Siza describes working with Portuguese architect Carlos Castanheira as "the best years of my life". He refers to the most recent projects in South Korea, China and Taiwan, but long before that, their paths crossed in Oliveira de Azeméis and The Hague, in exhibitions and publications as numerous as their personal stories or their dinner sketches.

Carlos Castanheira was born in Lisbon in June 1957. He graduated in Architecture from the Porto School of Fine Arts and then lived in Amsterdam, where he worked as an architect and studied at the Academie Voor Bouwkunst Van Amsterdam. He has been working independently since 1993, primarily in the private sector, and has taken part in competition panels, conferences, courses and workshops on architectural education. He has collaborated with Siza Vieira on various projects in Portugal and, notably, abroad.