Matilde Girao, Founder & Architect, Girão Lima Arquitectos

In order to help current students and recent graduates to find their way in the working world, many of our alumni shared their career story. Here the story of Matilde Girao, Founder & Architect at Girão Lima Arquitectos in Lisbon. USI Degree: Master in Architecture, 2012.

How did you start your career?

Lisbon,1987. Degree from the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (UAL) in 2009 and Diploma from the Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio Università della Svizzera italiana in 2012.

She has collaborated with several architecture offices and publications. In 2014 she co-founded CARTHA and was part of the editorial board of the newspaper O Espelho. She works in partnership with Ricardo Lima with whom she established the office, Girão Lima Arquitectos, in early 2015.

She has participated in workshops, including HafenCity University in Hamburg and UAL. Matilde has been guest critic and lecturer at Universidade de Coimbra in Portugal (FCTUC Departamento de Arquitectura) and Archisummit'019.

Among the projects is Casal do Desembargador, a holiday home at the foot of the Serra da Arrábida, where the architects reinterpreted a historic villa using raw materials—earth, concrete, and iron—that frame the surrounding landscape.

Another important work is Casa Grande de Romarigães, developed with Maria Lima, a project inspired by Aquilino Ribeiro’s novel, reviving the Quinta do Amparo and intertwining literature and architecture.

Girão Lima Arquitectos have also curated several exhibition designs, such as The Bones of Architecture and The University is Now on Air at Garagem Sul in Lisbon, both reflecting on the relationship between structure, language, and space.