ABSTRACT

The industrial, architectural space arouses interest and intrigues for its atypical connotation. This interest is partly due to the comfortable constructive rigour that an industrial building must respect to perform the functions that the machinery has imposed over the time. When the machines give their space, due to obsolescence or degradation of the building, this space begins a relationship with the “void”.

The action of the re-appropriation of spaces follows an even more universal law—the law of vacuum: What was once full, if it becomes empty, soon something else takes its place because nature abhors vacuum.

The concept of work and creativity is associated with the idea of industrial space. The present text aims to briefly analyse the evolution of the concept of work related to an industrial area, which will lead us to the analysis of some examples of the redevelopment of industrial spaces in Lisbon: Lx Factory and Manutenção Militar.

After a brief excursus on the history of the construction of the two industrial complexes mentioned above, we will question the correctness and coherence of some choices made. Furthermore, we will ask ourselves whether we can talk about modernising the identity of industrial-productive work 1 .