Text in English & Portuguese. In the second half of 2007, the baton of the EU Council Presidency was passed to Portugal. The country decided to hold the majority of the planned meetings, conferences and summits at a central location in Lisbon. The chosen venue was the Sala Tejo des Pavilhão Atlântico, which was converted to host the meetings on the future of Europe, culminating in the Treaty of Lisbon. The architects commissioned for this project, Baixa, Atelier de Arquitectura, successfully gave the venue -- as well as the event -- an impressive identity, marked by Portuguese culture and contemporary architecture. This book pays tribute to this ephemeral piece of architecture with a comprehensive collection of sketches, drawings and photos. In the accompanying and introductory texts, the project is viewed through the eyes of two well-known architecture critics as well as the Head of Mission of the Portuguese Presidency.
Manuel Graça Dias was born in 1953. Following his graduation in Architecture from the Fine Arts School of Lisbon in 1977, he now lives and works in Lisbon, where in 1990 he set up the studio Contemporânea together with Egas José Vieira. He is Invited Professor at the University of Porto's Faculty of Architecture and at the Department of Architecture at the Autonomous University of Lisbon. He has written a wide range of articles, reviews and presentations on the subject of architecture and was editor of JA (Jornal Arquitectos), the journal of the Portuguese Architects' Association, between 2000 and 2004. Together with Egas José Vieira, he was awarded the AICA/Ministry of Culture Prize (Architecture) for his work in 1999.
Jaime van Zeller Leitão was born in 1957. He graduated in Law from the Catholic University of Lisbon in 1982 and has been a member of the diplomatic staff at the Foreign Ministry since 1984. He was Head of Mission of the Portuguese EU Presidency in 2007 and holds the title of Commendatore of the Italian Order of Merit.
Axel Sowa was born in 1966. He studied Architecture in Berlin and Paris between 1987 and 1993. A scholarship awarded by the Carl-Duisberg-Stiftung (Cologne) sent him to Kyoto, Japan, to work in the studio of Gen-Plan from 1996 to 1997. He was editor of the journal L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui in Paris between 2000 and 2007 and has been Professor of Theory of Architecture at the RWTH Aachen University since 2007.
