ABSTRACT
The findings here result from the research done within the PTBUILDS19_20 project, which aims to set up a digital knowledge platform to map Portuguese construction history during the 19th and 20th centuries. An overview is presented on the public works produced by the 13 most important construction companies in Portugal during the Estado Novo period. Around 364 infrastructures are studied, with discussion of their typological distribution, location and chronological relation to individual actors (firm founders, engineers and architects), other collective actors (other companies, public institutions, materials producers and vendors), political events and economic cycles. The comparative study of building techniques and structural solutions used in each infrastructure typology is approached by identifying different technological periods for each infrastructure typology. The paper concludes that the study of construction companies is an important task since there is an important historiographical gap to be bridged in the study of the 20th century construction industry in Portugal.
