ABSTRACT
Contemporary societies have multiple forms of inter-relation between space and culture which are re-signified in the context of the recent and rapid changes occurring in the technological, economic and social spheres. This context sheds light onto the following question: how do museums and cultural facilities, in their material and symbolic dimensions, unfold dynamics and vicissitudes of such process in local e global levels? This is the core question that guides a research project, conducted by a group of Brazilian and Portuguese researchers, based on a comprehensive approach, embedded on interdisciplinary knowledge yielded by Architecture and Urban Planning and by Social Science. This article presents the first results of a field research conducted in cultural centers located in Lisbon (Portugal) and Brasilia (Brazil). In both cities, the cultural facilities that were chosen as the scope of the research, where a variety of significant cultural events are staged, sometimes are similar and sometimes are different as they highlight social, economic and technological changes through the cultural objects they shelter and exhibit, as well as their own architecture.
