Portugal North

The prospecting trip through Braga, Coimbra, Aveiro and Porto will take place in December 2024. More info to follow…

But in the meantime this fascinating introduction by Marc Dubois for dbnl in 1991, excerpt p133-134.
‘Most authors point out the important role of architectural education. ‘The School of Porto’ should therefore be taken literally. From 1950, under the directorship of architect Carlos Ramos, the architecture institute there is no longer an isolated island. Ramos makes the school an important platform for the formation, debate and dissemination of architecture, an institute with a direct relationship to the social and cultural reality of the city.
Education in Porto can be described as ‘classical’, where a direct relationship and transmission between teacher and student remains central. The interconnectedness between the architects is largely determined by the chosen teaching approach. Within the team of teachers, architect Fernando Tavora in particular laid the foundations of a new design idea from the 1950s onwards. With his approach, he influenced several generations of designers. His most gifted pupil is architect Alvaro Siza.
Tavora’s approach has affinities with that of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Architecture is not seen as a linear process from analysis to synthesis but as a continuous process. Tavora also manages to visualise this approach in his realisations. Manuel Mendes summarises some characteristics of the work of Tavora and other architects in Porto as follows: an integrative interpretation of the values of spontaneous architecture, an understanding of the environment and the city, a human dimension of space, care in the execution of the project, an interpretation of history, a revision of the tradition of the modern and the development of its own poetics.

Undoubtedly, Alvaro Siza’s oeuvre is the finest crystallisation of this. Although Tavora is the central figure within the ‘School of Porto’, his oeuvre hardly enjoys any fame abroad. One of his biggest and most fascinating projects is the restoration of and extension to the impressive Santa Marinha monastery complex in Guimaraes (1972-1985). The way Tavora transformed this monastery into a pousada (Portuguese government hotel) shows a subtle interpretation of the site and its historical heritage.
Architect Alcino Soutinho is a contemporary and friend of Siza’s. His most important realisation is the city hall of Matosinhos (1980-87), a suburb of Porto. Although the building has a strong monumentality, its incorporation into the site is done correctly.
One of Alvaro Siza’s most talented pupils is the young architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. His first work, which also attracted the attention of the international trade press, is an indoor market square in Braga (1980). A long, simple structure brings some order and direction to the chaotic nature of the site. Using minimalist means, he gives the building great expressiveness without compromising on functionality. Minimalism also characterises his recent projects and realisations. The cultural centre S.E.C. in Porto, set in a garden with a neo-classical house, is the finest example of this. To keep the garden as large as possible, Souto de Moura placed the centre against the garden wall. Its architectural simplicity also makes the building disappear into the garden. His work radiates a great admiration for the oeuvre of architect Mies van der Rohe. With a subtle refinement in every detail, he manages to evoke a poetic power. This extreme mastery of detail and use of materials can also be found in his houses. He confronts the fragility of glass and plaster with large, rough blocks of natural stone. The fundamental act of building, placing building blocks on top of each other, is brought into tension with a technological use of new materials. Here, the boundary between nature and culture is concretised in an elementary way.

Besides Siza and the three designers mentioned above, other architects working mainly in and around Porto can be mentioned: Pedro Ramalho, Adelberto Dias, Alves Costa, Antonio Corte-Real and the studio Gigante-Melo-Real.’

register