One of the most renowned Portuguese architects, Manuel Aires Mateus was born in 1963 and graduated as an architect in 1986 at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon, although he had collaborated with Gonçalo Byrne since 1983.

In 1988 he founded the studio Aires Mateus & Associados, together with his brother Francisco Aires Mateus. Among the many iconic works for which he is known, stand out; the restoration of Colégio da Trindade, in Coimbra, winner of the Architécti/Arkial Prize, in 2000; the Reitoria da Universidade de Lisboa , which won the Valmor Prize in 2002; the Sines Arts Center, finalist for the Mies Van Der Rohe Award in 2007; the EDP headquarters, on Avenida 24 de Julho, inaugurated in 2015 and winner of the Valmor Prize 2018 and the Secil Prize in 2020.