VIANA DE LIMA
VIANA DE LIMA
Alfredo Evangelista Viana de Lima
Esposende - August 18, 1913
Porto - December 27, 1991
Viana de Lima was the only child of Alfredo Viana de Lima, a primary school teacher, and Joaquina de Campos Evangelista de Lima. In 1929, he enrolled in the Architecture course at the School of Fine Arts of Porto. In 1936, Viana de Lima began working at the Directorate-General for National Buildings and Monuments. He completed his degree at the School of Fine Arts of Porto (ESBAP) with a final grade of 19 out of 20 (1929/41). He was a founding member of the Organization of Modern Architects (ODAM) from 1947 to 1952. In 1947, he was invited to be a correspondent for the French magazine “Technique et Architecture,” where some of his works were published. He participated in the 1st National Congress of Architecture (SNA) in 1948. During the fifties, he led the Portuguese group at CIAM (1950/59), participating in events in England (1951), Aix-en-Provence, France (1953), Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (1956), and Otterlo, Netherlands (1959). In 1959, he began the project for the Bragança Hospital Complex and was invited to participate in the World Design Conference. In the sixties, he designed the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto. In 1961, he received the Grand Prize of Architecture at the second Exhibition of Plastic Arts of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. During the sixties, he acted as a consultant in various municipalities, including Bragança, Valença, Monção, Vila Verde, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Mirandela, Vila da Feira, Porto, Batalha, and Esposende. He was invited by Architect Carlos Ramos to teach at the School of Fine Arts of Porto. In 1965, he joined the Organizing Committee for Art and Architecture Exhibitions for the celebrations of the IV Centenary of Rio de Janeiro. He collaborated with Architect Oscar Niemeyer on two projects, one for Vila do Bispo, Pena Furada, and another for Madeira, in Funchal. In 1968, he was a consultant for UNESCO and was sent to Brazil, Ouro Preto, to carry out the master plan. In 1969, he was invited to be a member of the International Association Le Corbusier, in Switzerland. During the seventies, at the invitation of UNESCO, he taught in Brazil on restoration, preservation, and revitalization of historic centers in São Luís and Alcântara, in the state of Maranhão, Laranjeiras and São Cristóvão, in the state of Sergipe, Marechal Deodoro and Penedo, in the state of Alagoas. In 1971, he received the Medal of Honor from the city of Ouro Preto, Brazil. In 1974, he was appointed by UNESCO to deal with heritage issues, teaching at the University of São Paulo and later, in 1976, at the Federal University of Recife. In 1975, he was president of the National Commission for the European Heritage Year, representing Portugal. From
1977 to 1991, he was a consultant for the Urban Renewal Commission of the Ribeira/Barredo Area (CRUARB), in Porto. He chaired the Organizing Committee of the Institute for the Safeguarding of Cultural and Natural Heritage in Portugal, which later became the Portuguese Institute of Cultural Heritage (IPPC), from 1977 to 1980. He represented the Portuguese state in Granada at the Council of Europe’s work. In 1978, he was deputy head of the Portuguese delegation to the UNESCO meeting held in Lisbon on preserving movable cultural heritage. He participated in the Council of Europe meeting on Historic Centers in Ferrara, Italy. In Munich, Germany, he directed and contributed to the presentation of the work carried out at CRUARB, the historic center of Porto. During the eighties, he carried out projects in Brazil, Malaysia, Morocco, Mozambique, and Thailand. In 1981, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he developed a heritage safeguard plan for the Island of Mozambique. In 1983, he joined the School of Fine Arts of Lisbon as a professor and Advisor to the Technical University of Lisbon. In the same year, he studied and designed safeguard measures for the Fort of Prince of Beira, in Rondônia, Brazil, on a mission from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In 1984, he delivered the inaugural conference of the 1st Luso-Brazilian Heritage Congress and chaired the II Congress of the Portuguese Architects Association. In 1984 and 1985, he was a consultant to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for preserving and regenerating the Ruins of the Church of São Paulo and the Porta de Santiago in the former Fortress of Malacca, Malaysia.
