Pedro Leão Ramos Ferreira Neto
@up.pt
Architect, Reseach coordinator and Assistant lecturer (Professor Auxiliar), School of Architecture
University of Porto (FAUP)
Professor at FAUP since 2007 in the area of Architecture Communication and Photography he is responsible for the courses “Computer Architecture Aided Design” (CAAD) and “Photography of Architecture, City and Territory” (FACT). He has oriented and co-oriented several Master Thesis, PhD and curricular and professional internships. He is also the coordinator of the research group Centre for Communication and Spatial Representation (CCRE) integrated in FAUP´s R&D centre, director of the cultural association Cityscopio and the founder and editorial coordinator of scopio Editions and its open platform scopio network, which is a CCRE´s research-based editorial project focused on Documentary and Artistic Photography related with Architecture, City and Territory. He has curated several architectural photography exhibitions in Portugal and abroad, workshops and international debates and seminars around the universe of Architecture, Art and Image, being the founder and coordinator of international conferences On the Surface: Photography on Architecture, which last edition was held at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon. He is the author and editor of more than 30 books and Editorial Coordinator of Sophia peer review Journal specifically designed to address theoretical work on Architecture, Art and Image. He was the coordinator and Principal researcher (PR) of several national and international projects public funded, and he is currently the coordinator of “Visual spaces of Change” financed with 189.011,13€. He won the PRAXIS XXI, FCT 1998 fellowship and the Jens D rup E-Learning Award 2013, EUNIS as one of the coordinators of the first E-Learning Cafe in Porto.
EDUCATION
Pedro Leão Neto (Porto, Portugal, 1962) holds a Degree in Architecture at Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP, 1992), a Master’s degree in Urban Environment Planning and Design (FAUP, 1997) and a PhD in Planning and Landscape (University of Manchester, 2002). Concludes his Post-doctoral work "CONTEMPORARY VIEW ON PORTUGUESE ARCHITECTURE: DOCUMENTARY AND ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY MAPPING (FAUP, 2018).
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Keywords
Arquitectura; Arte; Imagem; Fotografia; Representação; Editorial | Architecture; Art; Image; Photography; Representation; Editorial
OBJECTIVES
The general objective of CCRE is to articulate the mobilizing potential of Architecture, Art and Image to, among other things, (re)think how the world of Image and the various tools of representation, with special incidence on Contemporary Photography, extend a practice of architecture or theory as instruments of thought and imagination, as well as allow another reading of the city space and its architecture allowing to identify and give visibility to new spaces of political action and urban intervention.
Thus, the research areas of interest to the group are, in general terms, those of Architecture, Art, and Image and, in specific terms, those of Documentary and Artistic Photography related to Architecture, City and Territory. In this context, CCRE promotes initiatives of research, communication and critical reflection in which Image is present in a significant way, integrating design, photography and other expressions and instruments capable of assisting architectural thought, practices, theory and imagination. CCRE is specifically interested in developing and disseminating works that reflect and investigate through photography - in a critical, exploratory and innovative way - the themes of architecture, city and territory, having a comprehensive understanding of architecture as a discipline capable of integrating social, economic, political and technical dimensions reflected in its practices and theoretical body.
The mission of the research group is to create a collaborative network environment using a participatory platform (AAi2 Lab) capable of supporting various research and studies containing various types of information that enables communicating various content related to Art, Architecture, Urban Planning and the way people live, understand and transform their city, connecting various departments and university research centers with public institutions and the public in general.
In this line of thought, we understand the AAi2 Lab as an extension of the group itself, i.e., a more experimental extension, for that very reason laboratory and inspired in broad conceptions of creativity and innovation as driving forces of processes of social and institutional co-evolution. AAI2Lab, in close articulation with the curricular units of FACT and CAAD, intends to offer to the students of MIARQ (and also of PDA) a significant starting point regarding paradigms and methods of investigation, through the realization of workshops, debates, conferences and other actions of knowledge sharing, that stimulate the dialogue of students and researchers with other professionals, of diverse institutions/organizations and disciplinary fields, articulating the academic formation, the professional practice and the scientific investigation.
CCRE is, in this context, an open research group, with an extension AAi2 Lab, and capable of integrating several studies and works through its different sites and platforms, and which aims to gain the interest and collaboration of different people and research, from various institutions and fields of study where are located several projects as well as various actions related to them and often establishing a bridge with teaching: Master Classes, Workshops, Conferences, Debates, Open Classes with guest teachers from other disciplinary areas of the U. Porto and outside the academy, Exhibitions, development of the scopio Editions with various publications and scientific articles, among others.
