Tomas Taveira (Architectural Monographs No 37)

This monograph includes an extensive number of projects, spanning Taveira's diverse career: from his early concrete-prefabricated social housing in the periphery of Lisbon to his gradual rejection of 'puritanism'; embracing colour and diversity, influenced by film and the light particular to the Algarve. This monograph details projects such as the Balaia Hotel and the Albufeira bungalows; the 'Pop' buildings of the Record Shop at Cascais; the High Tech Don Carlos Building, altered from its original plan due to the seventies' economic slump; the Olaias complex extended in the Amoreiras 'city' - 'the place to be in Lisbon'. In addition to his architectural work for banks and government buildings, Taveira moved into the mass media, designing sets for both stage and television. This popularity and acute awareness of the need for diversity is typical of Taveira's thought and constant flux; perhaps epitomised by the fact that he can also subdue his humour for the 'serious' National Assembly Palace in Lisbon while also subverting established views of buildings such as the Penitentiary in Dordrecht, which mirrors the attempts of the Dutch to radically alter the idea of imprisonment.An essay by Geoffrey Broadbent reviews aspects of Taveira's oeuvre, revealing various influences on the architect from the poetry of Portugal's leading poet, Herberto Helder to the films of Visconti and Wim Wenders. Taveira's vigorous use of colour and detail is examined and, above all, the context; set within a Pluralist Post-Modernism. A concise essay is included by Taveira himself in which he addresses the importance of historicism in architecture, while also emphasising the importance of future concerns; something which Taveira considers to have been neglected.