PAULO GUERREIRO
Graduated in architecture with a focus on restoration, a master’s degree in urban environment planning and design, and a doctorate in architecture, focusing on the influence of the Modern Movement of Portuguese Architecture. After completing his architecture degree in 1991, he joined the Municipality of Viana do Castelo as a senior technician, carrying out various activities in the field of urban management and design. He later transferred to the Municipality of Esposende, where he coordinated the urban planning division, produced planning works and museology projects, conducted and produced exhibitions as well as their respective catalogs. Additionally, since 1998, he has been a lecturer in the architecture program at the Gallaecia Higher School, in Vila Nova de Cerveira. In 2021, he joined the Portucalense University, teaching various disciplines and supervising theses and other scientific works. His professional activity as an architect has encompassed architecture works, exhibitions, and publications from 1991 to 2024.
LB 20
VIANA
DE LIMA casa das marinhas, is the twentieth title from LONG BOOKS COLLECTION.
Whose Look
Whose gaze is it
That peer through my eyes?
When I think I see,
Who continues seeing
While I am thinking?
By what paths do they follow,
Not my sad steps,
But the reality
Of having steps with me?
Sometimes, in the twilight
Of my room, when I
Hardly exist
To myself,
The Universe takes on
Another meaning in me — It is a faint stain
Of being aware of
My idea of things. (...)
Fernando Pessoa, in “Cancioneiro”
De Quem é o Olhar
De quem é o olhar
Que espreita por meus olhos?
Quando penso que vejo, Quem continua vendo
Enquanto estou pensando?
Por que caminhos seguem, Não os meus tristes passos, Mas a realidade
De eu ter passos comigo?
Às vezes, na penumbra
Do meu quarto, quando eu
Por mim próprio mesmo
Em alma mal existo,
Toma um outro sentido
Em mim o Universo — É uma nódoa esbatida
De eu ser consciente sobre
Minha ideia das coisas. (…)
Fernando Pessoa, in “Cancioneiro”
(Original poem written in portuguese)
LIVING THE HOUSE
The Casa das Marinhas (1954-57) corresponds to what Viana de Lima would designate as “the manor of modern times.”
What does this house communicate to us, what does its iconicity evoke? Is it the image of the traditional mill that portrays the construction, or is it the legacy of the retreat dwelling? Or is it the contemporary fusion of this heritage in the current museum house?
Architect Viana de Lima’s family refuge project, VL, currently operates at the intersection of these three distinct images that ascend to the observer’s imagination. The primary structure of the mill, the reflection of an intimate character resulting from the architect’s action, and the contemporary reflection, a consequence of the unfolding of a chronicle that turned the house into a public facility. At the turn of the century, this new perspective reconfigures the architect’s sense, subordinating today the unified achievements.
Under its brilliance, the private house is transformed into a museum. It is not possible to contain the property in the sphere of the private phenomenon because it possesses exclusive energy that is also not indifferent to the common citizen. From this perspective, the house transitions into the public domain as a sign of plurality, disguised as heritage by imposition to save it from collapse and ashes. The new heritage guise brings together a set of indivisible principles that cannot be isolated because they belong to a unified whole. The good cannot be separated from the values it carries. The scale of affectation of these values is variable, and they merge, generating such good, heritage. By force of law, classification condenses the collective of public factors, since individual judgment does not generate consensus, which could weaken the good.
The house, with its own identity, reflects VL’s past, both as an architect and as an inhabitant. In this property, we encounter social, cultural, economic, political criteria, etc., as a personal mark. This result is a consequence of academic training, family education, a significant period of history transitioning between the Monarchy/Republic/New State/ Democracy passages, and still a reflection of a specific period in the chronology of national and international architecture, being a “reliquary” of the underlying principles. The house shows VL’s experience and identifies singularities, functioning as an explanatory synopsis of his thinking. Thus, the conditions are met for the valorization of the house as a museum.
