My visual story is a set of photos taken by me during a visit to Matinha’s gasometers that was part of this year’s edition of Open House Lisboa. These gasometers were part of a gas production plant opened in 1944 and located in the Eastern side of Lisbon.

Due to technological advancements and the city’s expansion, the factory was no longer necessary and was closed in 2001. Since then most of the factory has been demolished, but the 4 gasometers still stand in place, like monuments to the industrial past of this zone of the city.

However, this will soon change, since the massive plot of land where the factory once stood is about to be redeveloped, after more that two decades of abandonment and degradation, into a new residential district that will bring a new life to this zone of the city. The gasometers, once a symbol of the pollution, noise and smells that characterised the zone, will be integrated into the new district, becoming a symbol of the bright future ahead for this part of the city.