Atelier do Corvo wins AICA 2021 Award

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The Portuguese studio Atelier do Corvo has won this year's edition of the AICA Awards in the field of architecture, a prize worth ten thousand euros awarded by the Portuguese Section of the AICA - International Association of Art Critics. The jury, made up of architecture, academic and journalism personalities, unanimously distinguished this studio for the ‘unique practice in the field shared between architecture and the visual arts’, in which ‘they seek to reflect and structure the thought about the notion of space and its relationship with the individual and with the aesthetic experience’.

Carlos Antunes and Désirée Pedro, founders of the studio based in Miranda do Corvo and invited professors at the University of Coimbra, refer that ‘it is always a special moment when you receive an award’. The duo, also linked to the direction and artistic programming of the CAPC (Coimbra Circle of Visual Arts) and the Coimbra Biennale of Contemporary Art, adds that ‘our life has always been dedicated to building, and we have been free to do our work’. They consider AICA's distinction as a pause, ‘like an inn for pilgrims, a place to rest and look at the path that has been walked’. ‘We have to close some doors and open others, create alternatives, open windows and let the air in’, they add. But this pause does not mean coming to a standstill. ‘The award comes at a time when the studio is preparing a new space, where the collection and work can be more accessible to the population’, reveals the duo.

Atelier do Corvo took part in the 2010 Triennale with the design of the exhibition No Place Like - 4 houses 4 films, which represented Portugal at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale curated by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, under the title People meet in Architecture. More info here.