Barbas Lopes Arquitectos

Our work is firstly rooted in the context of our country: small, yet boundless. Facing the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal has an architectural tradition of great richness. Over the last decades, its history has been reinvented by names like Eduardo Souto de Moura, and Álvaro Siza. To use an expression of the latter, architecture remains for us a poetic profession. In order to make concrete this cultural commitment, ideas have to be pragmatic. Projects and buildings must express this need, to improve reality. Their economy of means also relates to another local concept, of plain architecture. The ability to do more with less is its greatest asset, especially when resources are scarce. Since 2006, we have completed several projects under these guidelines. This site presents some of the most significant. Recently concluded, Thalia Theatre in Lisbon is a culmination of this process. It asserts the presence of the past, salvaging the remains of a playhouse from the nineteenth century. These ruins, encased in a concrete shell, became a new multifunctional space that hosts and celebrates civic life. Designed with Gonçalo Byrne, the project also underlines our conviction to share professional experience with other people. We frequently engage in collaborations with colleagues, from different generations and countries. As local architects for Peter Märkli, planning a series of villas in the south of Portugal, the mutual belief in the lingua franca of the profession persisted despite cultural differences. Drawing from multiple sources, architecture must seek this universal. This is our main task. The work in this site is grounded in the intent to bring together architectural practice and theory. Having devoted considerable efforts to the study of figures such as Aldo Rossi, we are convinced this relation is crucial since it provides a framework to establish the purpose of this profession. Namely now, when architecture is confronted with complex societal questions that can only be resolved with categorical expertise. Technical competence is paramount, much like cultural and ethical aspects. From the reconversion of heritage to single-family housing or exhibition concepts, our work strives to articulate these ideas into matter and form. Such an ambition implies a critical stance, but also enthusiasm towards present challenges. As Georg Lukács wrote, the realist approach to reality is always passion.