DIVING INTO THE SOUTH OF RAÚL HESTNES

Abstract

This article intends to show the relevance of the South in the architectural universe of Raúl Hestnes Ferreira. The text is divided into three parts: the first deals with the family environment and the neorealist approach followed by his father, José Gomes Ferreira; the second part examines his academic and professional career in Portugal, Finland and the United States; the third part corresponds to the deepening of the architectural lexicon of Raúl Hestnes and his confrontation with the architecture of the South. In order to substantiate the arguments put forward in the text, three works corresponding to different times are presented: Casa da Juventude de Beja/Beja Youth House (1975-1985), the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Branch in Avis (1985-1991) and the Jesus Bento Caraça Municipal Library in Moita (1989-1997).

Keywords: Hestnes Ferreira, Ancestry, Tectonics, Geometry, Monumentality

Between 1957 and 1958, Raúl Hestnes dived into Scandinavia and experienced Finnish architecture (Fig. 1). The initial plan of the trip was to visit the works of Alvar Aalto and the main works of Finnish architecture. However, Hestnes changed the plan, remaining in Finland for a year. In this period, he studied urbanism with Otto Meurmam (1890-1994) and architecture with Heikki Siren (1918-2013) at the Finnish Institute of Technology in Helsinki, as an external student.

The teachings of these two architects had a strong impact on the education of Raúl Hestnes, showing him, in particular, the importance of the constructive system and structure as integral elements of the conceptual process. In 1958, he worked in the office of Woldemar Baeckman (1911-1994) in Helsinki, and during this period, as a collaborator of Osmo Rissane, he organized a Bid for a Church. (Saraiva, 2011: 118).

Diving into Scandinavia was instrumental in the consolidation and understanding of the identity of Raúl Hestnes Ferreira, introducing him to the revisionist logics around the Modern Movement.

Two years after returning to Portugal he gave two conferences, the first in Lisbon during the inauguration of the travelling exhibition on Finnish Architecture, organized by the Suomen Rakennustaiteen Museum in Helsinki and held at the União Nacional dos Arquitetos (National Union of Architects) and the second in Porto, at the School of Fine Arts. In relation to the exhibition, Hestnes Ferreira published an article in Arquitetura magazine, where he explained that the continuities between the different generations of the architects exhibited implied unity, focusing on psychological and human concerns, countering the Finnish reality with the moment that Portugal was going through (Ferreira, 1960: 60-61).

Between 1958 and 1962, Raúl Hestnes remained in Portugal and carried out five projects, of which the most important was the house he designed for his father in Albarraque, influenced by the principles of Scandinavian architecture and the knowledge acquired at the School of Fine Arts of Porto. Hestnes managed to transpose the neorealism advocated by his father in this project by creating a refuge that respected the family’s way of life and the simplicity of the rural environment.

During this period2, he carried out his professional activity in the southern region, with greater incidence in the Algarve, helping him to revive the memory of Portuguese popular architecture.

However, the desire to see new seas took him to the United States of America in 1962, first to Yale and then to Pennsylvania. In this dive, Raúl Hestnes absorbed, consolidated and shared Louis Kahn’s3 longings regarding his fascination with the ancient architectures of the South, especially the Greek and the Roman. Influenced by the architectures of the South, Louis Kahn intended to create an image of continuity in his buildings by choosing non-contrasting materials, giving a monolithic nature to his works.

Figure.2- Sketch of the elevation, Casa da Juventude in Beja. [Raúl Hestnes Ferreira’s personal archive]

However, in this project Raúl Hestnes chose to give the building a monolithic nature. Its formal simplicity is underlined by the size and position given to each opening (Fig. 2). The proposed materiality contained only traditional materials helping to simplify the final image of the building.

He was inspired by the traditional building tradition in Alentejo, covering the building with twenty domes, Priest Birretta type vaults. Hestnes relied on two teams from Serpa to build it as they exemplified the traditional building tradition. In this building, the brick assumes the double category of being both structure and coating, maintaining a permanent dialogue with materiality and tectonics.

Figure.3- Detail of the construction, Casa da Juventude in Beja. [Raúl Hestnes Ferreira’s personal archive]

The symmetry, the rhythm and the scale are characteristic of the set (Fig. 3). The interior distribution strengthens the centrality and determines its formal, strongly symmetrical character. The rhythm of the set is emphasized by the shape of each opening, as well as by their position in the facade plans, complemented by the repetition of the vaults in the roof.

The ancestry of Casa da Juventude is attained by the composition order, the definition of the scale of the building, the monolithic aspect of the work, and by the respect for the building tradition, giving the set a monumental nature.

The project for the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Branch in Avis4 started in 1985 and the work was completed in 1991. This building is located outside the walls of the historic centre of the village of Avis, in the district of Portalegre and occupies a triangular block. Raúl Hestnes chose ceramic brick as the dominant material, in order to guarantee little maintenance, as requested by the owner of the work.

