«Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles left a heritage that all landscape architects have an obligation to continue and defend», considers Fernando Santos Pessoa, disciple by Ribeiro Telles and responsible for yet another edition of the book that compiles a selection of texts by the landscape architect who has become one of the greatest references in the profession at national level.
The second edition of “Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles – Texts Chosen” was presented last Tuesday, December 6th, at a conference that took place at the Gambelas Campus of the University of Algarve and which focused on the person, the vision, the work and the legacy of the landscape architect and former Minister of State and Quality of Life, who died in November 2020.
«After the first edition sold out quickly, it became necessary to publish a second one, as everyone who wants to know how the landscape and the territory we live in works must read these texts, which are technical, but not technical», explained Fernando Pessoa to Sul Informação.
«It was with Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles that the foundations of what is called quality of life were created and it was also with him that all the necessary structure was created to have an environmental policy as it should be», emphasized the also landscape architect.
Despite compiling many of the texts that were already part of the first edition, this second edition also contains news, such as the interview that Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles gave to Liberne, a publication by the League for the Protection of Nature, which, according to Fernando Pessoa, «seems to have been made today, taking into account the forest fires, the floods, and everything that has been wasted and has not been applied properly».
These were also topics mentioned at the conference, in which some professionals in the field lamented the fact that, often, the work that landscape architects do to address these problems is «left in the drawer».
Remembered as someone who "all his life fought for ideals of conciliation between man and nature", Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles was also defined as "a teacher always concerned with his students" and a person who "was always way ahead of his time".
«When we look at the works of Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, even texts and projects that we are already familiar with, it is easy to find new aspects. This book is a necessary re-edition that included a set of texts that can be understood as a base structure and the skeleton of national landscape architecture», considers Gonçalo Duarte Gomes, student of one of the first AP classes at the University of Algarve, 25 years ago .
Exalting the legacy left by the eternal teacher, Gonçalo Gomes regrets that, two years after his death, many of the teachings remain «to be implemented and respected in the design of a model of society and landscape».
«All that, which was what interested him most, remains to be achieved. And that's where we come in with this book, I think», he considers, leaving an appeal to current and future professionals in the area who were in the room.
Desidério Batista, assistant professor at UAlg and a former student of Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles at the University of Évora, also highlights everything he learned from the politician and ecologist and which he now tries to pass on to his students. Among the many texts he left behind, Desidério Batista highlights the one in which the 10 commandments that must govern the creation of the landscape are identified.
«What Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles considers is that we landscape architects, in the development of plans and projects, should exalt simplicity in the landscape and avoid decoration. That's our job », he says.
The conference also featured the presentation, by João Ceregeiro, president of the Portuguese Association of Landscape Architects, of the third edition of the book “A Árvore”, by Francisco Caldeira Cabral and Gonçalo Ribeiro Teles, whose first edition was launched in 1960 and also sold out. quickly.
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