Manuel Aires Mateus (Lisbon, 1963), graduated from the Faculty of Architecture - U.T.L. in 1986.Francisco Aires Mateus (Lisbon, 1964), graduated from the Faculty of Architecture - U.T.L. in 1987.After collaborating with the architect Gonçalo Byrne, they founded AIRES MATEUS studio in 1988. They have been teaching since 1986 in several different universities across the globe including Harvard and Cornell University. AIRES MATEUS has been awarded with several prizes, both national and international, including the Valmor Prize, Secil Prize, Ecola Prize, Enor Prize, FAD Awards, the prize of the Ibero-American Architecture Biennale, and several projects have been nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Awards. In 2017 they received the Pessoa Prize, the most important prize in the area of Portuguese culture.Many projects have been published in international monographs and magazines.

The acclaimed architectural geniuses of the Portuguese world, AIRES MATEUS, have been invited to participate in the Venice Architecture Biennale five times since 2010. This publication introduces the five breathtakingly poetic installations that they have contributed to the world's most renowned architectural event.

The Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the most acclaimed events in the world of architecture, is undoubtedly the most prominent of about twenty biennales and triennials devoted to the field worldwide. The international affair brings together leading practitioners from around the world to share knowledge and developments on questions of contemporary relevance. It is a particular distinguishment for the architectural practice AIRES MATEUS to have been invited to participate in this biennale five times.

Founded in the 1980s and led by the two brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus, the practice has gained international recognition for its poetic reinterpretation of architectural traditions in Portugal. Their impact on the current architectural scene in the Portuguese world is unparalleled.

This publication, which introduces the five architectural installations contributed to the Venice Biennale by AIRES MATEUS over the past decade, consists of five individual parts. Each of the five books is dedicated to one installation in Venice. They are held together by a vertical slipcase, discretely and beautifully embossed. The breathtaking projects presented in this volume set an outstanding example of how architectural installations reflect space in a sensitive, poetic, and even mathematical way.

Every installation is introduced by a short essay, specially written for this publication by philosophers, architects, and an art critic. Contributors include Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Crespo, Sofia Pinto Basto, Paulo Pires do Vale, and Delfim Sardo.