. For qualification purposes, it is presented here a preliminary study of the proposal, accompanied by an also preliminary version of the descriptive technical report, which addresses all the steps that were crucial for the projectual exercise: theoretical and conceptual referential; physical and historical survey of the ruins; study of previous projects; study of constraints and architectural programming. Moreover, while analyzing and defining interventionist postures in the built heritage, especially in terms of decisions and design guidelines, the project proposes the use of construction techniques and materials of the vernacular architecture of the Seridó as a way to reinforce and enhance the local identity.