Port Authority or Navy Command Building

Mindelo [Porto Grande], São Vicente Island, Cape Verde

Equipment and Infrastructures

The Port Authority or Navy Command Building (here shown in a photo from 1993) located on Avenue Amílcar Cabral dates to 1961-1967 (attributed to the architect Lucínio Cruz) and was this port city’s first example of an isolated block resting on pilotis. The subtly curving four-storey structure follows the form of the shoreline boulevard. An undulating pergola on the upper terrace serves as counterpoint and creates a formal asymmetry, typical of modern architecture.

• José Manuel Fernandes