Active during the decisive decades of Portuguese architectural modernization in the mid-twentieth century, Manuel Coutinho de Carvalho was a Portuguese modernist architect whose work contributed significantly to the transformation of Lisbon and its surrounding territories through residential, touristic and urban development projects. His professional trajectory became closely associated with the atelier of the architect Raul Tojal, one of the prominent figures of Portuguese architecture during the Estado Novo period. Following Tojal’s death in 1969, Coutinho de Carvalho assumed responsibility for the continuation of the studio’s activity, ensuring the continuity of its projects and architectural legacy.
Throughout his career, he collaborated on and later directed projects that combined modern architectural language with new forms of tourism infrastructure and multifamily housing emerging during Portugal’s post-war economic expansion. His work reflected the growing importance of leisure, mobility, and urban growth within Portuguese society during the 1950s and 1960s, while simultaneously incorporating principles of modern architecture adapted to the Portuguese landscape and coastal environment.
Among his most emblematic works was the Hotel das Arribas and the broader Arribas tourist complex at Praia Grande, designed in collaboration with Raul Tojal between 1963 and 1966. The project integrated hotel facilities, residential components, and the monumental oceanic swimming pool extending one hundred meters along the Atlantic coastline, becoming one of the most recognizable examples of Portuguese modern tourism architecture. The complex later achieved international cultural visibility after serving as a setting for the film The State of Things (1982) by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders.
Another important intervention associated with his professional activity was the former Hotel Embaixador, inaugurated in 1956 on Avenida Duque de Loulé in Lisbon. Designed by Raul Tojal with the close collaboration of Manuel Coutinho de Carvalho, the building became a significant expression of modern urban architecture in Lisbon, replacing the former Casa Ernesto Empis, itself a previous recipient of the Prémio Valmor.
Original documents and copies, written and drawn documents, sketches, correspondence, photographic reproductions, negatives.
PT/FAUL/ARQUIVO/RT+MCC
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series: Architectural Projects
series: Photographs, Negatives
series: Publications, Writings, Lectures
