Directory

Back to group shot

Architects Directory 2009

 

André de França e Campos e Joana Mendes

Portugal

BIOGRAPHY AND PRACTICE

After graduating from the University of Porto and working in offices like Eduardo Souto de Moura and Carlos Prata. André de França e Campos and Joana Mendes Soldado established their own architectural practice in 2006. The pair rarely look consciously at the work of other architects for inspiration; instead, they use each brief's context, literature, discussions with colleagues, art and music, as their main references. Nevertheless, de France e Campos admits that Souto de Moura will always remain a big influence on him.

THE HOUSE

De França e Campos and Joana Mendes both admit that our brief initially confused them. "We didn’t know how to approach it, as there were no constraints, the program was not specific and the site didn't exist, so we decided that as in painting, the house's name should be Untitled", they say. They envisioned the house as a shelter in their chosen site; the middle of a rich green forest. Their challenge was to create a structure, which would be open and flexible. Their efforts to design around the existing trees, preserving every one of them, resulted in a snake-shaped tube-like design, raised on stilts.

THE FUTURE

Their work is already recognized through recent several competition wins and their current and future approach will always see the Genius Loci (the understanding of a place) as central in their designs. Favouring a site-specific approach over a stylistic one, the architects have a number of residential commissions in the pipeline.