With an extensive scientific curriculum in architecture, a research area that expands temporally and geographically, how has your particular approach to the study of heritage and architecture shaped your academic journey?
Early in my academic journey, I developed a particular curiosity about history, collective identity, and the cultural encounters that occurred during Portugal's maritime expansion. Later, during my Architecture course at the University of Coimbra, this interest was nurtured by Professors such as Fernando Távora, Alexandre Alves Costa, and Domingos Tavares. Simultaneously, I participated as a volunteer in several archaeological excavations in the north of the country, with students from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. I ended up finding in the ruins of large buildings, especially those at risk of erosion or demolition, my main research theme and also my architectural project focus. In fact, I never had the aptitude to conceive and develop large-scale projects – large residential buildings or hotels – which were usually the core subjects of architecture courses, both in Coimbra and Porto. Perhaps this handicap also led me to the themes of heritage, rehabilitation, and conservation. When I completed my degree in Architecture, it was more out of necessity – but also out of interest, of course – that I applied for and benefited from several grants, from the Scientific Initiation Grant (2006-2007), Doctoral Grant (2008-2011), Post-Doctoral Grant (2013-2018), and CEEC-Individual Grant/Contract (2019-2024). The high competitiveness of these grants, especially for projects in the scientific area of History and Theory of Architecture, required constant research work and theoretical updating. All these projects had the Portuguese-influenced heritage in Asia as their main theme, also leading me to build an international network of contacts.

The cultural heritage of Portuguese influence in Asia and Southeast Asia is the main focus of your research, which we might say stands out as a specialisation. What inspiration sparked this particular interest?
In 2001, as a final-year student at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP), I chose to do the 5th year of my degree as a free-mover student at the Goa College of Architecture in India. At the beginning of this process, there was the challenge of organising and conducting the exchange between universities, including admission to the University of Goa, which was not straightforward. However, shortly after arriving in Goa, I had the opportunity to visit Old Goa, the former capital of the State of India, a city partly abandoned and partly ruined, with buildings of high and unique heritage value. It was an unforgettable experience. When I realised that many of those ruins had never been studied or even explored, I found a perfect theme for my Final Degree Project (which today is equivalent to a master's dissertation). Fortunately, in this academic work, I was guided by Professor Alexandre Alves Costa, who not only closely followed the development of the research but also generously directed me to a group of other professors and researchers connected to Portuguese-influenced heritage in the East, to hear diverse experiences and perspectives. Among these contacts was Professor Paulo Varela Gomes, who later became co-supervisor of my doctoral thesis, and to whom I also owe much at the start of my scientific journey. At the confluence of my passion for Old Goa and the sharing of knowledge with these two Masters, the focus of my research was born and developed, which later expanded to other coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent, and later to countries such as Sri Lanka, East Timor, Malaysia, etc.

You were recently awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for your project "ID-SCAPES: Building Identity. Religious Architecture and Sacral Landscapes of Christian Minorities in India and Bangladesh". Could you share with the U.Porto scientific community the complexities and challenges of studying religious architecture in these minority communities, and how this project aims to reshape our collective understanding of identity, cultural and otherwise, through sacred architecture?
The ID-SCAPES project focuses on the Portuguese-influenced cultural heritage associated with Christian minorities in India and Bangladesh, a heritage that is transcultural, multifaceted, and sometimes contested, but always essential for the history, identity, and resilience of these minorities. Many of the medieval and early modern churches in both countries were built primarily for communities of newly converted Christians from different regions and castes, and consequently with corresponding identities. Even today, many of the churches in South Asia reflect these identities and local traditions, with factors such as caste, indigenous influence, and cultural accommodation playing a role in their social and architectural history. These contexts have given rise to distinct regional architectural expressions in the main ethnolinguistic Christian communities of both countries. Currently, as dominant groups assert hegemonic policies throughout South Asia, religious minorities face increasing challenges, and their cultural heritage is often at risk. Many of the churches in South Asia founded before ca. 1800 have disappeared, are in ruins, or have been profoundly transformed, and there is a sense of urgency in documenting the remaining churches. The ID-SCAPES project will produce a Social History of the Built Environment of the medieval and early modern churches and sacralised landscapes of India and Bangladesh, revealing the influences of various agencies, identities, and traditions in their architecture.

Your research is extraordinarily rich in multidisciplinarity, encompassing various disciplines beyond architecture, such as history and cultural studies. How do you consider this thematic reciprocity enriches the study of architecture in general?
For many decades, most works by Portuguese authors on the history of Portuguese-influenced heritage worldwide were based on readings centred on individual architectural objects and were strongly influenced by Eurocentric perspectives. In these perspectives, these objects were understood as extensions or variants of models emanating from mainland Portugal, isolated from their local cultural contexts. This Eurocentric view was – and sometimes still is – permeable to some "nostalgias" and "paternalisms," often indifferent to how the inhabitants of the countries where Portuguese-influenced heritage is spread think and deal with that heritage. In my research, one of the issues I cherish most is the production of value and meanings inherent to this heritage that resonate and are relevant to the populations closest to it, who live and experience it daily. To achieve this, it is essential to confront the often controversial, violent, and socially unjust legacy of Portuguese colonialism, looking at pre-colonial, post-colonial, and para-colonial contexts, beyond the colonial period itself. Thus, Portuguese-influenced heritage cannot be separated from those who were subjugated by the Portuguese colonial project. One cannot look at a fortification in Africa without thinking about the peoples who were in the sights of its cannons; one cannot look at an 18th-century plantation in Brazil without thinking about the slaves who built it; one cannot look at a church in India without thinking about those who were barred from entering it. Given this approach to thinking about Portuguese-influenced heritage, history and cultural studies are indispensable disciplinary fields without which there is, in fact, no history of architecture.

