Eduardo Souto de Moura Honoured with the French Order of Arts and Letters

With over 50 years of national and international career, the architect confessed that he views the housing crisis in Portugal with concern.

The Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura has received yet another international recognition for his career. On February 1, the French Embassy in Lisbon named the 2011 Pritzker award winner a commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters, the highest distinction awarded by the French Ministry of Culture.

In presenting the award, the embassy cited Souto de Moura’s “remarkable inventive capacity and technical genius.” His best-known works includes the Braga Stadium, the Porto Metro, the Paula Rego’s House of Stories in Cascais, and the Clermont-Ferrand theater.

This tribute adds to Souto de Moura's extensive list of accolades, which includes the 2011 Pritzker Prize and the 2013 Wolf Prize, among others, and his global influence and lasting impact on the world of culture and the arts.

Eduardo Souto de Moura's collection, spanning 40 years of professional activity, has been under the care of the Casa da Arquitectura of Portugal since 2019. This archive, of immeasurable value to the history of architecture, embodies the significance and legacy of Souto de Moura in the professional field.

Born in the city of Porto, he graduated in architecture from the School of Fine Arts of Porto and began his career working with Álvaro Siza, with whom he maintains a very rich professional relationship to this day. His work is often associated with a supposed Miesian influence, but his projects reveal a unique virtuosity in the choice of materials – granite, wood, marble, brick, steel, concrete, and glass are just some of the textures that make up Souto de Moura's palette.