Layering the City: Research on Infrastructure and Public Space in Macau

Description

Through expanded design strategies in post hand over Macau and the research of infrastructure design and public space within dense environments, LBA defined un-purposed space as a mechanism to intertwine private and public spaces while setting up a model of opportunistic urbanism where designers become agents of innovative procurement strategies. Working beyond the strict realm of design and the commissioned briefs, LBA discovered that architects could sometimes become agents of change, negotiators or policy-makers, thus changing both the culture of commissioning projects and the spatial propositions for the future city by adding new layers of community interaction and cultural use to the overall design. It is a labor of generosity that is at the core of the architectural agenda, when we architects are able to address the client's desires and add our own agendas in response to inherent urban issues to fulfill our true civic responsibility.

Born in Sao Tome and Principe to an Indian family from Goa, Rui Leao is the President of the International Council of Portuguese-Speaking Architects (CIALP). Having lived in Lisbon, he firmed up his career as an architect, urban planner and teacher after settling in Macau, China. With a degree from the Architecture School at the University of Porto, he earned his PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia. He also works in publishing, focused on heritage and urban planning aspects. Jointly with Carlotta Bruni, he founded the LBA Arquitectura e Planeamento firm in 1996, based in Macau. His output includes Nam Van Square (Arcasia Gold Medal, 2005-2006); Sai Van Urban Park (AAM Gold Medal); the Reading Room at the Portuguese School in Macau (UNESCO Innovation in Education Prize - Historical Context in 2012); the renovation of the Moorish Barracks building, listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO; and public housing in Fai Chi Kei (AAM Gold Medal, 2017). The President of the Docomomo Macau research centre and a member of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government Planning Council (CPU/RAEM), he is also the coordinator of the Thematic Commission on Environment, Cities and Territory of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries Community (CPLP). Italian architect born and raised in Milan where she completed her master degree in Architecture at the Politecnico de Milano. She has been working in Macau since 1996, at the beginning as collaborator of MV Lda, since 2006 as partner of VLB Lda. and recently in 2010, as manager partner of LBA, Architecture and Planning Ltd in collaboration with Rui Leao. She earned her PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia. During her 25 years of practice she designed a wide range of projects in terms of scale as well as program, from planning projects, infrastructure designs, social housing to Interior Design projects, besides her design work she has been in charge of large project teams and coordinated complex construction sites. She is the winner of the ARCASIA Gold Medal 2006 for Architecture, of the Unesco heritage awards 2012, and of UIA 100 architects of the year 2017, 2018 and 2019. Her work in the field of architecture has been amply published internationally (AD-Architectural Design of London, INTERNI, Architectura e Vida). Her works in the fields of design, architecture and urban design have been exhibited at Salone Satellite of Milan's Salone del Mobile, Experimenta Design /Lisbon Biennale, IDExpo, Concepta, Architecture Triennale (Lisboa), Portugal-live 2005, Tenth International architecture of the Venice Biennale and at the 7th International Architecture Biennale of Sao Paulo..