This is Paulo Mendes da Rocha's year at Casa da Arquitectura. On the 26th of May, two exhibitions dedicated to the Brazilian Pritzker will open to the public: “Geografias Construídas Paulo Mendes da Rocha” curated by Jean-Louis Cohen and Vanessa Grossman and exhibition project by Eduardo Souto de Moura and Nuno Graça Moura, at Nave Expositiva and “Paulo” curated by Rui Furtado and Marta Moreira and an exhibition project by Ricardo Bak Gordon, at Galeria da Casa.
Spanning seven decades of activity, the immense work of Paulo Mendes da Rocha will be revealed in the Exhibition “Constructed Geographies: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, a Retrospective” with an unprecedented breadth extracted from the immense collection delivered to Casa da Arquitectura.
Entitled “Paulo”, the exhibition that will occupy the Casa Gallery offers visitors the opportunity to have a more intimate experience with the Brazilian architect, allowing them to hear his vision of the world and his reflections on so many themes that occupied him and which, in the end, explain his work.
Alongside these two exhibitions, there will be a program of activities curated by architect Nuno Sampaio, Executive Director and General Commissioner of CA, architect Catherine Otondo and architect and historian Vanessa Grossman. This wide-ranging parallel program will feature debates, conferences, site visits and is intended to be a great architectural festival celebrating the work and person of Paulo Mendes da Rocha.
“This will be a great achievement by Casa da Arquitectura to celebrate the person and universal work of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, his ethical, aesthetic and technical principles around the world and which will make these exhibitions in Matosinhos an unavoidable visit for who likes architecture and, particularly, the work of Paulo Mendes da Rocha”, emphasizes the Executive Director, Nuno Sampaio.
The Pritzker Prize 2006, who was the first honorary associate of Casa da Arquitectura in September 2018 and the most recent recipient of the gold medal at the UIA Congress – International Union of Architects, passed away on May 23, 2021.