(“Text as submitted by Architect”)
Diogo Sousa Rocha
Diogo obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Faculty of Architecture of Porto, Portugal. More recently, he took an MBA in Business in PBS and IE. Now he is engaged in Business Innovation at the University of California at Haas. In 2013 he collaborated with Aflalo e Gasperini in São Paulo, Brazil. From 2014 till now, he worked in the Architecture field, starting MASS Lab in 2015 with his two partners.
Duarte Ramalho Fontes
Duarte graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Porto, Portugal. From 2011 to 2013, he collaborated with OODA in Porto on multiple projects in Europe and Asia. Since 2007 Duarte has collaborated on multiple projects and competitions with names like Camilo Rebelo, Graça Correia, and Adalberto Dias. Duarte also collaborated with BIG Bjarke Ingels Group in Copenhagen from 2012 to 2013 on multiple projects. In 2015 he founded MASS lab with his two partners.
Lourenço Rodrigues Menezes
Lourenço obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Faculty of Architecture of Porto, Portugal. From 2011 to 2013, he collaborated with OODA in Porto on multiple projects in Europe and Asia. From 2013 to 2014, he worked at Kengo KUMA in Paris. Back in Portugal, he collaborated with Adalberto Dias. From 2014 to 2015, Lourenço worked for Rem Koolhaas’ OMA in Rotterdam, where he designed for multiple projects and competitions. In 2015 he founded MASS lab with his two partners.
Practice Ideology
MASSLAB is a progressive and contemporary design studio engaged in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and comprehensive planning. The Porto-based studio was founded in 2014 and currently employs 29 full-time staff. The supporting multidisciplinary design team spans seven nationalities and features a fertile mix of professional and educational backgrounds.
MASSLAB’s approach is inclusive; social, practical, economical, and environmental issues are integrated into the creative process and projects of multiple scales: building to public space, urban planning, and furniture design.
We work with enthusiasm, creativity, and curiosity; we believe this approach is essential for developing appropriate strategies for a constantly changing world. Not believing in individual work, we permanently establish strategic collaborations with specialists from several professional fields and geographies. In order to always come up with the best solutions, MASSLAB already teams up with specialists from Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.
The company’s portfolio includes all sorts of projects between Portugal and Scandinavia, industrial renovations, student residences, collective housing buildings, urbanization, and several ongoing masterplans, progressing in the path of architectural innovation, rethinking the city and the urban environment.
In a short time, MASSLAB achieved international recognition through international competition wins, with special emphasis on the Nordic countries and Portugal.
