Lagos... New city to discover

Vilas Mario Martins Atelier

As I mentioned in my interview with AlgarvePlus magazine, my next project will be dedicated entirely to the city of Lagos. The first two chapters are now complete: an overview of Lagos’s long and eventful history from the perspective of urban planning, and a tribute to architect José Veloso – not only the coordinator of the post-revolutionary SAAL programme (1974–1976, focused on housing projects), but also an active figure in politics, representing several parties including the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).

The free digital PocketSights tour is still in progress. For that, I’ll need to spend a few more days in Lagos itself, mainly to track down the spectacular villas designed by Mário Martins Ateliers. I’ve already done extensive preliminary work on Google Earth and Google Maps, but the satellite images are sometimes a year or more out of date – meaning the newest villas are often missing. Fortunately, the familiar “little man” from Street View comes to the rescue: once you zoom in, the updated versions suddenly appear on screen. It feels a bit like detective work.

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