Alfredo Matos Ferreira

Alfredo Matos Ferreira (1928-2015), whose father was a doctor and mother a painter, was born in Lisbon, but his family roots were deeply immersed in Trás-os-Montes, a circumstance that was a decisive factor guiding him as a person and marking his emotions, affections, convictions and life values. Architect graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Porto, he was a colleague of Alberto Neves, António Menéres, Álvaro Siza, Luís Botelho Dias and Joaquim Sampaio, the friends from “room 35” in Praça da Liberdade. He collaborated with Arménio Losa and he and Fernando Távora worked as partners from 1972 to 1982 in several projects, such as Solar do Vinho do Porto (Régua) and Pousada de Santa Marinha da Costa (Guimarães). His career as architect spanned over 50 years. He is the author of an important work, but generally little known, in the context of the Portuguese architectural production in the second half of the 20th century.
The project for a multifamily house in Porto (at Rua Arquitecto Marques da Silva), which he signed under his own name, and the house he built in 1962 on one of his properties, Quinta do Joanamigo in Barca d’Alva, are, however, widely recognized works as are the various projects for higher education institutions: Department of Physics of the University of Aveiro (1989), Department of Chemical Engineering of ISEP (1990), ESMAE (1991) and the Departments of Civil Engineering and Geotechnics (1992) of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto. At the same time, he developed a taste for photography and filmmaking. He also worked as a Professor at FAUP [Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto].