Note of Sorrow | Nuno Portas

Nuno Portas was a singular figure in contemporary Portuguese culture, with an intellectual stature that goes beyond even the immense significance of his career in architecture, urbanism, and spatial planning. He was born in Vila Viçosa in 1934, studied at the School of Fine Arts in Lisbon, but graduated in architecture from the School of Fine Arts in Porto, between 1958 and 1960. He returned to Lisbon to teach as Associate Professor from 1965 to 1971, and concluded his academic career as Full Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto. At that time, he taught Contemporary Urban Theory and History. From 1965 until his retirement, he also lectured at European and Latin American universities.

In addition to his academic career, he was a researcher at LNEC (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering) between 1963 and 1985, a film critic, and recipient of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Art Criticism Award in 1965. Between 1980 and 1983, he coordinated Intermunicipal Planning for the Madrid Metropolitan Area. He also served as an urban planning consultant for the Municipality of Guimarães and for several other municipalities in both Portugal and Spain.

In 1969, he was the Rapporteur and key driving force behind the Colloquium on Housing Policy held at LNEC, which laid the foundations for a housing strategy to address the severe crisis unfolding at the time.

He served as Secretary of State for Housing and Urbanism in the first three provisional governments of democratic Portugal. During that period, he launched the SAAL process (Local Ambulatory Support Service), which tackled the housing crisis during a particularly difficult time and brought hope and housing to hundreds of low-income families.

In 1989, when the University of Coimbra decided to relaunch its Architecture programme and invited the newly established Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto to assist in this endeavour, Nuno Portas took part in the initial debates and in defining the preliminary curriculum. Afterwards, professors Fernando Távora, Domingos Tavares, and Alexandre Alves Costa became part of the teaching staff. Nevertheless, Portas always followed the development of our school closely and with interest, remaining present throughout its unfolding history.

Nuno Portas passed away at the age of 90. Portugal lost a unique figure in culture, architecture, and urbanism. His accomplishments cannot be contained in these few lines, written with sadness and longing.
Thank you for everything, Nuno!