Casa no Tâmega, designed by architects Nuno Melo Sousa, a doctoral student at FAUP, and Hugo Mendonça Ferreira, a former FAUP student, has won the BMIAA'23 International Grand Prize for Small-Scale Residential Architecture.

The project had already been distinguished in 2021 with a Special Mention in the Architecture category of the FAD Awards. At the time, the jury highlighted "how the extroversion and primary complexity of the exterior spaces, generated by the insertion of the house into the topography without simply modifying it, as opposed to the introversion and simplicity of the interior spaces, generate situations of use that are always nuanced, different and changeable".

The BigMat Grand Prize for Architecture was awarded to the project for the Fish Market in Roquetas de Mar, Spain, by Estudio ACTA.

The two projects succeed 'The Melopee Schoo' by Xaveer De Geyter, winner in 2021, the Tua Hydroelectric Power Station by Eduardo Souto de Moura, distinguished in 2019, the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais Art Center by Lacaton&Vassal, 2017, the office building by Alberto Campo Baeza, 2015, and the Elishout Kitchen Tower, also by Xaveer De Geyter, in 2013.

Also among the winning works is the Adega Azores Wine Company, a project by the Portuguese duo SAMI Arquitetos - Miguel Vieira, an alumnus of FAUP and Inês Vieira da Silva - and the British studio DHR, distinguished in the national category - Portugal.

The awards, divided into two main categories - the new BigMat Grand Prize for Architecture and the International Grand Prize for Small-Scale Residential Architecture - also have other subcategories that distinguish projects at national level and special mentions. In this edition, more than 1000 projects were submitted to the competition from seven European countries - Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The International Architecture Prize is promoted by the BigMat International S.A. group, present in seven European countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Spain), and aims to reward works of architecture that have made an outstanding contribution to contemporary architectural culture in these countries.

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