Paulo Mendes da Rocha (1928 - 2021)

Casa da Arquitectura expresses the most heartfelt condolences to family, friends and collaborators, showing solidarity with all those who, for decades, met, worked and deprived with such an exceptional personality.
Friend of Casa da Arquitectura, an institution with which he had a close relationship for many years and to which he donated the entire collection of his work in September 2020, Paulo Mendes da Rocha was the most awarded Brazilian architect ever.
Throughout his life he received the highest distinctions in the field of architecture, namely the Pritzker Prize 2006, the Mies van der Rohe Prize for Latin American Architecture in 2000, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale and the Praemium Imperiale in 2016, and the Royal Gold Medal 2017 from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). This year, he was awarded the UIA Gold Medal, whose congress takes place in July in Rio de Janeiro.
He is considered one of the exponents of the so-called “Paulista School”, a group of modernist architects led by Vilanova Artigas. He is responsible for projects such as the Gymnasium for the Club Atlético Paulistano, the Brazilian Sculpture Museum (MuBE), the renovation of the State Pinacotheca, Sesc 24 de Maio and the Portuguese Language Museum, all in São Paulo. He also designed the Arts Dock, in Vitória (Espírito Santo), his hometown. In Portugal, he signed two of the few works he did outside Brazil: the Coaches Museum and Quelhas House, in Lisbon.
Casa da Arquitectura will organize in 2023 a large monographic exhibition dedicated to Paulo Mendes da Rocha.
From now on, the world and architecture remain irremediably poorer.