The intervention developed at the Convent of São Francisco de Real was awarded at the Real Estate Awards gala, organized by SIC Notícias and the Expresso newspaper, which took place on November 5, 2025, in the Interior Architecture category – public equipment/cultural heritage.
At this event, 22 awards were given to the best national real estate projects developed in 2024.

 

With a view to housing the facilities of the Archaeology Unit of the University of Minho and opening the complex to public visitation, the monastic complex will also house the Archaeological Center of CIM Cávado.

Carried out at the invitation of the Rectorate, the architectural project, developed at the Center for Studies of the School of Architecture, Art and Design of UM, was a central project in its activity, aimed at interaction with society. Involving a large technical team composed of architects (many of whom are EAAD alumni), landscape architects, archaeologists, and engineers, in a logic of committed multidisciplinary collaboration, both institutional and external, it was authored and coordinated by Professor, Architect and integrated Researcher of Lab2PT/IN2PAST Maria Manuel Oliveira.

It is worth highlighting, in this process, the consultancy provided in the fields of archaeology by Dr. Luís Fontes (Archaeology Unit of the University of Minho), in the history of architecture by Principal Investigator Teresa Cunha Ferreira (CEAU_UP), and in the inspection and diagnosis under the responsibility of Professor Paulo Lourenço (Department of Civil Engineering of UMinho).
Also noteworthy is the strong interaction between the project’s development and the pedagogical mission of EAAD, resulting in opportunities for critical reflection and learning within the scope of intervention in built heritage, as well as its support in research activities through Lab2PT, with results that bring architecture, archaeology, history, and tectonics into dialogue, embodied in communications, publications, and the creation of databases.

Among the publications produced, the following stand out: “Metamorphoses of the Convent of São Francisco de Real: recognition, analysis, interpretation” and “10 years of the Center for Studies of the School of Architecture of the University of Minho, 2009 | 2019”.

Resulting from an agreement made in 2014 between the University and the City Hall, owner of the building, which was then in an advanced state of disrepair, the work was carried out between 2022 and 2024 by the company AOF – Augusto de Oliveira Ferreira, with technical assistance from the EAAD Study Center and SOPSEC, under the responsibility and supervision of the City Hall.

 

Congratulations to everyone who participated and contributed to the intervention project at the Convent of São Francisco de Real!