Collection

The Casa da Arquitetura Archive consists of collections resulting from donations or deposits, as well as projects and collections gathered in the course of the cultural activities organised by the Casa da Arquitetura. In 2009, architect Eduardo Souto de Moura signed the first deposit agreement with the Casa da Arquitetura, entrusting to its care 402 study models, 32 presentation models, 48 panels of photographs and original drawings, which were on display at the “Temi Di Progetti” exhibition in Italy in 1999. This was followed, in 2015, by the donation of the design for the Museu dos Coches by architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha and, in 2016, by the donation of two social housing projects, developed in Matosinhos, by the heirs of architect João Álvaro Rocha. From 2017 onwards, following the move to its new premises, the Casa da Arquitetura benefited from facilities and equipment that enabled it to fulfil its mission of acquiring architectural archives and collections of significant interest for the study of architecture and urban planning. In 2018, it accepted the donation of architect Pedro Ramalho’s collection, which bears witness to his career as a private architect spanning some 50 years, and the “Brazilian Architecture Collection – From Modernity to the Contemporary”, comprising over 70 architectural projects by architects such as Gregori Warchavchik, Álvaro Vital Brazil and Adhemar Marinho, David Libeskind, Acácio Gil Borsoi, Vilanova Artigas, Carlos Millan, Fábio Penteado, Jorge Wilheim, Eduardo Longo, Éolo Maia and Jô Vasconcellos, Assis Reis, Marcos Acayaba and Hélio Olga, Oswaldo Bratke, Gustavo Penna, Joan Villá, Pedro Paulo Saraiva, amongst others. In 2019, architect Eduardo Souto de Moura deposited the remaining documentation from his collection, followed by donations of the collections of architects Francisco Melo and Jorge Gigante, and architect Gonçalo Byrne. A deposit agreement was also signed for the collection of architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça. In September 2020, the Archive received the full donation of the collection of architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha. In 2021, the family of Lucio Costa donated the estate of the Brazilian architect and urban planner—a key figure in world architecture and the designer, amongst other projects, of the Pilot Plan for Brasília, the city’s founding project—to the Casa da Arquitetura. It was also in 2021 that the donation of the collection of architect António Fortunato Cabral, founder of ARS Arquitectos and a leading figure in architecture in the North region, was formalised. That same year also saw the donations of the collections of architect Teresa Fonseca and architectural photographer Luis Ferreira Alves. In 2022, donations were formalised from four nationally renowned architects: Manuel Correia Fernandes, Fernanda Seixas, José Gigante and the photographic estate of Jorge Gigante. More recently, donations of the collections of Tomás Taveira, in 2024, and Agostinho Ricca Gonçalves and Camilo Rebelo, in 2025, were formalised. In addition to the collections, the Archive boasts a constantly growing bibliographic collection.