Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia. A Modern Architect in the Garden-City

Abstract

In the 1950s, when the social, aesthetic and technological assumptions of the Modern Movement seemed to be consolidated, there was hesitation in Portugal. Two possibilities were open to what could be viewed as post-war understanding of modernity. Some architects focused on the possible confrontation between the heritage of tradition and avant-garde proposals, in tune with the international movement. Others assimilated the universal appeal of the Modern Movement and aimed to operate within those contexts, facing the shortage of technological tools and of scarce theoretical production. Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia (1917–2006), an important Portuguese architect, belonged to the latter.