Jury
Helder Nascimento
Hélder Nascimento graduated in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture and Arts of Lusíada University in 2005. He began his professional career in Madrid, in 2007, with Pedro Quero Arquitectos, participating in international architectural competitions and winning one first place and two second places, during his studio/office journey.
In 2009, he established his own studio in Guimarães, in collaboration with Architect Sónia Barbosa, where they develop both national and international projects. As a way of promoting and increasing the visibility of architecture and architects in Portugal, they also created the ESPACODEARQUITETURA.COM, an online platform that supports the professional community, enhances knowledge sharing in the area of architecture and the debate in the field.
The Espaço de Arquitetura is currently recognised as the main national reference for the dissemination of Architecture in Portugal. It stands out for the organization of architectural events including gatherings, workshops, competitions and architectural conferences with the participation of renowned national and international architects, namely ARX Portugal Arquitectos, Carrilho da Graça, Carvalho Araújo, Campo Baeza, Toyo Ito (Pritzker 2013), Alejandro Aravena (Pritzker 2016), BIG, MVRDV, UNSTUDIO.
Jorge Mealha
Jorge Virgílio Rodrigues Mealha da Costa is a Portuguese architect, who graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon in 1987 and earned a PhD in Architecture from the Lusíada University of Lisbon in 2013. Since 1991, Mealha has had a distinguished career as a university lecturer, teaching architectural projects and serving as an assistant professor in higher education, with teaching activities at the University of Lisbon, Lusíada University, Lusófona University, and the University of Aveiro.
Mealha has developed projects for buildings of various types and scales, including offices, housing, industrial facilities, schools, and sports facilities, both in Portugal and abroad. Many of his projects have been published in internationally specialized magazines and have received recognition in exhibitions and awards: among the distinctions are the German Design Award (2017), Iconic Architecture Award (2015), Architizer A+ Award (2015), National Real Estate Award (2016), and nominations for the Mies van der Rohe Award.
In May 2024, Jorge Mealha was elected President of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon (FAUL) for the term 2024-2026. In this role, he leads strategic management and represents the institution nationally and internationally, having also been elected National Corresponding Academic by the Academy of Fine Arts.
Mealha is recognized for his intellectual rigor and innovation in contemporary Portuguese architecture, participating in events, juries, conferences, and research, focusing on themes such as collective housing, urban rehabilitation, and sustainable architecture.
Fernando Brízio
Fernando Brízio was born in 1968 in Angola. He graduated in Product Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon, the city where he lives and develops his professional career. Since the late 1990s, Brízio has built an innovative and multifaceted path in Portuguese design, creating industrially produced objects and limited series, as well as sets, exhibitions, and interior spaces for entities such as Droog, Materia/Amorim, Nike, Adidas, experimentadesign, Fábrica Bordallo Pinheiro, Il Coccio, Atlantis Vista Alegre, Museu de Serralves, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, and Galerie Kreo, among others.
His experimental approach often challenges traditional disciplinary boundaries, exploring everything from furniture, lighting, accessories, tableware, production processes to artistic and performative interventions. Brízio’s work is regularly exhibited and published internationally, with presence in reference collections such as the Museu do Design e da Moda (MUDE) in Lisbon and the Indianapolis Museum of Art in the USA.
Also dedicated to education, Fernando Brízio has been a university professor since 1999 at ESAD.CR (Caldas da Rainha, School of Arts and Design), where he coordinates the Master’s in Product Design. He has been a guest professor at institutions such as ECAL–École Cantonale d’art de Lausanne and HFG–Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. He has participated as a curator, lecturer, and jury member in national and international events.
His career is marked by intellectual rigor and conceptual restlessness, which privileges the process as a space for research, and by the ability to reinvent typologies and uses of everyday objects, making him an unavoidable reference in contemporary Portuguese design.