Figure.4- Sketch of the inside, Caixa Geral de Depósitos Branch, Avis. [Raúl Hestnes Ferreira’s personal archive]

The tectonics results from the previous knowledge of the constructive parameters of this material, concretizing it in the drawing, and there is a fusion between the gesture of its design and the final image of the set (Fig.4). The simplicity of the programme results in the essentiality of the project.

Raul Hestnes admits that sometimes he could not escape using Louis Kahn’s images, in this case, the inclusion of the round window over the patio, considering that it appears by imposition of the material and results from the joining of the two facade planes. The rhythm is achieved by the succession of openings in the main facade, resulting in a cadence between full and empty, reflecting light and without light. The light and shadow game evidences the formal composition of the whole ensemble and intensifies the intense expressiveness of the whole work (Fig. 5).

Figure.5- Outside the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Branch, Avis. [Raúl Hestnes Ferreira’s personal archive]

The scale of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos in Avis is revealed by the tectonics that Raúl Hestnes defines for materials; outside, ceramic brick and inside, marble, concrete, wood, and copper. The precision with which he interacts with each constructive element helps to elevate the tectonic to its maximum exponent. Materiality and symbolism allow us to integrate this work into the discourse on the monumentality of Louis Kahn.

Figure.6- Sketch of the floor plan, Jesus Bento Caraça Library, in Moita. [Raúl Hestnes Ferreira’s personal archive]

Diving into the Bento de Jesus Caraça Municipal Library (1989-1997) means going through a building where the geometric layout is the strong point of the design (Fig.6).

Although the final result does not correspond to the original project, because it was moved to Parque da Moita instead of being located in the same place as the Judicial Court of Moita, its design does not differ much from the original idea, due to the impossibility of making a new project.

The planimetric composition results from the use of the square and its repetition through rotation and symmetry, characteristic of the architecture of the Mediterranean. The inclusion of two courtyards, one adjacent to the reading area for adults and another in the children’s reading area, underlines the constructive tradition of Southern architecture. The rhythmic repetition of the whole structure of the building helps to demarcate the different reading spaces and the areas for serving the public, conferring unity to the whole space. Each area relates directly to the target audience, in the way it defines the scale of the building and furniture.

Figure.7- Reading area, Jesus Bento Caraça LIbrary, Moita. [Raúl Hestnes Ferreira’s personal archive]

4. After the dive …

Diving into the architecture of Raúl Hestnes presupposes swimming through the constant triangulation between Mediterranean and Scandinavian architecture and the work of Louis Kahn, in search of the essentiality of architecture.

In the Portuguese as well as in the international context, authors such as Carlos Santos Duarte, Paulo Varela Gomes, Willy Serneels, Ahmet Gülgönen and others confirm the importance of Raúl Hestnes Ferreira for the panorama of Portuguese architecture.

Alexandre Alves Costa, mostly for having maintained a close personal and educational relationship with Hestnes Ferreira, describes him in a very informative way: “he arrived to the Mediterranean through a long and winding road, from Porto to Finland, from the order of the Moderns to Kahn, to Rome, to the universality of the compositional order” (Costa, 2007, p. 125). This statement emphasizes the influences that Hestnes Ferreira received to accomplish his work.

For Raúl Hestnes Ferreira, design, order and form are concepts that are interrelated and complement each other in the will to overcome the conceptual process.

In the works of Raúl Hestnes, ancestry, tectonics and geometry are inseparable, the materials are chosen in accordance with their respective formal and expressive potentialities, integrating the value of time and the way each material behaves throughout the lifespan of each building. By making the construction system apparent, each work is simplified, eliminating any element that might confuse its interpretation. Ancestry is one of the qualities of his works, originated in his interpretation of the long term.

For Raúl Hestnes Ferreira, monumentality is not a goal, but a consequence. His works stand out due to their character, inertia, weight, and the way they contribute to the urban context, expressing an idea about their nature, use and their destiny, and in the way they awaken the senses.

1 The diaries began eleven years before their first edition, published only in 1976.

2 In 1961, Raúl Hestnes Ferreira completed the degree in Architecture at the Higher School of Fine Arts in Lisbon with the thesis on University Residencies, with a classification of 19 marks.

3 Raúl Hestnes worked with Louis Kahn between 1963 and 1965, in Philadelphia, having participated mainly in the Plans of the Governmental Centres of Pakistan in Dacca and Islamabad; in the National Assembly Buildings in Dhaka and Islamabad; in the Main Hospital in Dhaka, as coordinator; at the School of Business Administration in Ahmedabad, Indian Union; and at the Art School in Philadelphia, an unbuilt project.

4 In 1993, this project was awarded the National Prize for Architecture – Construction, Technique, Detail, by the Association of Portuguese Architects.