- Do you know who I'm presenting the conference with this afternoon"- Of course I do. Paulo, one of the best architects in Brazil.- For me, the best worldwide.

© Romullo Baratto

- Do you know who I'm presenting the conference with this afternoon"
- Of course I do. Paulo, one of the best architects in Brazil.
- For me, the best worldwide.I heard by chance this conversation between Eduardo Souto de Moura, 2011 Pritzker Prize, and Joanna Helm, our Content Director from ArchDaily Brazil, in the gardens of Ibirapuera Park, as I waited to enter the auditorium for the activities of X Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial (X BIAU). In that same afternoon, a small crowd occupied all the seats to watch and hear Souto de Moura and Paulo Mendes da Rocha sharing the stage.Paulo Mendes da Rocha turns 88 today and 2016 has been what one can call an enviable year for him, at least in his professional life. This year alone, he was awarded three major international architecture prizes: the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of La Biennale di Venezia, The Praemium Imperiale of the Japan Art Association, and the RIBA Gold Medal 2017. Besides that (as if it wasn?t enough), Paulo Mendes da Rocha has already been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Prize in the first Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial in 1998, the Mies van der Rohe Award for Latin-American Architecture in 1999 (for his project for the Brazilian Sculpture Museum ? MuBE) and 2...