Design and maintenance of a long-span timber roof

Abstract

The historical Citadel of Almeida is located in the northeast part of Portugal, near the Spanish border and close to the town of Ciudad Rodrigo. This geographical location makes this region the natural entrance gate of invading armies to access the heart of Portugal and trying to reach the capital town of Lisbon. Therefore, the Portuguese border region has several military fortresses and, probably, the most unique one is twelve-point granite star of Almeida. Under a EU program to re-vitalize historical villages, the horse-riding school building (the manège) restoration project received the largest financing grant, in Phase 1, reaching 2.25 m Euro. Due to the lack of business investments, the hinterland Portuguese regions have shown during the past three decades a continuous population decrease and a migratory flux into the coastal regions, or even to other countries. The main purpose of this EU program is to help attracting new residents to these interior regions and to maintain the current residents in their locals with adequate business activities. The rehabilitation of several historical landmarks helps to provide a local sense of identity and improved living conditions by installing better infrastructures (electrical power, water supply and sewage treatment plants, telecommunication systems). Within these general program objectives, the leisure activities are one of the best “attractors” for tourism. The rehabilitation of the Almeida manège is integrated into the combination of three major guidelines: (a) historical heritage; (b) tourism and economy; and, (c) leisure activities. The designer rehabilitation criteria was: (1) to use a traditional timber solution, e.g., a scissor’s type truss; (2) to use improved joint connections, e.g., split rings; (3) to carefully detail steel supports and connections; and, (4) to innovate as required by the architectural functional program. After more than sixteen years under continuous use, the manège ensemble built in the Citadel of Almeida with extensive use of timber material can still be considered both an aesthetically sound, cultural enriching, and economically feasible rehabilitation solution to be enjoyed by all kinds of visitors.