Originally published in English under the title Algarve building: modernism, regionalism, and Architecture in the South of Portugal, 1925-1965 (Routledge, 2016), this book has now been translated into Portuguese by Dafne. Algarve building resulted from the PhD dissertation conducted by Ricardo da Costa Agarez (b. 1972) – architect, architectural historian, and principal researcher at ISCTE – at University College London (The Bartlett School of Architecture), which was awarded the RIBA President’s Award for Research in 2013.

In the words of the Publisher, this book “which challenges the conventional inclusion of modern Portuguese architecture in the narratives of ‘Critical Regionalism’, is a detailed reconstruction of the debates and cultures at stake and presents the background that characterized the much-celebrated turn towards the regional. Lesser-known architects and a cast of other agents (clients, administration, engineers, and builders) contributed to the maturing of a regional line of modern architecture that, rather than being the heroic result of a tough ‘battle’ undertaken by architects committed to fighting a conservative regime, was truly popular in the Algarve”.

As part of the visual documentation of Ricardo Agarez’s object of study consists of photographic images from the collections Estúdio Mário Novais and Estúdio Horácio Novais, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Art Library is associated with Dafne Editora for the presentation of the book in Lisbon.

The presentation will be attended by the author, the head of Dafne Editora, the architect André Tavares, and the architect Teresa Valente.