Neuza Valadas
Évora, Portugal | 25-01-1987

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Living between Portugal and Zurich, Neuza started studying architecture at Lusíada’s University of Lisbon, where she got in with a honour scholarship grant.

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She graduates in Science of Architecture in Lisbon in 2008 and with a Master Degree in Architecture in 2014.

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At Lusíada’s University of Lisbon she’s invited to present her second year project at Helena’s Botelho class.

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During her studies she was invited to work with Jorge Sanchez da Cruz, Architect based in Évora, Portugal. They developed a project that came to be built after her graduation, having the chance to follow all aspects of the project, watching closely the construction process, while studying architecture.

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During her last Master’s Degree year she was accepted to attend the prestigious University of Valladolid, at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura (ETSAVA) in Spain. As an exchange student, in Spain, she was one of the few students selected to represent the Architecture School at an International Competition. Definitely one of the happiest moments as an exchange student.  

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Invited to be part of “Lusíada’s 30 years of Architecture” exhibition in Lisbon, at Museu Nacional dos Coches, student invited to be in the Architecture YearBook of Lusíada’s University, among other projects; Neuza collaborated and worked with offices in Lisbon, Évora and Reykjavík. With a work multidisciplinar, she worked with JPSC architects, Collective ODD and GP Arkitektar.

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She’s a member of the Icelandic Architects Union, and currently she is a scholar researcher at Háskóli Íslands, at Faculty Of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Iceland.

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In February 2023 she’s been award a Civil Engineering Research grant, in order to investigate her P.hD: “Climate-Sustainable-Cities: building with carbon negative materials and regenerative methods in Architecture” at University of Iceland.

 

On May 2023 she took part on DesignMarch with the exhibition “Adapt & Evolve” at Nordic House, in Reykjavík, where part of her research along with samples of mycelium bricks and biochar were on display. In her research, Neuza explores topics on how we can optimize resources and time towards net zero while we scale up elements and practices to create a well-adjusted society facing global warming. 

Due to the synthetic materials highly used in architecture, currently the built Environment is a huge source of emissions, however it can be a sink, if designed at that. 
🪚 🔨 🏡 🌱 
Exploring the idea that transitioning to neutral and carbon negative materials in construction means meeting human needs in a whole-system approach by protecting our environment, she defends that we need to switch towards a Building industry where we build allowing resilient ecosystems: Nature, Humans & Cities.

Along with her exhibition, Neuza hosted a workshop directed to children “The Play House”, where play & education towards sustainability, climate and architecture can coexist.