University of Évora attributes Honoris Causa to Architect Carrilho da Graça
The University of Évora (UÉ) will award a Doctorate Honoris Causa to architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça, in a ceremony scheduled for March 16, 2023, 3 p.m., at the Espírito Santo College of the University of Évora. The laudatory speech will be given by Jorge Araújo, professor and former Dean of the University of Évora, who is the patron of the distinction, together with architect Siza Vieira.
Originally scheduled for December 13, the ceremony was postponed due to the weather conditions in Lisbon and the associated constraints. Herminia Vasconcelos Vilar, Dean of the UÉ, justifies the award "by the genius that Carrilho da Graça imprints in all his works, characteristically with a strong relationship with the territories", which, for the Dean, "says a lot about his personality and the relevance that, from early on, he has assumed in Architecture in Portugal and abroad".
Considered a "unique figure" in the cultural panorama, specifically in the area of architecture, "the architect Carrilho da Graça seeks in his works to offer us something new, experimenting with innovative solutions that challenge us", as exemplified by the combination of cork and concrete in the work of the Lisbon Cruise Terminal, recently considered the "Best Cruise Terminal in Europe" by the World Cruise Awards.
The Dean of the University of Évora also emphasizes Carrilho da Graça's "strong connection to the University of Évora and to the Alentejo region, where he was born (Portalegre). He was professor and director of the Department of Architecture and promoter of the PhD Program in Architecture. More recently, he designed the new building for the Alentejo Science and Technology Park (PACT), in Évora. These are just some of the arguments that motivated the attribution of the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Évora to the Architect Carrilho da Graça, who in April made known his more than 40 years of work and professional career through the exhibition "Flashback", composed by ten selected works, at the Casa de Arquitetura in Matosinhos.
João Luís Carrilho da Graça has a degree in Architecture from the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes de Lisboa, and is the author of projects in Portugal, Spain, France, Cyprus, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Egypt, Brazil, and the United States of America.
His work has been awarded several prizes, including the secil architecture prize (1994); valmor prize (1998, 2008, 2010, 2017, mention in 1993, 2007, 2013); fad ibérico prize (1999); international light biennale prize - luzboa (2004); piranesi prize - prix de rome (2010); international architecture sacra frate-sole prize (2012); iberoamerican biennial prize of architecture and urbanism (2012); buenos aires international biennial prize of architecture (2018); leon battista alberti prize of the politecnico di milano, mantova (2018); arpafil prize, guadalajara, mexico (2018).
Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon between 1977 and 1992, and subsequently from 2014 to 2019; founder and coordinator of the architecture course at the Autonomous University of Lisbon between 2001 and 2010; Professor at the Architecture department at the University of Évora between 2005 and 2013; director from 2005 to 2010; founder, at the same institution, of the PhD program in Architecture of which he was coordinator and lecturer between 2011 and 2013; professor, among other international institutions, at the University of Navarra between 2005 and 2015; at Cornell University, New York, in 2015; at the Haute École du Paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève, in 2019; of the unesco Leon Battista Alberti Chair at the Mantova campus of the Politecnico di Milano from 2017 to 2019; currently Professor at the Accademia di Architettura of the Università della Svizzera Italiana, in Mendrisio.
