Entrevista ao arquitecto João Luís Carrilho da Graça

João Luís Carrilho da Graça (Portalegre, 1952) is the architect of the church inaugurated on 13 June 2008 and dedicated to St. Anthony, in the Assentos area of Portalegre. He is responsible for some of the leading projects in contemporary Portuguese architecture, whose value has justly been recognised through the award of the Pessoa Prize. In Portalegre he drew up his first design within this specific typology, creating a building that is overtly contemporary with simple lines and white surfaces that make up an elemental structure close to traditional Alentejo architecture. If the attention to the exterior revealed by the architect is incontrovertible, it gains equal if not greater interest in the care – unusual in this country – given to the organisation of the liturgical space. There is particular concern to understand and manifest the ecclesiological and liturgical spirit renewed through the 2nd Vatican Council, which results in a church that is, taken as a whole, one of the most important and significant steps in present-day Portuguese religious architecture.