Book Launch Event: Mark Lee in conversation with Nuno Brandão Costa
Rooms for Books at the Chicago Cultural Center
2:00PM–3:00PM
PORŌSĪS invites an intense look at the work of the new figure in the Porto School of Architecture, after Eduardo Souto Moura and Álvaro Siza. The singularity of Nuno Brandão Costa’s work lies in his sustained attention to the primary elements of construction and its plasticity. Through new materials and techniques, his work has built upon the clarity of traditional Portuguese architecture.
André Cepeda travelled for some months photographing the work of Nuno Brandão Costa. More a sensitive approach than a literal document, this book is a powerful testimony of Portuguese architecture nowadays, and in particular of the surprising work of this architect. The images by one of the most highly regarded Portuguese photographers brilliantly challenge the limits of an architectural monograph.
Nuno Brandão Costa (b. 1970, Porto, Portugal), architect. His astounding work has been acclaimed in the context of the Porto School as one of the strongest contributions to Portuguese Architecture, following such names as Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto Moura. He graduated from the School of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) in 1994, where he has taught Project module since 2001, and received his PhD in 2013. He interned with Herzog & de Meuron in Basel (1992-1993) and soon afterwards opened his own office in Porto. Secil Prize (2008) and Vale da Gândra Prize (2010/2011), he was nominated for the BSI – Swiss Architectural Award (2012) and Mies Van der Rohe Award (2008). He has participated in the Venice (2004), São Paulo (2005) and Chicago (2017) Architecture Biennials; “Portugal Now”, New York (2007); “Tradition is innovation”, Tokyo (2011); the Milan (2004, 2014) and Lisbon (2007, 2016) Architecture Triennials. Visiting professor at the ETSA of the Universityof Navarra; Estudio Barozzi University of Girona, and EHL Lausanne. Guest critic at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (ENAC-EPFL), Switzerland; FAPyD-UNR of Rosário in Argentina and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), Cambridge, USA.
André Cepeda (b. 1976, Coimbra Portugal), photographer. The body of work he has built is particularly intense in the relationship that he establishes with what he photographs. In books such as Depois (2015), Rua Stan Getz (2014), Rien (2012) and Ontem (2010), architecture appears as a character and a sensitive receptacle of a state of mind and a human condition. His work is represented in collections such as Faulconer Gallery (Iowa), House of Photography (Hamburg), Kasseler Fotoforum (Germany), The Mews Project Space (London), MASP (São Paulo), Serralves Museum (Porto), Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon) and Le Bal (Paris). He was shortlisted for the Paul Huf Award, Foam Fotografiemuseum (2011), BESPhoto Award (2010) and EDP Awards-New Artists (2007). His work is represented by Cristina Guerra Gallery (Lisbon), Pedro Oliveira Gallery (Porto) and Benrubi Gallery (New York).
