José Mateus

Join us for The Living Memory of Cities, a seminar series convened in collaboration with Eric Parry Architects and the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies (CUBE), London Metropolitan University.

The Dialogue of Times

ARX Portugal | Founded in 1991 by Nuno Mateus and José Mateus, ARX was the subject of the monographic exhibition Realidade Real in 1993, inaugurating the CCB Architecture Exhibitions series. It has participated in countless exhibitions since then, including the ARX Arquivo monographic exhibition at the Centro Cultural de Belém, as part of its twentieth anniversary commemorations.

ARX’s projects have won countless awards, mentions and nominations, including the nomination of the Ílhavo Aquarium for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2015, the International Architecture Award 2006 for the Ílhavo Municipal Library (The Chicago Athenaeum) and the AICA Award 2003 (International Association of Art Critics) for the Ílhavo Maritime Museum, also nominated for the Secil 2002 and Mies van der Rohe 2002 awards. It was also the recipient of the International Architecture Award 2007 for the Casa no Martinhal project and in 2008 for the project for the Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Barreiro, which was also finalist for the Enor and FAD awards in 2009. Also of note are the Prémio SIL 2012 for the Forum Sintra for Best Commercial and Services Real Estate Project, the Across Award 2012 for Most Innovative Shopping Mall in Europe, the Prémio Jornal Construir 2012 for Best Commercial Building, the Global RLI Award 2012 for Shopping Centre Renovation of the Year and the nomination for the ICSC European Shopping Centre Awards 2012. The Casa no Romeirão project was also distinguished in 2009 with the Prémio Municipal de Arquitetura de Mafra.

In addition to projects, articles and references in specialist periodicals and magazines, six monographs have also been published on ARX’s work: Uma Segunda Natureza (Blau, 1993), Realidade-Real (CCB, 1993), Museu Marítimo de Ílhavo (Caleidoscópio, 2004), Conservatório de Música de Cascais (C. M. Cascais, 2008), ARX Portugal – Nuno Mateus e José Mateus (ArchiNews, 2008), 20 Anos/20 casas (Uzina Books, 2011) and Brick is Red (Edição de Autor, 2012). In 2007, the Portuguese Post Office issued a stamp featuring the Ílhavo Maritime Museum, part of the Contemporary Portuguese Architecture collection.

José Mateus was born in Castelo Branco in 1963. He graduated in architecture from the Faculty of Architecture, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (1986) and is co-founder of ARX Portugal Arquitetos (1991). He has lectured at IST, ESAD and ISCTE in Lisbon and at ESARQUIC in Barcelona and is Executive President and Associate of the Lisbon Architecture Triennial. He is a member of the Bolsa de Peritos do Conselho Consultivo para a Arte em Espaço Público for Lisbon, was Vice-President of the Conselho Diretivo Regional Sul da Ordem dos Arquitetos (2005–07) and President of the Assembleia Regional Sul (2008–10).

ARX Portugal has received countless awards, mentions and nominations for its projects, notably the Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award 2006 for the Ílhavo Municipal Library, the International Association of Art Critics (AICA)/Ministry of Culture Architecture Award 2002 for the Ílhavo Maritime Museum and the 1st Award of the Associação Portuguesa de Museologia 1999 for the Exhibition Project in the Pavilhão do Conhecimento dos Mares, Expo’ 98, Lisbon.