João Mendes Ribeiro

João Mendes Ribeiro is a Portuguese architect born in Coimbra in 1960. He graduated in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto in 1986, where he also taught for a period. He obtained his PhD in Architecture, specialising in Theory and History, from the University of Coimbra in 2009. Since 1991, he has been a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Coimbra, having been an assistant to the architect Fernando Távora.

His professional practice encompasses architecture, scenography and furniture design, with works that are widely recognised in Portugal and abroad. He took part in the Portuguese Representation at the Venice Biennale (2004 and 2006) and the Prague Quadrennial (2007). He has received several awards, including the FAD Prize (2004 and 2016), the Gold Medal in Scenography (Prague, 2007) and the BIAU Prize (2012).

His work is characterised by a strong attention to detail, sensitivity to context and an interdisciplinary approach that combines art and architecture.