'The Weight of Words', a project by FAUP's Center for Architecture and Urbanism Studies (CEAU), proposed by researcher Maria Neto (professor at DECA-UBI), coordinated by Pedro Leão Neto, in collaboration with Jorge Marum, won the Universities Award in the Research category of the 7th edition of the Millennium bcp Lisbon Architecture Triennale Universities Award.

The award ceremony took place at the opening of the 7th Lisbon Triennale, dedicated to the theme ‘How heavy is a city?’. On this occasion, the FAUP team highlighted: “We try to reveal, through spaces, what some words insist on erasing.”

‘The Weight of Words’ takes as its starting point Dadaab, Kenya — historically the largest refugee camp in the world — which has served as a research laboratory since 2016. Situated at the crossroads between colonial legacies and ongoing conflicts, Dadaab exemplifies how urban designations — whether de jure or de facto — carry significant political and social weight.

The city of Dadaab, a legally recognized jurisdiction, contrasts sharply with the surrounding refugee camps, which, densely populated for over 34 years, lack formal recognition and legal rights, including the right to build permanent structures. This legal dichotomy creates a space of exclusion—a “city without weight”—a metaphor for the precariousness and impermanence of refugees' living conditions.

'The Weight of Words' invites us to rethink the role of architecture in emergency situations, considering Dadaab as a space for learning and experimentation, where curiosity, indignation, and action are encouraged in the construction of possible futures for the reception of displaced populations.

The list of finalists for the Universities Award included, in the Master's category, the project ‘Quantifying the Urban!’, proposed by professors Clara Vale and Diego Inglez de Souza, in collaboration with students Clara Sprung, Sofia Beltrão, Matilde Ferreira, and Ricardo Mancini. The project starts from the question ‘How much does a city weigh?’, redefining urban weight as a fusion of objective data and subjective experiences.

The winning and finalist projects are part of the main exhibitions of the Triennial — Fluxes, Spectres, and Lighter — which opened on October 4. The winners in each category — Master's and Research — were announced at the opening ceremony and received an award designed by Álvaro Siza, produced from Estremoz marble waste.

In total, 35 applications for the Universities Award were accepted from 18 universities, including seven Portuguese ones, reflecting the diversity and geographical scope of the initiative. The selection was made by a collective composed of Carla Leitão, Cruz Garcia, Dubravka Sekulić, Nick Axel, and the curators of Trienal 2025, who valued critical and open approaches to contemporary architectural practice, in line with this edition's motto: Make it Lighter.

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