FUTURE PROJECTS
AAi2 Lab+
The AAi2Lab+ project is inspired by broad conceptions of creativity and innovation as inducing forces of social and institutional co-evolution, of exploring the potential of documentary and of artistic photography and mapping, combined with qualitative and quantitative approaches, for making imaginative questions on space appropriation, urban perception and socio-cultural diversity, as well as for addressing transversal problems within interdisciplinary debates on Architecture, City and Territory.
Applications Invited
Institutional partners for supporting the network
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Pedro Leão Neto and Jorge Canastra Marum
redfundamentos SL
P. Neto
Acknowledging the long history of mutual interference between Architecture and Photography, their complex and ubiquitous relationship, and understanding Photography as a relevant artistic and critical research tool, Inaki Bergera s work offers new light over these matters. Photography and Modern Architecture in Spain fosters a renewed under - standing of Spanish architecture from the modern period, compiling and structuring all the information that was somehow scattered or lost, speaking about the photographers that were creating images of those modern buildings and the architects to which they were associated with. New American Topographics is an astonishing photography book reinterpreting the visual discourse of the New Topographic aesthetics and bringing them to contemporary time.
Pedro Leão Neto
Informa UK Limited
The digital revolution is influencing and changing working habits in various fields and changing society in general. When communicating design, the digital representation of space, especially the computer visualization medium, represents a clear improvement in relation to what was achieved with only the use of conventional representation methods. Nevertheless, for effective communication to take place the digital representation of space and computer visualization must be used carefully and sensibly so that their potential is not undermined. The results of the Ribeira study showed, among other things, that when communicating new designs both to specialists and lay people, both realistic and abstract representations should be used. Nevertheless, to achieve effective communication, special care must be taken to avoid form taking precedence over content. It was confirmed that the context wherein communication takes place is as important as the representation methods and media which are used. In addition, the whole design process should imply several types of meetings, where various forms of communication support-digital and non-digital-should be used, i.e. virtual Internet-based communication and non-virtual public meetings. Finally, it was concluded that the communication of architecture and urban design aimed at the public should not be just a matter of the appearance of the built environment. Effective communication has to include other issues apart from aspects to do with built form and its realistic representation, and should be a good balance between "image" and "content".
Pedro Leão Neto
Informa UK Limited
Different representation methods show or describe different aspects of the place or the urban object being “modelled”. The two ways of perceiving and representing space—central projection and perspective or scale models—have been evolving since the first cities/settlements took place long ago in Asia. This article points out how different societies, schools of thought, or individual creators have preferred or emphasized the use of a certain type(s) of representation method to communicate architecture or urban design. It then acknowledges the potentialities and imitations of traditional representation methods, the digital platform and computer visualization for communicating design, especially to the general public. Among other things, the article concludes that the potential of computers for creating engaging mediated environments that simulate design have to be used in a balanced way in order to achieve effective design communication, especially with the general public. This is so because computer visualization and imagery can catch the attention of the viewers, making them more interested in the narrative and engaged with the visual elements, but does not necessarily enhance their critical awareness. This is to say, among other things, that design communication should not be just a matter of the appearance of the built environment. Finally, the article presents a set of guidelines that may help in deciding when and how to use different representation methods and techniques for visualizing images more effectively when communicating design to the general public.
Pedro Leão Neto
SAGE Publications
State-of-the-art computer technology has improved the integration of different types of representations and data and has provided new possibilities for manipulating results. Consequently, the use of computers has been widespread in urban design and the planning process. The potential that computer virtual environments brought for describing future developments to the public at large is enormous. Nevertheless, when imagery and realism dominate the communication process, they may obscure important issues that relate more to the underlying logic of urban design fabric. A sample of 23 university students from nonarchitecture courses and a sample of 23 students from architecture (contrasted group design) were used for analysing differences in their evaluation on form and content of a video presentation concerning an urban design project in Lisbon. The urban design project was focused on an important avenue of the city—Avenida da Liberdade. Several representation methods and different techniques for viewing images were used on video presentation: photography, colour film, 3D-rendered model with animation, plans, and photomontage. The results highlighted the power that imagery and realistic computer models have, when used in an unbalanced way, for overshadowing differences between subjects. This is because at the end of the questionnaire both groups had a positive opinion about the urban design project, but significant differences were found in relation to their evaluation and understanding of both content and form of video presentation.