• Pancho Guedes, A “Legend of African Modernism Architecture, Dies at 90

"I claim for Architects the Rights and Liberties that Painters and poets have held for so long"
Amancio d’Alpoim Miranda 'Pancho' Guedes

Pancho Guedes, one of the pioneering architects of lusophone African architecture has just passed away at age 90. Pancho died Friday at the age of 90. Famous for his artistic look at architecture and a keen eye for spatial acquity, Pancho is famously known for his buildings such as the Smiling Lion, the Saipal Bakery, and a a host buildings across Mozambique.

Pancho Guedes, A “Legend of African Modernism Architecture, Dies at 90

His work perhaps tied the modern era and the Bauhaus era in a tussle that forever sort to share a unique emancipation to African architectural landscape in postmodernism of the modern era. 

Pancho Guedes, A “Legend of African Modernism Architecture, Dies at 90

A 7-year old Amancio d’Alpoim Miranda Guedes arrived in Mozambique and immediately absorbed African patterns and art into his system and through the years that reflected well in his work. It was only a matter of time before he grew into it and emancipated into an architect that was basically an extension of African culture and tradition. His work is embeded in an understanding of the overwhelming ancestries of art and architecture, both in its classical Western and African traditions. He clearly bridged the gap of contemporary and post modern architeure in a context of preserving traditions, culture and identity.

Pancho Guedes, A “Legend of African Modernism Architecture, Dies at 90

Timothy Ostler, one of the keenest pursuer of Pancho's work noted a certain distinct animalism to his work, a rooted keen veil to the essence of architecture that he practiced. He observed that all through his life Pancho  talked about his buildings as if they were living personalities . He saw architecture through the eyes of an animist – an animist, that is, who had hitched a ride with African art on its way to being discovered by Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, then stopped off in Vicenza to exhume and revive the body of Andrea Palladio.

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