Architect Nuno Valentim’s proposal to renovate Quinta de Crasto, the headquarters of the Biopolis Association in Vila do Conde, has been awarded the 2026 Gulbenkian Heritage Prize — Maria Tereza and Vasco Vilalva. The project converted the former farm into a contemporary scientific facility while retaining its agricultural character and historic buildings.
Valentim said the site offers a different model for agricultural estates, showing that they can serve purposes beyond becoming hotels or guesthouses. At Quinta de Crasto, spaces once used for farm work have been adapted for research, collaboration and administration.
The manor house now contains administrative areas, meeting rooms and spaces for researchers to gather. Former storage and drying buildings have become a multipurpose hall and research rooms, while the threshing floor has been recast as a meeting place for scientists. The former workers’ house and workshops are used as dry laboratories, and the old animal stalls have been converted into plant laboratories. The estate also includes a laboratory for ancient DNA research.
The jury praised the restoration of the buildings, the project’s multidisciplinary approach and Biopolis’s engagement with the surrounding area. It said the research centre preserves the living memory of the estate’s former functions. Valentim described the project as a way to turn a traditional rural complex into an infrastructure for knowledge, science and work across disciplines.
The jury also proposed three honourable mentions: the renovation of Casa Cedo in Porto, Casa d’Abreu Neto in Matosinhos, and the former Telheiro of Lisbon’s Miguel Bombarda Psychiatric Hospital, now the Valentim de Barros Studio Hall.
Sources: Observador.