ABSTRACT
In the early 1950s, the kind of modern architecture that was influenced by contemporary, post-war international trends was an exception in Faro. A local form of mature post-war modernism a modernist strand of regionalism grew popular, and the result is still visible today in Faro's streets. In the early 1950s, Faro was a fast-growing centre whose population had doubled since the turn of the century yet still a flat and uniform' place, with wide streets and low-rise buildings. Latin America's largest urban renewal and public housing projects were in full swing in Caracas in the 1940s and 1950s. Archive-based investigation suggests, instead, that post-war modernism had consistently infiltrated conservative regionalism by the mid-1950s; although Costa's work was the most sophisticated and radical, Oliveira and the civil engineers in Faro also filtered contemporary trends through their building practice. Faro's construction industry adopted the architect's manner and provided him with opportunities to create entire ensembles of buildings, street fronts and squares.
