Manuel Mendes Interviews Fernando Távora. Edifícios (1988)

Abstract

The following text is an unpublished interview with Fernando Távora carried out in 1988 for Edifícios, the project of a magazine of systems, urbanism, and architecture, outlined by Eduardo Oliveira Fernandes, Alexandre Aves Costa, Manuel Mendes, and accompanied by Luís Marques, then a member of the staff of the Entity that held the title. The project was suspended by the decision of that Entity at the time of the development of Issue 1. At that time, the interview with Fernando Távora by Javier Frechilla, published in Arquitectura (COAM’s magazine, no. 261, July-August 1986), was very much present. At the time of the interview for Edifícios, Fernando Távora’s health problems, together with the inexperience of the interviewer, hindered the fluency of the discourse and the clarity of the exposition of the topics under discussion, thus diverting and suspending the ordinary course of the interview. In the transcription of the recordings, some of these moments are noted; the sign [...] records inaudible word(s) in the fixed text. (MM)

Keywords

• fernando távora
• edifícios
• cedro school
• tradition in history
• notion of modernity