Lagos Chamber approves vote of condolence for the death of architect José Veloso

The Lagos Chamber approved a vote of condolence for the death of architect José Veloso, «an essential figure in civic and political intervention» and responsible for the Meia Praia neighborhood project. 

The architect died last Friday, January 19, at the age of 93.

Born in Lagos on June 9, 1930, José Veloso, who became a councilor in the Lagos City Council, was one of the architects who worked for the Housing Development Fund, as coordinator of project teams for the Local Outpatient Support Service ( SAAL), between 1974 and 1976.

He was the last of the Algarve modernist architects, along with Manuel Gomes da Costa, Vicente de Castro and Manuel Laginha.

Among the projects he coordinated and designed, the construction of the Meia Praia neighborhood in Lagos stands out, immortalized by Zeca Afonso in his song “Índios da Meia Praia” and by António Cunha Telles in a feature film with the same name.

This work documents the process of popular participation carried out in this fishing community.

José Veloso, who became a CDU candidate for the Assembly of the Republic, for the Algarve circle, participated in another of the approximately two dozen SAAL operations, in the Algarve, which, in the post-25th of April, made it possible to provide a decent home to thousands of the Algarve, including that of the Associação Progresso neighborhood, in Silves.

The legacy left in the Algarve by the state housing construction program created by order after the 25th of April, largely based on self-construction, was recently immortalized in a book.

Another of his emblematic projects is the Abrigo da Montanha inn, in the Monchique mountains.

A man of multiple interests, he regularly contributed to opinion articles in the Algarve regional press and edited several books, most of which were dedicated to the theme of the sea, sailing and boats, an area to which he dedicated himself, participating in the founding of the Sailing Club of Lagos, in 1950, of which he was president of the board and commodore for several terms and of other associative structures.