The singularity of Nuno Brandao 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.
Born in Porto in 1970, he graduated from the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto (FAUP) in 1994 where he is an assistant teacher since 1999. He did his training with Herzog & de Meuron in Basel and with José Fernando Gonçalves and Paulo Providencia in Porto.
In 1998 he opened his office in Porto. He won the Secil 2008 Award for the Building “Móveis Viriato” and has been nominated to “Mies Van der Rohe” 2008 award for the Quinta de bouçós. Since 2009 he is visiting professor at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura – Universidad de Navarra.
Nuno Brandão Costa (b. Porto, 1970) graduated from FAUP (School of Architecture of the University of Porto) in 1994, and he has taught the Project 4 module there since 2001. He received his Doctorate in 2013. Between 1992 and 1993, he did an internship with Herzog & de Meuron in Basel in Switzerland, and from 1993 to 1997 he worked with José Fernando Gonçalves & Paulo Providência in Porto, before beginning his own career in 1998 following the award of 1st prize in the competition for the design of the Library for the Faculty of Human Sciences at the Universidade Nova of Lisbon.
His work has been exhibited at the 8th International Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2004; at the São Paulo Architecture Biennial in 2005; “Portugal Now”, at Cornell University, New York in 2007; “Tradition is inovation” in Tokyo 2011; at the Milan Architecture Triennale in 2004 and 2014; and at the 2nd Biennial of Architecture in Chicago in 2017. He designed the exhibition projects for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale in 2007 and 2016. He was nominated for the “Mies Van der Rohe” award in 2008, the BSI – Swiss Architectural Award in 2012 and the FAD Award in 2017. He was awarded the “Jornal Expresso/SIC” revelation and merit award in 2004, the Secil Prize in 2008 and the Vale da Gândara Prize in 2010/2011.
He was nominated, along with Sérgio Mah, as curator of the Portuguese official delegation to the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, 2018. He is visiting Professor at ETSA, at the University of Navarra; the Estudio Barozzi at the University of Girona; and the EHL CAMPUS Lausanne. He is a Guest Critic at the School of Architecture of the University of Minho (EAUM); the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra (DARQ); the École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (ENAC-EPFL); FAPyD-UNR of Rosário; Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), Cambridge and ETH Zurich.. He is Coordinator and Professor of the Advanced Studies in Architectural Design (EAPA 2014/2015) at FAUP. He has spoken at Conferences and Shools of Architecture in Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Spain and Switzerland.
