Gonçalo Byrne interviewed by Ana Tostões

Abstract

On July 2016, Ana Tostões interviewed the architect Gonçalo Byrne who has been deeply reflecting, writing and interviewing in the city through projects of reference, in order to broadly understand the evolution of the city, with an emphasis on the modernity of the 1758 Baixa Pombalina Plan, and its contemporary and future potential, grounded in its roots. Gonçalo Byrne was born in 1941, Alcobaça, studied architecture at the Lisbon School of Fine Art (1968) and is Doctor Honoris Causa (2005) from the Technical University of Lisbon and the University of Alghero. He has been professor in several universities such as the University of Navarra, the University of Alghero, the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, the Università IUAV di Venezia, the Harvard University, the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Coimbra. He is the principal of Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos, in Lisbon, with an extensive work both in terms of scale, program and context, including urban planning and building design, urban renewal and project management such as the renewal of the Bank of Portugal headquarters (with João Pedro Falcão de Campos), the renewal of the Thalia Theatre in Lisbon (with Barbas Lopes Arquitectos), the renewal of the Machado de Castro National Museum in Coimbra, the renewal of the Trancoso Castel and the renewal of the Santa Maria Abbey surroundings in Alcobaça. He has received the AICA Award (1988), the Valmor Award (2000), the Gold Medal from the France’s Académie d’architecture Française (2000) and the Piranesi Prix de Rome (2014).