demand greater control over the production process on the part of those who held their plan-ning” (Catani, 2006:115). In this context, the function of the technical design should solve the problems of production through the use of a uni-fied graphical language. That means the design should be represented, as clearly as possible, avoiding doubts at the time of execution of the project. In the nineteenth century, the first tech-nical rules of graphical representation of proj-ects were created, seeking a common language to facilitate communication.
As a solution for the production of architec-ture of that period, translucent paper allowed other media to be copied, and also was extremely helpful during the process of architectural de-sign, since it could be used to redesign and over-lay different design options.
In Brazil there are some public institutions that keep architectural drawings on translucent paper, including archives, foundations, universi-ties and libraries. Many of these designs have disappeared due to a lack of awareness about the documentary value that only in recent years began to exist in the country. Before, these drawings were stored without any preservation or archival methodology and simply discarded for lack of space in the institutions. A major problem for the institutions, that keep archi-tectural drawings, are their large and different dimensions, that, due to this peculiarity, are dif-ficult to handle and pack. In the specific case of translucent paper, we perceive much difficulty for conservators, because this material is very susceptible to physical and chemical changes, particularly when exposed to temperature changes, humidity and pollutant gases that ex-ist in the air. Another problem are variations in papermaking, where changes occur in their coloring, texture and flexibility. The visual dis-tinction between manufacturing methods is very difficult to diagnose, which makes conservation work even more challenging and necessary. This research focuses on collections of architectural drawings on translucent paper made between the late nineteenth century to the present day.
The objective is to present the main public insti-tutions in Brazil that keep architectural draw-ings on translucent paper and how they handle these documents. Initially, the presentation does not intend to discuss preservation methods used, but a brief evaluation of what is being done in these institutions.
Method
For gathering of information, a questionnaire was designed and sent electronically to entities registered in the International Council on Ar-chives - CONARQ. This is a collegial body, linked to the National Archives of the Ministry of Jus-tice, which aims to establish a national policy for public and private archives, as a central office of a National Archives System, overseeing the normative guidance document management and special protection for records. Later, other insti-tutions were inserted that seemed relevant to the search, such as the Faculties of Architecture.
In total, questionnaires were sent to 229 institu-tions.
The questionnaire aims to seek:
• Data from the institution;
• Characterization of the institution;
• Legal nature;
• If it is an institution of custody of translucent paper documents;
• Date of the documents;
• If there already occurs some conservation treatment;
• The treatment applied;
• Problems during treatment;
• Tips for treatments useful for conservation.
Conclusions
Research is fundamental to start a local knowl-edge of collections that keep architectural draw-ings on translucent paper in the country, having the opportunity to create greater awareness and interaction among researchers from various fields and institutions, promoting an exchange of information, beyond seeking the earned value of these documentary drawings. Their conser-vation is extremely important, as they relate to identity, action and memory of Brazilian ar-chitecture, being considered Brazilian Cultural Heritage, in addition to being used as a source for historical research of science, architecture and engineering. Preservation becomes a goal to be achieved by archivists, conservators and espe-cially historians of science.
Importantly, the research is still in progress and will be finalized in March 2013.
Notes
1 According Salvador Muñoz Viñas conser-vation is “the activity that is to take mea-sures for the fewest changes for as long as possible.”
2 In common usage, all graphical docu-ments produced by architects are usually called plans or architectural plants. In this article we will use the term architec-tural drawing as equivalent.
3 The architectural plans done manually in the twentieth century often had copies.
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Aline Abreu Migon dos Santos lilimig@hotmail.com
Rua Almirante Garnier, 77, Bloco C6, apto/ 105.
Rio Grande, Brazil CEP: 96.2012-205
Margarete Regina Freitas Gonçalves margareterfg@gmail.com
Silvana de Fátima Bojanoski silbojanoski@gmail.com