Menos é Mais Arquitectos is an office created in Porto by Cristina Guedes (Macau) and Francisco Vieira de Campos (Porto) in 1994. The ability to do more and better with less is our motto, seek to balance the "economy" of means with the "richness" in the materiality and emotional involvement of the users. Our works are a pragmatic response to specific contexts. These principles are visible from the first works to the Recovery Project of Quinta do Vallado, in the Douro Valley; in the Cable Car complex in the Historic Site of Gaia and in Archipelago - Centro de Artes Contemporânea, on the island of São Miguel in Azores (these two were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2016 "Reporting from the front" and 2018 "Public Without Rhetoric").

CG teaches at FAUP, FAAULP and USI - Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio (2018-2022).

FVC teaches at FAUP and Navarra University, in Pamplona (2019).

They were invited to national and international conferences, juries, exhibitions and critics in various faculties as ETH Zurich, TU Wien, Lausanne Polytechnic, Mackintosh School of Architecture, Trinity College Dublin, among others.

More recently, Menos é Mais won the Secil Architecture Prize in 2020 (Lisbon), the AIT Prize in 2020 (Frankfurt), the National Wood Architecture Prize in 2020 (Alcobaça), the BIGMAT'17 International Architecture Restoration Prize (Luxembourg), the FAD Prize in 2016 (Barcelona), and the BIAU Architecture Prize in 2016 (São Paulo), 2012 (Cádiz) and 2006 (Montevideo).

Menos é Mais was also nominated for the Mïes van der Rohe Prize in 2019, 2015, 2013 and 2009 (Barcelona).

CG and FVC were awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects becoming International RIBA Fellows.

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‍Awards and Distinctions

Winner, AIT Prize 2020 (Frankfurt)

Winner ex aequo, Secil Architecture Award 2020 (Portugal)

Winner, National Wooden Architecture Award 2019 (Portugal)

Winner, Construction Award 2018 - "Best Private Project" (Lisbon, Portugal)

Winner, Best of Wine Tourism Awards 2018 - "Architecture and Landscape" (Valparaiso, Chile)

Winner, BIGMAT’17 International Prize for Architecture Restoration (Luxembourg)

Winner, Tektónica Architecture Award 2017 (Lisbon, Portugal)

Winner, Premis FAD Architecture 2016 (Barcelona, Spain)

Winner, BIAU Award (Bienal Ibero Americana de Arquitectura e Urbanismo) 2016 (São Paulo, Brazil)

Winner, RIBA Award for International Excellence 2016 (London, England)

Honorable Mention, Douro's Architecture Award 2013/2014

Winner, Best Of Wine Tourism Award 2013 (Florence, Italy)

Winner, Construction Award 2012 - "Best Private Project" (Lisbon, Portugal)

Winner, BIAU Award (Bienal Ibero Americana de Arquitectura e Urbanismo) 2012 (Cadiz)

Honorable Mention, Douro's Architecture Award 2010/2011

Honorable Mention, IHRU Award of Construction and Rehabilitation 2008

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Nominations

Nominated, European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 2019, 2015, 2013 and 2009 (Barcelona, Spain)

Finalist, BigMat International Architecture 2017 - "Restoration" (Luxembourg) with João Mendes Ribeiro

Finalist, European Prize for Urban Public Space 2016 (Barcelona, Spain)

Finalist, RIBA International Prize 2016 (London, England)

Finalist, Premis FAD 2013 - "Interiorism" (Barcelona, Spain)

Finalist, Premis FAD 2012 - "Architecture" (Barcelona, Spain)

Finalist, Premis FAD 2012 - "City and Landscape" (Barcelona, Spain)

Nominated, Secil Architecture Award 2012, 2008 and 2006 (Portugal)

Nominated, Premis FAD 2002 - "Architecture and Interiorism" (Barcelona, Spain)