Jorge Novais Bastos is a distinguished Portuguese civil engineer, academic, and researcher whose career has been characterized by a sustained dialogue between structural engineering and architecture. Born in 1957 in Lourenço Marques (present-day Maputo), Mozambique, he developed an academic and professional trajectory deeply connected to the advancement of structural design, construction technologies, and architectural education in Portugal.
He graduated in Engineering Sciences, specializing in Civil Engineering, from the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP) in 1978. He subsequently completed postgraduate studies in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnics at the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa in 1980. His advanced academic training continued in the United States at The University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained a Master’s degree in 1983 specializing in reinforced concrete structures, followed by a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1987, both later recognized by the University of Porto.
Throughout his professional and academic career, Jorge Novais Bastos has been closely associated with the teaching of structures and construction within architectural education. He became Professor Catedrático at the Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa (FA.ULisboa), where his pedagogical and research activities have contributed significantly to the integration of structural thinking within architectural practice and theory.
His research has focused particularly on construction systems, structural evolution, housing quality, and the technical transformation of Portuguese architecture throughout the twentieth century. In parallel with his teaching activity, he has authored numerous studies, essays, and book chapters dedicated to the evolution of housing and construction in Portugal, contributing to a broader understanding of the relationship between engineering, architecture, and the built environment.
Jorge Novais Bastos belongs to a generation of Portuguese engineers and scholars whose work helped strengthen the interdisciplinary relationship between engineering and architecture in Portugal. His career reflects a continuous commitment to technical rigor, academic research, and the advancement of structural knowledge within architectural culture.
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series: Engineering Projects
