The Portuguese architecture practice Ateliermob picked up one of three Future Cities Awards at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition included in the Venice Biennale, the organisers announced Thursday, 30 August.

Ateliermob won for its “Working with the 99%” project that calls for a repositioning of architectural practices as a response to the challenges of urban cities and featuring a case study implemented in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the Portuguese capital.

The two other award-winning projects at the Venice-held competition were Brazilian and Italian in origin.

Internationally acclaimed Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira was also chosen by the board of the Biennale as this year’s recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition – Common Ground.

The ceremony took place on Wednesday, 29 August, with board director David Chipperfield saying that “it is difficult to think of a contemporary architect who has maintained such a consistent presence within the profession as Álvaro Siza”, before concluding that his works ”are not the product of a conventional talent but of a mind sophisticatedly exercised by the confidence of knowledge and the wisdom of doubt.”

With PDV

(Photograph: Manuel de Sousa. All Rights Reserved.)