The books Colónias Agrícolas, by Filipa de Castro Guerreiro, and Arquitectura do Bacalhau, by André Tavares and Diego Inglez de Souza, published by Dafne Editora, are among the seven finalists for the FAD Thought and Criticism prizes, awarded by the Catalan association Foment de les Arts i del Disseny.

Chaired by Anna Martínez Duran, accompanied by Rafael Gómez-Moriana and Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco, the selection jury "places Spanish and Portuguese researchers and editors in a prominent position in architectural publications at European and international level", valuing their attention to "urgent issues such as the role of architecture in social justice, the climate emergency and access to housing, which show the discipline's growing commitment to the environment and society, and allow us to imagine alternatives to the hegemony of an urbanizing-industrial state".

With regard to the book Colónias Agrícolas, the jury highlighted the rigour and precision of the analysis of "the work of the Junta de Colonização Interna in Portugal, between 1936 and 1960, whose aim was to establish settlements for the cultivation of wasteland". For the jury, Colónias Agrícolas is an important contribution to the study of an episode of interwar European fascism, combining graphic revision and analysis of archive material to show the development of these colonization projects through their evolution on three interrelated scales: the territorial, the settlement and the domestic, in order to evaluate the results from agricultural, architectural and social points of view.

The book is the result of work carried out at FAUP's Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies, as part of the preparation of the doctoral thesis 'Portuguese Agricultural Colonies built by the Junta de Colonização Interna between 1936 and 1960: the house, the settlement, the territory', under the supervision of professors Sergio Fernandez, Marta Oliveira and Maria Manuel Oliveira. As part of FAUP's Doctoral Program in Architecture - PDA - study option B Architecture: Theory Project History, the thesis was presented at FAUP on November 23, 2016 and was discussed by Fernando Oliveira Baptista, Madalena Pinto da Silva, Sérgio Fernandez, Walter Rossa and Carlos Guimarães (president of the jury).

Regarding the book Arquitectura do Bacalhau, by André Tavares and Diego Inglez de Souza, the jury highlights the work's "transversal and synthetic study that shows the economic and disciplinary interrelationships between technology, territory and architecture (...) capable of explaining, in a sensitive and convincing way, the role architecture has played in history in the construction and preservation of certain socio-economic systems. ) capable of explaining, in a sensitive and convincing way, the role that architecture has played in history in the construction and preservation of certain socio-economic, fishing, cultural and political systems, with an environmental vocation and a veiled criticism of industrialization", as well as the "pressure that human action has exerted on marine ecosystems, at a time when we are more aware than ever of their fragility."

The book Arquitectura do Bacalhau is a synthesis of the first stage of the 'Fishing Architecture' research project, which began in 2017, coordinated by André Tavares. The work currently underway, based at FAUP's Center for Architecture and Urbanism Studies, has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) of 2 million euros for the period 2022 to 2027, in order to expand the hypotheses set out in this book to the North Atlantic.

The works selected for the FAD awards will be presented from October 5, 2023 to January 7, 2024 in the context of the exhibition El mejor diseño del año (The best design of the year), at the Disseny Hub Barcelona. The winners of the various FAD awards for Architecture, Architecture and Interior Design, International and Thought and Criticism will be announced on October 19.