Fala Atelier

FALA is a naïve architecture practice based in Porto, led by Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares and Ahmed Belkhodja.

Established in 2013, the atelier works with methodic optimism on a wide range of projects, from territories to birdhouses.

Its founders previously studied in Faculdade de Arquitectura do Porto, ETH Zurich and Tokyo University, among others, and went along to practice beside renowned and influential architects such as Harry Gugger, SANAA, Toyo Ito or Atelier Bow-Wow.

While speculating about its own uncompromising horizon, FALA’s work is a medley of formal languages, references, colours and themes, only regulated by an obsession for clarity and consistency. The produced architecture is rhetorical in its aim but disciplined in its physical and emotional reach. Through precise and provocative proposals the atelier avoids the incoherence or arbitrariness of incompetent architecture and the precious intricacies of picturesqueness or expressionism.

Since its inception, FALA has worked on institutional, cultural and residential projects, utopian visions, furniture design and even designing hot-dog kiosks. Its work has been exhibited in a variety of international venues such as the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and the Chicago Architecture Biennale, as well as presented in lectures all around the globe. The atelier has been deeply involved in a wide range of curatorial and theoretical projects, both in Portugal and abroad, and currently teaches theory of architecture in Bratislava’s Faculty of Architecture.