The Production of the Black Agglomerate at the Robinson Factory: contributions for the History of a Landmark Building

Abstract

The present article has as its principal objective the analysis of the Robinson Factory’s physical evolution, especially of the building that produced the black agglomerate, one of the most emblematic products of this company. We talk about the factory’s most imposing and important building, where we can find the famous chimneys that mark the Portalegre landscape. This building witnessed several changes over the more than 160 year that the cork factory operated. In a first phase, the factory was used to produce the cork stoppers, until the 1940’s when they started to produce the black agglomerate. In industrial architecture, everything has a reason to exist, a specific function and objectives, so it is important to understand the way the space was organized and how it influenced the production line. In an analysis like the one we intend here, we cannot neglect the product itself, in this case, the black agglomerate. We must understand the way production was articulated within the building itself.