Between Memory and Ideation: Camilo Rebelo Celebrates His Trajectory at the House of Architecture
Camilo Rebelo donates his collection to the House of Architecture and presents the book AKIK
The House of Architecture – Portuguese Center for Architecture hosted, on November 4th, the donation ceremony of the collection of architect Camilo Rebelo, in a moment of special significance for the institution and for the appreciation of contemporary Portuguese architecture.
The session, which took place in the Álvaro Siza Space, was attended by a large audience composed of students, colleagues, family and friends of the architect, as well as a broad public interested in the themes of architectural creation.
At the ceremony, Nuno Sampaio, Executive Director of the House of Architecture, and architect Teresa Fonseca made high-quality and sensitive interventions, highlighting the relevance of this incorporation to the institution's contemporary heritage and the symbolic value of the donation. In their speeches, both highlighted the uniqueness, coherence, and poetic dimension of Camilo Rebelo's practice and work, which, through its creativity and conceptual rigor, occupies an unavoidable place in contemporary Portuguese architecture. This was followed by the formal signing of the protocol, marked by a particularly emotional moment for Camilo Rebelo, who expressed the personal and professional significance of this gesture, describing it as an act of sharing and continuity.
The now-integrated collection brings together 18 projects developed between 2000 and 2020, encompassing emblematic works such as the Côa Museum, the Promise in Grândola, and several international projects carried out in Switzerland, Greece, Poland, and the United States. It is a living and expanding donation that will accompany the future development of Camilo Rebelo's studio.
After the ceremony, there was a presentation of the book AKIK, authored by Camilo Rebelo and published by scopio Editions. The session—conducted with sensitivity and clarity by architect Isa Clara Neves—brought together the author, editor Pedro Leão Neto, and Nuno Sampaio in an engaging and enlightening dialogue about ideation, design practice, and the poetics of architecture.
The conversation stood out for its conceptual density and its closeness to the audience, reflecting on the role of the book as a unique medium for architectural communication, extending the thought and gesture of the project. Pedro Leão Neto emphasized the importance of AKIK in the editorial and critical context of architecture, explaining that more than a book about works, AKIK proposes a dive into the creative process, exploring the tensions between intuition, memory, and construction, and the search for the poetic meaning of space. AKIK continues the reflection begun with OLIM, expanding it into a more essayistic and intimate register, where text and image dialogue to reveal the mental and poetic dimension of architectural creation.
The event concluded with an atmosphere of sharing and celebration, reaffirming the deep connection between Camilo Rebelo and the Casa da Arquitectura and their shared commitment to preserving, studying, and disseminating contemporary architectural heritage.
A Dialogue on Ideation and the Practice of Design
AKIK continues the line of reflection begun with OLIM, but expands it into a more essayistic and intimate register, exploring how ideas emerge, organize themselves, and transform into architectural matter.
More than a book about works, AKIK proposes a dive into the ideation process, into the tensions between intuition, memory, and construction, and into the search for the poetic meaning of space.
In the conversation accompanying this presentation, the author will share reflections on architectural practice with the audience, crossing thought, experience, and image. The dialogue between Camilo Rebelo and Pedro Leão Neto – moderated by Isa Clara Neves – will seek to reveal how architecture can also be a form of writing, and the book a sensitive extension of the project.
A book born from the intersection of art, mind, and architecture
Published by scopio Editions, an independent imprint coordinated by the Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) research group of the Center for Architecture and Urbanism Studies (CEAU-FAUP), AKIK is part of a collection that explores the relationship between architecture, photography, and visual thought. Each copy is conceived as a unique object, where text and image dialogue to reveal the mental and poetic dimension of architecture.
This presentation at the Casa da Arquitectura follows the donation ceremony of Camilo Rebelo's collection, reinforcing the connection between the author and the institution, and highlighting the shared commitment to the preservation, study, and dissemination of contemporary architectural heritage.
AKIK, by Camilo Rebelo
SCOPIO EDITIONS AUTHOR’S BOOK COLLECTION
Porto, 2025
ISBN 978-989-36273-0-3
152 pages
About the AKIK book
AKIK bookis focused on communicating Camilo Rebelo's ideas and built work, allowing to hint at the relationships between the images representing the built or proposed architecture and the author's logic, intuition and poetics for its spaces. Thus, the book's spreads combine the text on each project with a visual representation and the type and diversity of those representations that envisage Camilo's rich design process and architectural project. At the same time, you can perceive from those visuals how the making of Camilo's architecture is very much based on intuition and a rich exploration of diverse design tools where the force is in the mind, as can be seen with other many great architects
