Pancho Guedes

Amâncio d'Alpoim Miranda "Pancho" Guedes (Lisbon, Portugal, 13 May 1925 – Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, 7 November 2015) was a Portuguese architect, sculptor, painter, and educator.

[2] Guedes then began his career and produced a multitude of projects in the 1950s and 60s as building activity intensified in Mozambique.

Guedes was part of “Team 10”, a group of architects who assembled in July 1953 at the 9th Congress of CIAM and adopted a new approach to urbanism through impactful theoretical frameworks which influenced the development of European architectural thought during the late 20th century.

Guedes bought works by Paul Klee in 1948, admiring his surrealist style and infantile themes.

His rapid departure from Mozambique in 1974 along with other Portuguese subject to the 24/20 declaration (giving them 24 hours to leave and allowing them to take 20 kilograms of belongings) left his family almost penniless.

Officially titled 'Edifício do Banco das Poupanças das Viúvas e Orfãos da Polícia Maputo', this building is the Savings bank's living building for widows and orphans of the police in Maputo, Mozambique, from 1967 [ 1 ]