Letter from a layman.

SIR: I'm not an architect, but I am a citizen aware of the importance of architecture and how it shapes our lives. Therefore, I was happy to see your special issue on Portugal (AR July 2004). What a delight to learn about the wonderful examples of architecture like the house by Aires Mateus and the Municipal Library and Archive in Amarante. But ultimately I felt my expectations unfulfilled as a result of some editorial choices.

The 10 projects featured are, after all, not by 10 different architects but only 6. The opportunity of a fuller representation seems to me to have been lost.

I was also surprised with the inclusion of the shopping centre refurbishment by Promontorio. Would it not have been more relevant, especially in the context of Lishon's poorly conceived suburbs, to feature the elegant but economical block of flats designed by the same practice in Carnide, Lisbon? The fact that this block is the result of a group of independent citizens who formed a cooperative to build their own homes, makes it exemplary if you consider that much of today's mess (urban and suburban) stems from speculative development.

Other projects which point to the future of architecture in Portugal came to my mind: some of them are truly examples of the 'quiet revolution' to which you refer.

Architects Manuel Graca Dias and Egas Jose Vieira recently designed the Cafe Verdeperto near the castle in Lisbon. Despite its modest size, its contemporary interpretation of the traditional Lisbon tasca, it's inspiring and poetic. On the opposite scale I regard the huge former prison Cadeia da Relacao do Porto as a sensitive restoration and adaptation by architects Humberto Vieira and Eduardo Souto de Moura to house the Portuguese Centre of Photography (CPF).

I remember too the refined conversion of a ruined mansion in Sintra into the new Municipal Library.

I also recall projects which I have experienced as good recent Portuguese architecture in the country's interior: the rural inns Quinta do Alamal at Belver and the Horta de Torrejais at Moura, both which have proven that local initiatives supported by the state can help contemporary architecture reach a new public and at the same time revive traditional building craft.

The Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage (IPPAR) is also building interpretation centres in archaeological sites in the impoverished Alentejo region: the Roman Villa at Cucufate and the Roman city of Mirobriga are two good examples whose intended benefits extend beyond the sites and into the local economies and populations.

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Strangely, Portugal looked like a small island in AR (like a place where only the coast has recent architecture to show)--or else was the AR?. It lacked variety of architects and regions, and offered a very limited perspective of the emerging architectural landscape. Nevertheless, thank you for dedicating a special issue to Portugual. And we hope to see more players of the 'quiet revolution' in future issues of AR!

Yours etc

CATARINA SALGUEIRO

(email address supplied)

Catherine Slessor replies: Obviously any country-specific issue can only provide an edited snapshot of activity at a certain point in time. Though perhaps we didn't include as many individual architects as we might have, we showed the work of at least half a dozen others in more general articles. Moreover, given the limits of time and resources, I think we did manage to cover the ground geographically (from Braga in the north to Setubal in the south and west to the Azores), while also trying to get a feel for the range of work currently going on, especially with the younger generation. Finally, as 80 per cent of Portugal's population lives on the coastal strip, that's where the architectural action tends to be, though obviously it's heartening to know that there are things going on in the interior. Having scratched Portugal's surface, we must and will revisit.