Moinho Recife – Urban resilience, retrofit and pathological manifestations

Abstract

This article describes the transformation of an old wheat flour factory, located in the center of the city of Recife – Pernambuco, into a multi-use corporate and residential complex called Edifício Moinho Recife Business & Life, thus becoming a symbol of urban resilience. The Moinho Recife Business & Life reuses the factory structure, maintaining some of the original characteristics. Through this article, in addition to the history of the old factory and the architectural design of the retrofit project, the pathological manifestations found in the building will be described. Documents and photographic collections were analyzed from inspections carried out at the old factory and the architectural design of the mill building. It was concluded that urban resilience is important for the sustainable development of cities and that, through the retrofit process, even with high degradation, old buildings can be recovered, and their historical context, preserved.