We would like to address an upstream topic, that of conservation. In your opinion, is there a need to better educate and raise awareness among policymakers and society in general about the importance of conserving such architectural and landscape richness, and ultimately, cultural and heritage wealth?
Regarding the conservation of Portuguese-influenced heritage worldwide, the reality I know best is that of India. In that country, there is a strong connection between politics and religion. Concerning Catholic churches, it is essential to understand the actions of the Indian Catholic clergy through diocesan and parish institutions. Some decisions regarding the conservation – or non-conservation – of Portuguese-influenced churches have political connotations. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, there were moments when elements of the Indian Catholic clergy sought to distance themselves from the legacy of Portuguese colonialism, notably through the construction of new churches in place of older ones, sometimes erasing traces of Portuguese influence. Currently, this trend is less common, but it had a profound impact. On the other hand, there are many churches or convents in ruins that never attracted the attention or investment of the Catholic Church in India. If there is something that the history of the last two centuries has taught us, it is that the religious buildings of Portuguese influence in India will mostly end up disappearing. It is a process that ends up being natural, considering the reality of the Indian economy and society. Within the scope of the ID-SCAPES project, we mainly seek to raise awareness among the Catholic clergy, diocesan hierarchies, and parish associations about the cultural significance of this heritage. Only through the convergence of political will at the diocesan level and proactive movements at the parish level can we attempt to reverse, in some places, a process of heritage erosion that seems irreversible. Thus, the ID-SCAPES project has a strong focus on this awareness-raising, but also on the rigorous graphic documentation of heritage at risk, seeking at least to rescue its memory in anticipation of its imminent physical disappearance.

Regarding the various international collaborations that make up your scientific journey, how has the Afro-Asian-European influence shaped your perspective on the exchange and transformation of cultural heritage, particularly in the context of the evolution of architectural history?
If we look at Portuguese-influenced heritage worldwide, there are two clearly distinct spaces: the Atlantic space and the Indian Ocean space (with its extension into part of the western Pacific). During the early modern period, excluding the Portuguese presence in Morocco, it is observed that in the Atlantic space, Portuguese-influenced architecture was relatively little impacted by local architectural and urban cultures. Conversely, in the Indian Ocean space, Portuguese-influenced architecture was strongly influenced by the cultures and peoples of the regions where it was established, from the East African coast to Japan. This dichotomy is especially marked in Christian religious architecture. Just compare the early modern churches of Brazil with those of India. The truth is that along the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean frequented by the Portuguese in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, there was a remarkable cultural encounter and exchange, a process that had a very significant impact on architecture and urbanism. These realities underpin the objectives and methodologies of the PORTofCALL project (funded by the FCT), for which I am a co-investigator, with Professor Marta Oliveira as the principal investigator. Over the first three years of this project, it was possible to develop and deepen international collaborations in several Indian Ocean countries, such as Mozambique, India, and Sri Lanka, highlighting the plural and transcultural value of Portuguese-influenced heritage, without forgetting the controversial legacy of Portuguese colonialism.

How do you bridge the gap between academic research and fieldwork – which in architecture is inherently inseparable – and what major challenges does this demanding balance impose?
The balance between fieldwork and research in archives and libraries is fundamental for me. I know many architects who excel in fieldwork but have an "allergy" to the dust of books and manuscripts... and I know other academics who write about Portuguese-influenced heritage without leaving the rooms and offices in Portugal. The results of these methods are rarely interesting in terms of producing innovative knowledge. Naturally, fieldwork in countries like India is logistically more complex than in Portugal. When I mention in the summary of my curriculum vitae that I coordinated in situ twenty-five georeferenced topographic surveys of archaeological sites in India (among ruins of forts, churches, chapels, and manor houses of Portuguese influence), I do so because I know that most people connected to my scientific area understand the challenges such tasks entail. These are very intensive moments of work, but they only make sense if, simultaneously, the corresponding documentary research is carried out. I feel that, currently, architecture students are in a phase of fascination with certain digital tools that apparently produce attractive results with little investment of time, whether in fieldwork or archival work. I warn them about the need not to forget the architect's main tool: drawing. Both drawing from observation and drawing as a conceptual tool. In other words, to truly understand an architectural work of heritage value, it is not enough to see it and/or photograph it; it is necessary to observe and interpret it through drawing. At the intersection of these drawings with visual or written documents, the window opens for drawing as a production of knowledge, supported by the written word.

Having won prestigious awards, such as the 'Fernando Távora' prize, and published reference works, how do you balance your responsibilities in research, writing, and teaching? What advice would you give to emerging academics aspiring to a complex interdisciplinary research career?
Fortunately, I am in a position where it is relatively simple to balance research with teaching because the experiences and results of my research produce the architectural history that I communicate to students, as one of the professors of the Portuguese Architectural History course unit. Therefore, there is a "direct channel," so to speak, from my research to my teaching and mentoring activities. Writing is always more complicated due to editorial policies and funding issues. With the ID-SCAPES project, it is possible to publish extensively and for a large audience on the themes of Portuguese-influenced heritage, which is a privilege but also a great responsibility. In fact, the project allows updating the history of Portuguese-influenced architecture, and this is only achieved through publications. It is very difficult to give advice, as each academic journey is built facing specific challenges, whether academic, scientific, or personal. However, considering the reality of academia and architecture schools in Portugal, I think it is essential, to be a professor, to have experience in more than one institution. In my case, I was a student in the Department of Architecture at the University of Coimbra and the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Porto, in addition to the experience as a free-mover in Goa. Later, I was a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies and an assistant professor at the Lusófona University of Porto. And currently, I am a professor at the University of Porto, my hometown. Each passage through each institution had its "highs and lows," but it always had an enriching effect, both scientifically and in human relations.

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