Porto-based Fala Atelier selected for the Wallpaper Architects’ Directory 2019
The studio grapples with its identity locally and internationally, yet also totally embraces this challenge of defintion, turning critique into characterisation: ‘Everytime we present our work in Portugal, we are told our architecture is completely detached and in denial of our local context.
When we present our work abroad, we are told our architecture is profoundly Portuguese. We truly like to be in such limbo.’ The growing practice is increasingly faced with more ‘seriousness’ – ‘contracts, regulations, technical requirements...’ yet they try to stay close to their founding roots: ‘In a fast-paced world, our main challenge is to remain naïve, to not lose track of why we became architects, why we looked up to Peter Pan as a reference in the first place – to remain in love with architecture.’ §