Abstract

This article aims at describing the continuous process in the social production of the architecture of Raúl Hestnes Ferreira. The neorealist ideology defended by his father and followed by the family, as well as the values of freedom, democracy and respect for the others, built his personality and his humanistic character. His cross-cultural career in Portugal, Finland and the United States of America was instrumental in building his architectural lexicon. In order to illustrate these influences, four housing works with different conceptual dimensions are presented such as laboratorial experiments: the José Gomes Ferreira House in Albarraque (1960-1961), the Twin Housing in Queijas (1967-1973), finishing with the presentation of two social housing experiences, namely, the neighborhood Fonsecas and Calçada (1974-1986) under the SAAL project in Lisbon and the João Barbeiro Housing Unit (1978-1987) in Beja. In Hestnes Ferreira, the social production of architecture was not a consequence, nor an anticipation, but a fact that by the simultaneity, defined and characterized his architecture.