From a real perspective, VL’s house is confined to the territory of the Marinhas, belonging to a figure of architectural relevance, besides having been created, conceived, and designed by himself, introducing particularities. In the residence, we encounter the positivist modernity of a figure who participates in the construction of that same phenomenon. This house is a diffuser focus of Viana de Lima’s work, displaying the compositional lexicon of the Portuguese architecture of the fifties: the models, the interpretation of materials, their formal composition, and intrinsic functions. The underlying principles result in Spartan functionalism, in the purification of rational contents of straight lines and angles, the truth and essence of matter, and the meaning of natural elements in the composition of the object. The vocabulary of the house remains tied to VL, just as he is tied to Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, or Charles Eames, among others, but always committed to his time. This succession, this chaining of moorings and collages reflects methods, original readings of a time, turning the house into a unique portion.
The museum house encapsulates a significance, a dialogue from the connection between the built, the owner-author-inhabitant, the space, and the collection of existing fragments with peculiar meaning. We observe a dwelling where the user’s memory is reflected in objects: the house is a container of personal memories. Immersed in space, the imagery is only conditioned by the vigilant in dialogue with the whole.
The house can thus be observed from colorful points of view, depending on the observer and their intrinsic contents. There we encounter personal household objects of genuine interest, where space is filled with pieces from different periods, such as magazines, newspapers, books, some notes, correspondence, etc., which build a set of biographical values that are mirrored in the works that the architect produced.
Inside, a collection of peculiar objects transports us to a surprising world of international design. Resonant denominations like Michael Thonet, Joseph Beverley Fenby, Jean Boris Lacroix, Isamu Noguchi, or Charles Eames are models, works that transcend the borders of the Pyrenees and the Atlantic. VL’s interest in other areas of artistic knowledge is evident in these pieces. Other artistic references at the level of engraving, drawing, ceramics, or author sculpture, such as sculptor José Rodrigues, are present in the house. The contextualizations of the furniture pieces designed by VL, associated with the set of personal objects, produce a sum of information that, as a whole, easily leads to the concept of museology principles.
The outside
Crossing the limits of the property perimeter, near the edge, more to the South/West, we start the primary steps on a granite and peebles pavement, mimicking the old agricultural paths of the surrounding area. This confrontation is escorted by reserved poplars and metrosideros that filter and guide the viewpoint, in a mating of light and shadow, assisted by the wind. On the opposite side, we glide the look at the tip of the granite/ quartzite blade watching, the half asleep, but which exposes and tears the garden. The neutral outcrop marks continuation, towards the North, devaluing the sculptural presence before the vegetal cover. This natural element could be disregarded if the house did not exist, but seasonality introduces a cyclical garb. And, four times a year, like a fashion show, the parade is scheduled and starts in each season with floating dates, generating different hues and particular interactions from secret admirers.
Everything could be devalued if we did not witness this peaceful bustle of transformations. The alternation, the secret collaborators, the cooperatives, or even the infrared participate in a continuous mission to guarantee their periodic functions, examples of green and lush leaves transmute into a comfortable and intense brown.
The seasonal dynamic is signed by the nuanced tones of green, to the primary of yellow, passing through violet, saffron, and red poppy. At the invitation of autumn, mushrooms annually make an appearance. In the interstices, among other species, the endless lines of ants and spiders with their works of art, for over a hundred million years, in an exercise of survival circulate. Butterflies wander and paint the air with bold movements, competing with busy bees. Birds busy themselves interrupting the silence, filling the air with isolated melodies of small spring concerts.
Returning to the purpose, on the entrance route to the outer domains of the house, we continue trying to see. The magic or perhaps the formula produced by the manipulation
of the gaze begins with a collaborative effect in the design of the carpet, supported by the outline of the circumference rope. This transitions between two differentiated levels, sustaining the “promenade,” affirming the object of architecture.
