Luis Gonzaga Possolo was born in Lisbon, in 1924, and educated at the Liceu de Passos Manuel, before taking a Diploma in architecture at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes de Lisboa, graduating in 1953. The following year he joined the Gabinete de Urbanização do Ultramar (GUU), the government office responsible for urban planning in the Portuguese colonies, who immediately funded a place for him on the inaugural course at the Architectural Association’s Department of Tropical Architecture (DTA), in London (1954-1955). Upon completion of the course, Possolo returned to Portugal, where he is recorded as giving a presentation on the subject of ‘Tropical Architecture’, discussing the work of the DTA and projects by figures such as James Cubitt, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew and the Architects’ Co-Partnership. Possolo’s work at the GUU from the mid 1950s included housing in the city of Varela, in Guinea-Bissau (1955-1956) and Moçâmedes Commercial and Industrial School (1956), in Angola – the latter project designed with Fernando Schiappa de Campos, who was also to attend the Department of Tropical Architecture in 1958-1959. Other early works include the central market at Quelimane, Mozambique (1956) and the Harbour Master Building at the port of Lobito, Angola (1957). His naval radio transmitting and receiving stations at Maputo, Mozambique, and Luanda, Angola, are from 1959 and 1960, respectively. Alongside his work for government bodies, Possolo engaged in private work, including the Hydroelectric Dam complex at Cambambe, Angola, and the Nacala Cement Works in Mozambique. He appears to have been a favoured architect for the Portuguese banker and economist, Ricardo Espirito Santo Silva, who commissioned him to restore the Paco do Sobralibho (1954-1963), in the Vila Franca de Xira region, and to design the interiors for the Hotel Ritz (1956-59). In 1960 Possolo was appointed to the role of Director of the Technical Services section of the Agência Geral do Ultramar, part of his role involving the arrangement a series of exhibitions promoting their work. He also continued to teach, holding the position of Professor at the Fundacicao Ricardo Espririto, Lisbon, from 1960 until 1985, lecturing on architecture and decoration. In the latter years of his career, Possolo worked for the Companhia Nacional de Navegação, designing interiors for their cruise ships and then, in the 1980s, as a consultant for Empresa Nacional de Turismo (ENATUR).
Sources
- Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
- Architectural Association Diploma Roll Book, 1924-1963, AA Archives
- Department of Tropical Architecture, student listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27, AA Archives.
- Saldanha, José Luis, Luís Possolo, Um arquitecto do Gabinete de Urbanização do Ultramar, Lisboa, CIAAM, 2012.
- Figueira, J., Gil, B. ‘Otto Koenigsberger and the Course on Tropical Architecture at the Architectural Association, London. Some Notes on the Portuguese Context’, docomomo Vol. 48, No. 1 (2013).
- José Luís Possolo de Saldanha, ‘Luís Possolo, el estudiante portugués en la edición inaugural del Curso en Arquitectura Tropical de la Architectural Association’ rita nº9, May 2018, pp. 82-89.
