Of the around 20 biennials and triennials worldwide devoted to architecture, the Venice Architecture Biennale is the most prominent, considered as the world's leading biannual architecture festival. The participating architects selected every second year come from around the world to engage in the most important information exchange in the world of architecture. Aires Mateus Architects is the architectural practice operated by two brothers, Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus. They have been invited five times to participate in Venice. This publication will introduce the five architectural installations they contributed to the biennales in the last decade. The publication consists of five individual parts, each of them a separate book, and held together by a French-fold-dustjacket. Each book is dedicated to one exhibition in Venice. The beautiful projects presented in this volume set an outstanding example of architectural installations reflecting space in a sensitive, poetic and mathematical way. Over the last three decades, Aires Mateus have gained international recognition for their contemporary reinterpretation of architectural traditions in Portugal. Their work is poetic in nature, and much of it is based on constant exploration and experimentation. Their abstract architectural installations are the artistic manifestation of this work. Every installation will be introduced with a short essay, especially written for this publication by philosophers, architects, and an art critic. With contributions by Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Crespo, Sofia Pinto Basto, Paulo Pires do Vale, and Delfim Sardo.

This poetic and minimalist anthology presents 10 years of heritage of AIRES MATEUS design studios at the Accademia di Archittettura di Mendrisio in Switzerland.100 images of largescale models built by students of AIRES MATEUS are brought together to create a family portrait. Each expertly staged model is pictured with the essential schemes necessary to understand the volumes portrayed. Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus’ many years of experience in pedagogy and the use of models in practice are brought together in a manifesto which precedes the anthology of images. The importance of the model in the formation of architectural ideas and throughout the design process, as well as its potency as a standalone statement are highlighted. The evocative photographs in this book reveal abstract spaces produced by artistic interpretations of light, volume and materiality.