18 EAAE no 35 Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design: Advances in Technology and Changes in PedagogyJoaquim Braizinha, Lisbon, Portugal
Good afternoon, dear colleagues. Welcome to Portugal and to our School. I expect that
for most of you this is your f irst visit to Lisbon, and I hope you will make the most of
your time here.
I have the impression that we are anticipating the future. I would say that this is a
general characteristic of us architects, when we are doing our projects, when we are
teaching and preparing students to be future architects, and in activities such as these,
in events like the one beginning today. Such meetings, with presentations that are the
product of systematic research, can transform the way of thinking of teachers, in this
case, teachers of architectural design and they are really very important. In this sense,
I can say that we can change the future when we are together, whether we are looking
or moving in the same direction or whether we remain looking towards each other. I am
very happy to have the opportunity to hold this meeting here in Lisbon. Of course, it was
Constantin and Maria who made this meeting possible, with their experience from the
meetings they organise in the framework of their ENHSA Network every September in
Crete concerning the evolution of the profession in the schools and so on. It was their
initiative that brought us all together, working in the same direction and looking in the
same direction, to the future. Therefore, I wish to thank you, Dino, and you, Maria, for
the very generous work that you are doing.
Let us hear some applause for Dino and Maria.
Of course, you have a whole team of people working with you and I cannot mention
all of them by name, but I would like to express my thanks to them also. I would also
like to refer to the team we had working here to organise this event, so thank you, Cris-
tina and Miguel Siavra, for your help. There was a small but well-knit group of people
working on the organisation of this event, always in touch and working together with
Constantin and Maria.
What else can I say? I hope that you will enjoy this meeting and this town. Some
specific information: we will have lunch every day in the palace and this afternoon after
the meeting we are going to have a reception, a special opportunity to get together. So
please enjoy yourselves. We are here to answer any questions you may have, to help you
see the town, perhaps to tell you about some places that are particularly interesting.
There are eleven students who are here to help you with anything you need, as well as
myself.
Thank you for coming, and I will now ask my Rector, Diamantino Durão, to come up
and say a few words to you.
Diamantino Durão, Lisbon, Portugal
Thank you very much, for inviting me to be at the table. We are running a little late: I
usually say that fifteen minutes is an academic delay, and fifteen plus fifteen minutes is
the academic plus the European Commission delay – we, I think, are in between, which
is not too bad. I will be very brief, but first I must say how honoured I am to have you
here. I would like to thank all the organisers, all the participants and all the speakers. It
is an honour for us to have you here and I hope that you will have good sessions. I know
it is as important to have good presentations as it is to have good discussions, formal
and informal. I am sure it will be a good meeting. I do not know whether there are any
Portuguese students or students from other countries here, but if there are I just want