ABSTRACT
Architecture and related engineering technologies are not to be regarded as politically neutral. Throughout History, bold architectural structures have been commonly used as projections of power. These judgments seem self-evident when one considers the structural wonders built by mankind. However, it is surprising to find architectural structures as marks of political might in lesser contexts, such as the rivalries between neighboring municipalities. Even more so when that happened in political frameworks usually considered as monolithically centralized, such as the ‘Estado Novo’, or New State, the authoritarian Portuguese régime of the 1930s and 1940s.
This paper deals with the Matosinhos Market project as an exemplary case of the use of building technology and structure as a statement of such lesser municipal power, presenting yet unpublished evidences for the fact this project audaciousness was used by the Matosinhos municipality as part of a wider strategy to secure key authority over the nearby seaport of Leixões.
