Design with purpose: Portugal shines at WAF

Projects in the Azores and Évora among the winners at the World Architecture Festival

University of Évora Health Centre, by CLOU architectsTwo Portuguese projects are among the select group of winners at the 2025 edition of the World Architecture Festival (WAF), one of the most important events in contemporary architecture worldwide. “Echoes of the Void”, by the Segmento Urbano studio, and the new Health Centre at the University of Évora, designed by CLOU architects, were awarded the WAFX prize in the Ageing and Health category.

The ceremony will take place in November in Miami, and the award recognises proposals that explore design as an active response to global issues such as health, sustainability, ethics and technology. Among more than two dozen award-winning projects, the two Portuguese projects stand out for their sensitive and integrated approach — architecture designed to care for, move and belong to the place.

“Echoes of the Void”: architecture as refuge and ritual

Set in the lush nature of Furnas, on the island of São Miguel (Azores), the “Echoes of the Void” project proposes a welcoming space for people at the end of their lives. Far from the traditional clinical rigidity, the building invites pause, contemplation and silence, promoting an emotional experience deeply connected to the natural surroundings.

Inspired by the five stages of grief, the architectural journey is organised between light and shadow, fullness and emptiness, creating a spatial sequence that leads those who inhabit it on a symbolic journey. The building is designed by Maria João Correia, Cristina Lúcio, Sónia Silva and Hiago Carvalho.

‘It is a silent, restrained architecture that refuses to impose itself on the place. It is a gesture of care — for the individual and for the landscape,’ says Maria João Correia, founder of Segmento Urbano.

Évora Health Centre: between nature, knowledge and community

The University of Évora Health Centre proposes a new vision for educational architecture, presenting itself as an ecosystem where the boundaries between inside and outside are intentionally blurred. The project, designed by Tiago Tavares (CLOU architects), is based on a series of volumes interconnected by courtyards, squares and pedestrian paths, where everyday academic life merges with the surrounding territory.

The continuous roof, a unifying element of the proposal, provides shade, thermal comfort and visual unity to the complex, while encouraging informality in meetings and learning. Nature, Sustainability and Learning are the guiding pillars of this project, which rethinks the way we inhabit educational spaces.

Beyond their functional dimension, both projects reflect an architecture that embraces empathy, human scale and sensitive design — values that are increasingly central to contemporary practice.