The Order of Architects has condemned plans by Portimão council to expand a local childrens’ home, claiming the work will "destroy and adulterate" the original building - a classic from the noted architect António Vicente de Castro.
The Southern Regional Section of the architects' body, states that it was represented at a meeting of Portimão council on February 6th and appealed that the work should not be authorised, saying also that other heritage and preservation entities also have condemned the council's plans.
The architects say the building, constructed between 1959 and 1962, is considered by the Docomomo - the International Committee dealing with the registration and conservation of buildings erected during the Modern Movement - as, "a work of reference for Portuguese architecture's place in the world, of inestimable value and an example of the exceptional work of the architect António Vicente de Castro."
With the aim of, "defending its preservation," the Docomomo has sent a request to the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage for it to classify the building. The Directorate has yet to make a pronouncement, thus adding to the current fraught situation.
In another letter, sent last September to the Mayor of Portimão, Isilda Gomes, to the Algarve Region Coordination Commission and to the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage, the architects also expressed, "serious concerns about clandestine interventions previously carried out, as well as to the expansion project requested by the current management of the childrens’ home."
The ‘Lar da Criança’ children’s’ home building, "is a work with multiple references in the critical panorama of modern architecture in Portugal, and is considered one of the "few examples of Modern Architecture in a social building in Portimão."
The architects have offered to cooperate with the council to ensure the architectural heritage is preserved.
Lar da Criança, 1960s
