House of Architecture seeks support in view of the growing number of collections

O executive director of Casa da Arquitectura told Lusa that the increased activity in the institution and the greater responsibility in maintaining the increasing number of collections require the institution to have to look for more sources of funding.

In a conversation days after the formalization ceremony of the donation of Eduardo Souto de Moura's collection to the House of Architecture, in which the speeches made had as common denominator the call for more investment in the institution, the executive director of that entity, Nuno Sampaio, explained the daily and its weight, at a time when invitations from China and Japan arrive to deposit more files.

“The spectrum of the House’s activity has widened. It is no longer just an archive, a museum that has an educational service, it is now a publishing house, a study center, a social transformation engine either in Matosinhos, Porto, or Portugal ", said Nuno Sampaio.

According to information from Casa da Arquitectura, that center counts 22 collections and collections, 150 donors, 162,500 analog documents, 180,000 digital documents, 1,000 models and prototypes, 4,400 custodian projects, 38 exhibitions held and more than 200,000 exhibition visitors between 2018 and 2026.

Nuno Sampaio explained that they also intend to disseminate Portuguese and Brazilian architecture in Asia, noting that this project is not dependent on additional funding.

In addition, the dimension of preserving a collection that “often takes time to be worked, treated, cleaned, digitised, about three to four years. [...] It's a slow, time-consuming, costly job. Which is necessary, because often the drawing is planned and he has to stay six months in this plan, because the old drawings are on rolls for 40 years ", he pointed out the Executive Director of the House of Architecture.

The institution is currently in the process of renewing the support contract with the Portuguese State, which is triannual, and from where Nuno Sampaio expects it to come “a little more support”.

According to the most recent accountability document published in the “site” of the House, of 2024, the institution received that year close to 750 thousand euros from the Municipality of Matosinhos, 400,000 from the Cultural Fomento Fund and 250 thousand euros from Tourism of Portugal.

Outside public entities, the largest source of revenue in 2024 came from the ‘La Caixa’ Foundation, with 150 thousand euros, followed by Secil and Amorim, with 25 thousand euros each. In total, Casa da Arquitectura received 1.8 million euros between public and private.

Aligning architecture to the construction segment, making it a “partner of Portuguese companies” abroad is an idea launched by the executive director who thus sees Portugal being “aided” by the sector in areas such as the environment, economy and culture.

About the fact that since 2019 the Municipality of Matosinhos has already invested around EUR 7.17 million in the House and about the importance that this support had, Nuno Sampaio considered it “excellent”, referring that the “mecenate is no longer like 20 years ago”, but argued that the municipality “gave also the presence of the House of Architecture”, being “maybe the only place that attracts people from Lisbon to New York”.

According to the Executive Director of the House, the future also goes through the possible increase of the facilities in the block where it is located in Matosinhos, referring that when “a collection is lost to the foreigner, there is a national commotion”, feeling that emphasized, “also has to exist when a collection is in Portugal”.

“ This block is able to have better conditions in the future to receive activities here, be it from civil society, congresses, maintaining the tourist interest it already has”, he continued, stressing that “they are not concerned with today’s expenditure, but with a future perspective, because the commitments are the same as ten years ago, but today’s responsibilities are much greater”.

The House of Architecture announced on Wednesday that it will receive the collection of the Brazilian architect Assis Reis (1926-2011), one of the biggest names of architecture in Bahia.

The archive of Assis Reis thus joins that of countrymen like Paulo Mendes da Rocha and Lúcio Costa, besides the Portuguese Souto de Moura, João Luís Carrilho da Graça, Gonçalo Byrne, Tomás Taveira, Jorge Gigante, Manuel Correia Fernandes, among many others.

Created in 2007, Casa da Arquitetura inaugurated ten years later its current facilities, in the old Real Vinícola building in Matosinhos, which was rehabilitated in a total investment of ten million euros.

Besides the House of Architecture, the space welcomes the Jazz Orchestra of Matosinhos.