Fernando Távora e a Modernidade: Pablo Picasso, Fernando Pessoa, Le Corbusier e a Arquitectura Tradicional Portuguesa. Estudo de 3 obras: Casa de Ofir, Convento de Refóios de Lima e Casa dos 24.

Abstract

This MA dissertation is divided into three parts. The first studies the modern influences on Fernando Távora; the second part reflects on his training, his career in architecture - and consequently the importance of Portuguese spontaneous architecture - and how his idea of modernity was formed; the last chapter studies three of his works.The first chapter offers a detailed study of the life and work of the three modern influences on Távora: Pablo Picasso, Fernando Pessoa and Le Corbusier. These three creators were addressed in different ways.Pablo Picasso was probably the most difficult to study in this context, since he wrote little about himself. Of the three influences, Picasso was also the one to whom Távora made fewer references. However, a study of the literature on Picasso and direct examination of some of his works provided me with a better understanding of his hugely diverse oeuvre.The poet and writer Fernando Pessoa is explored in greater detail using his extensive written works, not just poetry - written under his own name and numerous heteronyms - but also his letters.Pessoa was of considerable importance for the rise of Portuguese modernism, in the early 20th century. For this reason, his work is explored in detail for an analysis and understanding of his connection with the ideals of Fernando Távora, as well as those of Picasso and Le Corbusier.Pessoa and Picasso are covered by a single sub-chapter, since they come from disciplines - painting and literature - outside architecture.The last sub-chapter is dedicated to Le Corbusier, who was the most common influence throughout Távora's career and in his writing, probably because he had the same profession. Le Corbusier's career is studied from his travels, to the purism movement - which reflected his desire to respond to a new reality: the machine era - and his projects after purism.The first chapter ends with a summary of all the similarities and common ideals of the three Influences and Távora himself, from cubism to purism, abstract art, to modern ideas and the importance of the past.The second chapter, Architecture, addresses Fernando Távora's training and career in architecture (from his texts O Problema da Casa Portuguesa, to his participation in CIAM, ODAM and the Survey of Portuguese Popular Architecture). Analysis of the texts O Problema da Casa Portuguesa and of the books ODAM - Organização dos Arquitectos Modernos and Arquitectura Popular em Portugal clarified the importance of popular Portuguese architecture for Távora.Popular Portuguese architecture, with the importance of identity, the dilemma of the circumstance (man, time and place), order and unity, and the modern influences - referred to above - defined Fernando Távora's architecture. He always designed for thepresent based on the past, but always thinking of the future. This was the legacy of Fernando Távora in architecture.With the understanding resulting from the first and second chapters, I studied three of his work: a holiday home in Ofir, the restoration of the monastery in Refóios do Lima and Casa dos 24 in Porto. My aim was to show how these projects reflect the issues addressed above. The projects are studied in different ways, because each one required a different approach.At Casa em Ofir, it was necessary to understand how Fernando Távora - despite having designed a totally new building - created a dialogue between modernity and the Portuguese architectural tradition. And how, in practice, he was able to explore his idea that all projects should be a single composition, as defended by Fernando Pessoa.For the restoration of the Monastery in Refóios do Lima, which was being converted into an agricultural college, it was necessary to study and understand how Távora, based on the existing building, adapted a monastery to new needs and how the new volumes that he designed achieved a dialogue with existing buildings. A study was also made of his earlier intervention at the Monastery of Santa Marinha da Costa, in Guimarães, where he was also asked to produce a restoration and extension, converting the building for new purposes.For Casa dos 24 (a project already studied in the subject History of Contemporary Architecture), it was essential to understand the history and story of the location. This analysis made it possible to understand Távora's intervention and how he preserved the memory of Casa dos 24, next to the Cathedral in Porto. Fernando Távora made use of abstraction to do this, as Picasso had in his interpretations of Velásquez's Meninas.To sum up, in all these projects Távora based his work on his modern influences and lessons from the past. He always achieved a dialogue between Portuguese tradition and modernity.