The Lusitan Architecture Experience

The tours are led and organized by Hans Ola Boman, Swedish architect active in Porto since 1999. HOB, organizing the tours since 2004 with the experience of over 40 groups, has high academic and pedagogical competence, which is confirmed in his curriculum vitae and references from satisfied clients. The clients have consisted in Architecture studios, associations, magazines, students, municipal offices and private individuals from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and USA. HOB worked as a senior architect at Álvaro Siza’s office 2002-2011 and develops own projects since 2001. 

Porto has made success as destination for architectural tourism since 2004, when the city received a lot of attention in the specialist press. The brightest stars at the time were Álvaro Siza and Rem Koolhaas. Since then Eduardo Souto Moura has come to enjoy the same respect and interest, consolidated by the Pritzker Prize 2011.

The international fame of the so called Porto School made the city appear as the architectural capital for a long time, but during the last decade Lisbon has received increasing attention with new talents such as Aires Mateus, ARX Portugal and Carrilho da Graça. The capital has also been endowed with works by international maestros as Santiago Calatrava, Paulo Mendes da Rocha and Charles Correa. Siza and Souto Moura also have reference works in Lisbon. 

The program is elaborated according to the requirements of each group concerning architectural objects, time frame, budget and any other cultural interests. Emphasis is typically put on the areas around Porto and Lisbon, but other destinations can be organized on request. The professional experience is updated continuously by theoretical studies, visits to sites and dialogue with architects and users resulting in a solid and detailed critical review of each object. The tours are given in English, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish or German. Guiding in German is performed in collaboration with Ina Valkanova, who is also able to conduct tours in English, Spanish and Bulgarian.