Organisation

We are a non-profit association whose mission is to champion spatial research, foster architectural discourse, and inspire transformation through global engagement. We hold a major forum every three years for the reflection, debate, and dissemination of architecture that crosses geographic and disciplinary boundaries. 

Every edition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale has been distinguished with the High Patronage of His Excellency the President of the Portuguese Republic. Since 2013, we benefit from Public Utility Status, and in 2010, we were awarded the status of Cultural Interest given by the Ministry of Culture. 

Mission

• Be an open platform for exploring and promoting architecture on the world stage
• Raise awareness of the transformative power of architecture and promote cultural literacy by engaging both the creative community and the wider public
• Involve academic and professional agents in a dialogue on disciplinary strategies that embrace innovation and lead the way towards regeneration
• Energise the local economy and national production by expanding a network between professionals, policymakers, universities and cultural institutions
• Position Portuguese architectural practice, Lisbon and Portugal brands on the international cultural circuit with a media projection that transcends geographical borders
• Serve as a catalyst for change by establishing a legacy comprehending an atlas of participants, thematic publications, and the revitalisation of a historic building into an architectural centre in the heart of Lisbon
• Act as a platform that brings together plural perspectives to contribute to contemporary architectural discourse worldwide.

The Triennale

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale is a non-profit organization whose mission is to investigate, stimulate and promote thought and practice in architecture. In 2013, the Triennale obtained the status of ‘Public Utility’, and in 2010 was also declared of ‘Cultural Interest’ by the Ministry of Culture.

The Lisbon Triennale regularly projects and produces different initiatives and every three years organises a large forum for debate, reflection and dissemination that crosses disciplinary and geographic boundaries. The first Triennale, Urban Voids, took place in 2007 with a programme of exhibitions, competitions and international conferences that involved 52,000 visitors and participants. In 2010, in its second edition, Let’s Talk About Houses consolidated the presence of the Triennale in the circuit of events dedicated to architecture, attracting 154,357 people. The third edition, Close, Closer, strengthened the Triennale's image on the international scene, with an audience of 162,053 visits.

Conceived by curators André Tavares and Diogo Seixas Lopes, the fourth edition of the Triennale for 2016, The Form of Form, was composed of four exhibitions, a cycle of Talks, seven Satellites, three awards, two conferences, 12 associated projects, four publications, and a set of Sidekicks. The Triennale 2016 registered 154,778 visitors. 3,875 of them visited the Palácio Sinel de Cordes, which hosted the exhibition of the Millennium bcp Lisbon Triennale Universities Competition Award and the ceremony for the public announcement of winners and honourable mentions.

The fifth edition of the Triennale, The Poetics of Reason, was held in 2019. An open call made by the Triennale in 2016 established a curatorial team led by Éric Lapierre, architect and architectural theorist based in Paris. The team, which lectures the Architecture & Experience course at the Marne-la-Vallée School of Architecture (Paris), is made up of philosopher Sébastien Marot and architects Ambra Fabi, Giovanni Piovene, Mariabruna Fabrizi, Fosco Lucarelli, Laurent Esmilaire, and Tristan Chadney.

The Triennale 2022 is Terra. The curatorial team is made up of Cristina Veríssimo and Diogo Burnay, Anastassia Smirnova, Loreta Castro Reguera and José Pablo Ambrosi, Pamela Prado and Pedro Ignacio Alonso, Tau Tavengwa and Vyjayanthi Rao.

Conference Series

Apart from organising its main event, the Triennale produces the Critical Distance conferences, which bring to Lisbon architecture world renowned names. Between 2011 and 2013, the first cycle brought names like Kazuyo Sejima, Alberto Campo Baeza or Pezo Von Ellrichshausen, and the second cycle between 2014 and 2016, invited Smiljan Radić, Bijoy Jain from Studio Mumbai, or Ellen van Loon from OMA. The third started in 2017, with a conference by Paul Ghirardani, art director of the HBO TV series, “Game of Thrones”. These conferences are made in partnership with the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon. For 2020-2022, a curatorial proposal was selected from an international call that received 26 applications. Common Field is curated by Diana Menino and Felipe De Ferrari.

 

Open House

Annually, we organise Open House Lisboa. Since 2012, the Triennale opens to the general public, during one weekend, different types of spaces: palaces, private houses, schools or churches. It’s a great opportunity to visit and discover spaces that really show that architecture has a decisive role in the life of citizens, and that are examples of the value of built heritage. Created in 1992 by Victoria Thornton, Open House happens in more than 30 cities all over the world (like London, New York or Buenos Aires). In 2015 and 2016, the Triennale also organised, with Casa da Arquitectura, the Open House Porto. 

The Palace

With its headquarters at Palácio Sinel de Cordes, in Campo de Santa Clara, the Lisbon Triennale organises and welcomes events in multiple formats, that form the cultural program of the palace, open to the general public. A permanent Creative Cluster also functions at the palace, housing innovative and multidisciplinary projects that foster the connection of architecture with other sectors of society, promoting the cultural and economical development of the city. In this unique building, which had been abandoned till the arrival of the Triennale, a progressive strategy of rehabilitation, conservation and restoration has been developed since 2012. 

Hors-Serie

The Triennale was invited, three times, by the Direção-Geral das Artes to collaborate in the official representations of Architecture Biennials. And so, we have collaborated in the making of the Portuguese representation at the 7th International Biennial of Architecture of São Paulo, with the adaptation of the exhibition “Europa, Arquitectura Portuguesa em Emissão”, curated by Jorge Figueira and Nuno Grande (that had been presented in the first edition of the Triennale, in 2007); in the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by the Triennale, in which we presented “4 houses, 4 films”; and at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, in 2014, curated by Rem Koolhaas, in which the Portuguese Pavilion materialised itself in a newspaper, Homeland | News from Portugal, with three editions designed by Silva Designers distributed during the six months.