Aires Mateus Office

They say never meet your heroes. But I met them and it was an extraordinary, truly formative experience. I could say, without exaggeration, that I perceived this encounter as a gift of destiny, a privilege of an effervescent exchange of ideas.

I started working with the Aires Mateus Office in Lisbon following the completion of the YACademy masterclass - "Architecture for Heritage" in Bologna. The idea for this interview was born during my first week in Lisbon, as I was discovering a team of very special people, extraordinary professionals, open to share their experience.

First, a few confessions...

I have always been fascinated and somewhat intrigued by Aires Mateus Office projects. I interpreted their architecture as a natural continuation of Portuguese archetypal architecture, articulated in a very personal and extremely seductive contemporary language.

Every working day at Aires Mateus was a series of discoveries. Very soon I learned that, in the off