The Inspiring Life of Architect Bruno Dias Souza
Bruno Dias Souza is an Indian architect. He is credited with having โbelonged to a generation of architects that sought to rediscover what Modern architecture meant for Indiaโ and having had an โillustrious architectural careerโ.
Early years
Souza was born on 6 October 1925. He was born in Goa, Portuguese India, Portuguese Empire. Souza is known to grown up in the Goa village of Badem, Salvador do Mundo, and building models of boats and little houses as a child.
He was educated at the Liceu Nacional Afonso de Albuquerque in the then Portuguese-ruled Goa. Later, he moved to Dharwad and Bombay for inter-science and a stint in mathematics and physics as part of the B.Sc. programme at St Xavierโs College.
He completed his B.Arch from Columbia in 1955. In 1957, he completed his M.Arch from Harvard. After his under graduation and post-graduation in the United States, he worked for international firms in Central as well as South Americaโincluding in Brasilia, Brazil, before returning to Goa. In Goa, still under Portuguese rule, he designed government primary and secondary schools.
Career in Architecture
Souza was educated at Columbia and Harvard. He spent his early years as a young professor and practitioner at the prominent School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), in New Delhi.
He also served as a United Nations consultant & won the national competition for the Goa High Court, besides receiving a special honour from the Government of Portugal.
Some of his acclaimed works includeโฆ
- Okhla Parish Church and Loretto Convent in New Delhi
- His own house Altinho in Panjim, Goa
- The Goa Assembly
- World Bank-UNESCO projects etc.
Souza has worked on projects in Sudan, Vietnam, Liberia, Republic of Cape Verde and the Republic of Guinea. He served as the Director of the School of Planning and Architecture from 1983 to 1988.
In Goa, Souza has been critical of bureaucratic functioning and corruption in the system, there he won two competitions but was edged out of the same.
Views on the Goan capital
As of Souza the Goan capital of Panjim is โforgetting its past by trying to redesign open spaces.โ He has argued that the scenic capital โwas a space of parksโฆ.โ
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