Abstraction that is lost in nature. Liquid Pavilion by depA Architects

The depA collective was created in Porto in 2009. It is now run by Carlos Azevedo, João Crisóstomo and Luís Sobral and its staff covers the areas of architecture and the social sciences.

depA is focused on researching architectural practice through active listening on the idiosyncrasies of each project. There is a specific commitment to the dimension of time in the interventions: ranging from the interpretation of existing structures and architectural heritage to the open and progressive reintegration of spatial systems.

Some examples are the Casa da Cultura de Pinhel (Pinhel House of Culture), winner of the prize for best museum practice and an honourable mention by the Portuguese Association of Museology (2016), Casa do Rosário (Rosário House), winner of the Concreta Under 40 award (2017), honourable mention in the Nuno Teotónio Pereira prize in 2019 and honourable mention in the João de Almada Prize in 2019 and the Pavilhão do Lago (Lake Pavilion), winner of the FAD awards, in 2018.

Alongside this depA seeks to keep its practices and investigations relevant by taking part in competitions, which are special moments for wide-ranging and compelling research. Among them is the first prize achieved for the design of the Santiago Ydañez Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), in Jaén, Spain; the second place in the public tender for the renewal of Quinta de Baixo (2014), in Porto, and the first place for the design of the Mechanized Pedestrian Paths(2017), in collaboration with Pablo Pita architects, which will connect the riverside area of Porto to the upper town.

The collective has also designed more artistically focused projects that challenge the approach to architectural techniques, as well as being catalysts to a more pluralistic and cross-disciplinary conceptualisation. It was invited to design the set of the Fórum do Futuro (Forum of the Future) in 2018 and, that same year, Pavilhão do Lago (Lake Pavilion), built at Serralves Park as part of the 32nd São Paulo Bienalle - ‘Incerteza Viva’ (Living Uncertainty), was selected to be exhibited at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, as part of the 2018 Biennale di Venezia, while Sulco (2019) is part of the Desencaminharte project, which recognises and values artistic production in the Alto Minho region of Portugal. Alongside these projects, depA has also worked with Daniel Steegman, Lais Myrrha and Dayana Lucas, in close collaboration for the production of their projects.

In 2019, depA was awarded the tender for the curatorship of the Portuguese representation at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, in 2020, with the In Conflict project.