ARQUITECTURA IBÉRICA

Eduardo Souto de Moura was born in Porto, Portugal in 1952. His father was a doctor (ophthalmologist) and his mother a home maker. He has one brother and one sister. The sister is also a doctor and his brother is a lawyer with a political career – formerly he was Attorney General of Portugal.

Following his early years at the Italian School, Souto de Moura enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Porto, where he began as an art student, studying sculpture, but eventually achieving his degree in architecture. He credits a meeting with Donald Judd in Zurich for the switch from art to architecture. While still a student, he worked for architect Noé Dinis and then Álvaro Siza, the latter for five years. While studying and working with his professor of urbanism, Architect Fernandes de Sá, he received his first commission, a market project in Braga which has since been demolished because of changing business patterns.

After 2 years of military service he won the competition for the Cultural Centre in Porto. The beginning of his career as an independent architect.

He is frequently invited as a guest professor to Lausanne and Zurich in Switzerland as well as Harvard in the United States. These guest lectures at universities and seminars over the years have afforded him the opportunity to meet many colleagues in the field, among them Jacques Herzog and Aldo Rossi.

He is married and he has 3 daughters: Maria Luisa, Maria da Paz e Maria Eduarda.His wife, Luisa Penha, and the eldest daughter are architects, the second is a nurse and the third is on the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Oporto for the 3rd year.

Along with his architecture practice, Souto de Moura is a professor at the University of Oporto, and is a visiting professor at Geneva, Paris-Belleville, Harvard, Dublin and the ETH Zurich and Lausanne.

Often described as a neo-Miesian, but one who constantly strives for originality, Souto de Moura has achieved much praise for his exquisite use of materials -- granite, wood, marble, brick, steel, concrete -- as well as his unexpected use of color. Souto de Moura is clear on his view of the use of materials, saying, “I avoid using endangered or protected species. I think we should use wood in moderation and replant our forests as we use the wood. We have to use wood because it is one of the finest materials available.”

In an interview with Croquis, he explained, “I find Mies increasingly fascinating...There is a way of reading him which is just to regard him as a minimalist. But he always oscillated between classicism and neoplasticism...You only have to remember the last construction of his life, the IBM building, with that powerful travertine base that he drilled through to produce a gigantic door. Then on the other hand, he arrived in Barcelona and did two pavilions, didn’t he? One was abstract and neo plastic and the other one was 9 classical, symmetrical with closed corners...He was experimenting. He was already so modern he was ‘post’.”

Souto de Moura acknowledges the Miesian influence, speaking of his Burgo Tower, but refers people to something written by Italian journalist and critic, Francesco Dal Co, “it’s better not to be original, but good, rather than wanting to be very original and bad.”

At a series of forums called the Holcim Forum on sustainable architecture, Souto de Moura stated, “For me, architecture is a global issue. There is no ecological architecture, no intelligent architecture, no sustainable architecture — there is only good architecture. There are always problems we must not neglect; for example, energy, resources, costs, social aspects — one must always pay attention to all these.”

Francisco Mangado, (Navarra, 1957), is an architect from the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, where he has been a professor since 1982. He has been a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at the Yale University, visiting professor at the EPF Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Baird and Gensler guest professor at Cornell University and visiting professor at the Polytechnic of Milan.

From his works they emphasize the Palace of Congresses and Auditorium of Pamplona "Baluarte" (2003), the Field of Soccer of Palencia (2006), the Municipal Center of Exhibitions and Congresses of Ávila (2009), the Museum of Archeology of Vitoria (2009 ), the Spanish Pavilion for the Zaragoza International Exhibition (2008), the BBAA Museum of Asturias in Oviedo (2015) and the recently inaugurated Palau de Congresos de Palma de Mallorca (2016) and the New Venue Building of Norvento Enerxia in Lugo (2017). Currently he develops his activity in several countries.

Thanks to this professional work he has received, among others, the Andrea Palladio Architecture Award, the Architecture FAD, the CEOE prize, the Construmat Architecture Award, the Fernando García Mercadal Architecture Prize, the Asturian Architecture Prize, the "Giancarlo Ius Gold Medal" awarded by the International Union of Architects, the Copper in Architecture Award, the RIBA EU Award, the Spanish Architecture Award 2009 and the RIBA for International Excellence, among others.

In 2011 he was named "International Fellow" of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and in 2013 honorary member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects). In November 2016, the Berlin Academy of Arts grants Francisco Mangado the Berlin Art Prize-Architecture Prize 2017 in recognition of his work.

In 2008 he founded the Architecture and Society Foundation, which works to favor the interaction of architecture with other disciplines of creation, thought and economy, which has received the CSCAE gold medal (Higher Council of Architects of Spain) 2015

In July 2015 he was appointed General Coordinator of Biennials and under his coordination was awarded to the Spanish Pavilion the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennial in May 2016.