Celebration of Fernando Távora's 100th birthday this Saturday

This Saturday, the Marques da Silva Foundation will host conferences and guided tours, a complementary program to the main exhibition “Fernando Távora. Pensamento Livre.”, which is taking place as part of the celebrations for the centenary of the birth of architect Fernando Távora.

The complementary program to the exhibition “Fernando Távora. Pensamento Livre.”, which was inaugurated on October 20th, and which consists of conferences on the master's projects selected for the main exhibition, followed by guided tours by the curator Alexandre Alves Costa, accompanied by another member of his curation team.

This is the first of three sessions where two different approaches come together: Conferences and Guided Tours. Firstly, there will be conferences on each of the seven works chosen and exhibited at FIMS, by each of the invited authors: Beatriz Serrazina and Bruno Gil, Joana Restivo, Pedro Baía and Carlos Machado e Moura, Eliana Sousa Santos and Pedro Levi Bismarck. This will then be followed by guided tours led by the coordinator of the curation team of this central project of the vast “Távora 100” program, Alexandre Alves Costa, who will be accompanied by Jorge Figueira, Maria Manuel Oliveira and José António Bandeirinha, respectively in each of the sessions.

This Saturday, December 16th, the works that will be protagonists at the conference are the Auditorium of the Faculty of Law of Coimbra, by Beatriz Serrazina, and the Pousada de Santa Marinha da Costa, located in Guimarães, by Bruno Gil. This day's guided tour of the main exhibition will be led by Alexandre Alves Costa and Jorge Figueira.

The next similar initiatives are already scheduled for January 13th and 20th, 2024, also at FIMS. The following projects will be discussed at the first conference: the Recovery of the Old Town Hall of Porto, by Joana Restivo, the Holiday House in Ofir, by Pedro Baía, and the Tennis Pavilion at Quinta da Conceição, in Matosinhos, by Carlos Machado and Moura. On that date, the guided tour of the exhibition will be led by Alexandre Alves Costa and Maria Manuel Oliveira. On January 20th, the Quinta do Cedro Primary School, in Vila Nova de Gaia, by Eliana Sousa Santos, and the Santa Maria da Feira Municipal Market, by Pedro Levi Bismarck, will be the two works to be presented. The guided tour of the main Fernando Távora Centenary exhibition will once again be led by the curator, this time accompanied by José António Bandeirinha.

The various scheduled sessions will always start at 3 pm, at Fundação Marques da Silva, in the heart of the city of Invicta. Entry and participation are free, but subject to space capacity.

It should be noted that the exhibition, which opened last October, can still be visited at the Fundação Marques da Silva, until February 3rd. It is open from Monday to Saturday, from 2pm to 6pm. The ticket is free, up to 18 years old, and costs 1.5 euros for seniors and 3 euros for the general public. It should be remembered that this main exhibition is itinerant and will then travel to Coimbra, in February 2024, with organization ensured by the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (DARQ); The city of Guimarães follows, in May 2024, with the School of Architecture, Art and Design (EAAD) responsible for this itinerancy.

“Fernando Távora. Pensamento Livre” is an initiative of FIMS and the central action of “Távora 100”, a program organized by the Order of Architects, the Marques da Silva Foundation, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra and the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho, to mark 100 years since the architect's birth, and which has several initiatives, until September 2024, to celebrate the anniversary.

The complete program for the Centenary of the Birth of Fernando Távora can be found at tavora100.pt.