Suddenly, a ruling sign appears, an attribute, like the tuning fork, the tuner of the instrument, the melody, the La Mi Ré - the modulor. The sound lingers in the air and here is the object: the collision occurs; the collision; the blow; the impact; nothing extraordinary, but it’s incomprehensible; the sounds shoot in multiple directions, everything flows at once, the sound, the tone is deafening, and we become embarrassed. We need to step back; it’s slowly awakening.
The consequence of the level difference and the presence of the mill cylinder imposes itself, gaining dynamic prominence in the foreground. The reflection of white, from the cylinder, sidelines the other elements. The interplay of concave and convex lines, of positive and negative, invites entry.
However, curiosity pushes towards the wind and the wandering of vegetation, as if provoking, attracting, the peculiarity of the iron pillar and arousing curiosity. At this moment, it initiates the recognition of the formal composition verbs of the house, following the path of solemn vocabulary. VL combines and introduces a harmonic tune, achieving a stable ensemble, in a unified volume without discord among the parts. It is possible to identify the solids separately on the exterior and the services the spaces perform inside, coexisting with the configurations, in a fruitful interlocution, sublimating the form/function of modernism.
The cardinal points are the collaborative ingredient that regulates the solid and draws the elevations. The recreation and alternation of openings introduce light, dosing, and adjusting actions in the interior spaces. The rotation of the early sun awakens the bedrooms and rests at the end of the day in the common areas.
The product of exterior/interior transition spaces: to the East, the extension of a horizontally oriented element (wall, window, and table); to the West, the zone of the exterior/interior trajectory results in a vertical effect, marked by the iron profile and the exposed granite; to the South, it embraces the visitor, intertwined in the movements of the arches generated by the old mill, the open/closed space.
Textures, skin, or surfaces reinforce the volumes, accentuating or diluting the planes. Granite absorbs light. White-painted plaster emphasizes the parts of the mass, unified and of uniform color. The colors of the openings project sensations, proportions, from the exotic orange, of recreation and sociability, to the confident blues, of distant and harmonious effect. White represents goodness and perfection. Therefore, color participates in orchestrating the musicality of the house’s perception.
The inside
The flavor, the taste, as the character of the interior is a whole, integrating scaled spaces governed by balance and in the ‘promenade’ of movement. The verbs of comfort, shelter, and refuge express and reinforce actions like the sensations of the imagetic construction, in contemplating the epidermis of the house’s spaces. The old mill, a truncated cone piece, the reception, functions like the plastic cylinder of modernist illusion. The dynamic space announces the curve that wanders through the interior; light
CASA DAS MARINHAS ESPOSENDE, PORTUGAL 1954-1957
Viana de Lima’s work, particularly during the period from the late 1930s to the 1950s, places a strong emphasis on domestic space. During this time, there was a favorable socioeconomic structure, with a more receptive bourgeois class to external fashion trends and easier access to information. Hence, the triangulation of influences contributed to the commissioning of villas under the influence of the dominant modernism of media and specialized publications in Europe and the Americas. The message of modernism is biunivocal, meaning it reaches both architects and clients who mutually influence each other.
The restoration of the Marinhas mill can be understood within the concepts of restoration by Camillo Boito, Gustavo Giovannoni, or Cesare Brandi. The formalization of the mill, converted into a new domestic use, does not erase the iconic phenomenon of the past but now participates as a stylistic unit of agglomeration of forms. These forms release images of a continuous sum of sensations from inside and outside, typical of modernism, within the principles of restoration as understood at the time.
On January 5, 1993, approximately two years after the Master’s death, an article titled “The Architect and the Friend” by sculptor José Rodrigues was published in the Jornal de Letras. According to this nationally and internationally recognized visual artist, Viana de Lima would say to him:
“You know, Zé, architecture is not just the outside part; you have to walk inside, go through it.
You know, sometimes, a ray of light breaking through a crack and turning into shadow can also be architecture.
He would put his hand on my shoulder and show me, ‘See that window? The outside and inside can be one thing...’ and he would keep walking...
Then came the adventure of raising (recovering, as he liked to say) a ruin...”
Later, Jacinto Rodrigues, then a Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of Porto, in an interview with the Jornal de Notícias on November 13, 1996, described Viana de Lima as a remarkable pedagogue and master who brought a new aesthetic contribution and innovative methodology to the School of Fine Arts, based on the pedagogy of the Bauhaus: “Architect Viana de Lima did not seek to make archaeological reconstruction of buildings; rather, he reused them in a contemporary line,
giving them a new historical vocation.” This image of Viana de Lima’s ideology sensed by the sociologist can be a beginning to understanding the Casa das Marinhas, VL.
These two testimonies about Master Viana point in the same direction, that of architecture reflected in his Casa das Marinhas. The effect of architectural ‘promenade,’ of trajectory, of its meaning, of the whole united, of the outside and inside merging “into one thing.”
The Casa das Marinhas is a building classified as a Public Interest Monument since 2012, according to Decree No. 740-FA/2012, Diário da República. It is a member of the Iconic Houses Network and is registered with the International DOCOMOMO Foundation.
PAULO GUERREIRO
FEATURED WORK
CASA DAS MARINHAS
ESPOSENDE, PORTUGAL 1954 - 1957
Area 1300 sqm
1st floor - 44 sqm
Ground floor - 56,4 sqm
Images © Pedro Cardigo
PUBLICATION
DATA INFORMATION
COLLECTION AMAG LONG BOOKS
VOLUME
Long Book 20
TITLE
Viana de Lima
Casa das Marinhas
ISBN
978-989-35617-6-8
PUBLICATION DATE
2024 April
EDITOR AND GENERAL MANAGER
Ana Leal
COLLECTION CONCEPT
Tomás Lobo
EDITORIAL TEAM
Ana Leal, architect
Filipa Ferreira, designer
Inês Rompante, designer
João Soares, architect
PRINTING
LusoImpress
LEGAL
DEPOSIT
480255/21
RUN
NUMBER
1000 numered copies
PUBLISHER AND OWNER AMAG publisher
VAT NUMBER
513 818 367
CONTACTS
hello@amagpublisher.com
www.amagpublisher.com
Other titles about this collection:
LB 01 DAVID ADJAYE mole house
LB 02 NICHOLAS BRUNS guimarães chapel
LB 03 DAVID ADJAYE the webster
LB 04 CARVALHO ARAÚJO casa na caniçada
LB 05 ANDRÉ CAMPOS | JOANA MENDES centro coordenador de transportes
LB 06 ANDRÉ CAMPOS | JOANA MENDES PEDRO GUEDES DE OLIVEIRA
fábrica em barcelos
LB 07 DAVID ADJAYE winter park library & events center
LB 08 DAVID ADJAYE 130 william tower
LB 09 BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS community hall laufenburg
LB 10 BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS school pfeffingen
LB 11 BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS double kindergarten rüti
LB 12 BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS school aarwangen
LB 13 BRANDENBERGER KLOTER ARCHITECTS school birrwil
LB 14 ANGELO CANDALEPAS the castle
LB 15 PAUL MURDOCH ARCHITECTS flight 93 national memorial
LB 16 ÁLVARO SIZA monte da lapa volume l
LB 17 SO – IL amant
LB 18 AFF spore initiative
LB 19 LYNCH n2
AMAG LONG BOOKS COLLECTION brings together a unique selection of projects that establish new paradigms in architecture.
With a contemporary and timeless conceptual graphic language, the 1000 numbered copies of each LONG BOOK will document works with different scales and formal contexts that extend the boundaries of architectural expression.