A day with... António Segadães, FEUP Career Award 2019

Text: Helena Peixoto Photos: reserved rights

A preeminent figure in Civil Engineering. It is almost impossible to compile a list of the top Portuguese Engineering projects without selecting one from António Segadães, the second graduate from the Faculty of Engineering to see his career distinguished with the FEUP Career Award.

The Belém Cultural Centre, the Camões Theatre, the Expo’98 precinct, the Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre, the Algarve Shopping Centre, the Vilamoura Marina Hot – all these emblematic works share a common thread: they were designed by António Segadães Madeira Tavares. His multifaceted experience and remarkable achievements, including invaluable contributions to Portuguese Engineering have all led to him winning the 2 nd edition of the FEUP Career Award. This prize is presented annually in recognition of those outstanding FEUP graduates who have distinguished themselves throughout their career, and who are professionally revered by their peers and within the engineering community, having helped to consolidate FEUP’s image as a leading institution in the field of Engineering.

08.45 am

9.30 am

1.30 pm

3.00 pm

5.00 pm We went to meet António Segadães, who shared with FEUP what a ‘typical day’ involves for him:

The day begins with a calm breakfast, in one of his favourite Lisbon cafés.

António Segadães arrives at Largo de Santos (Lisbon), where his company office is located, operating under the name – ‘STA - Segadães Tavares & Associados, Engenheiros e Arquitetos Consultores, Lda.’ (Segadães Tavares & Associates, Engineers and Consulting Architects, Ltd). The business, which he himself founded and manages, is dedicated to consulting and Civil Engineering projects. The morning is usually spent responding to incoming e-mails, dealing with any pending issues and solving problems that may have arisen.

It’s time for a lunch break. Accompanied by an office colleague, he looks for somewhere he likes, which is no longer an easy decision, since the restaurants he once enjoyed – especially those serving fresh fish, which for the best part of two decades were effectively his ‘canteen’ – have closed or are now adapting to a new type of clientele, more used to fast food.

After arriving back at the office, António Segadães spends some time working on the book he plans to publish, which deals with an “Introduction to Civil Engineering”, the subject area that he taught at the Department of Civil Engineering at Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

The working day is over, but António Segadães’ day does not end there. From then until dinner time, reading takes up a large part of his time.

There are days when his habitual schedule changes - as it did on this particular day. Professional reasons took him to the FIL Pavilions at Parque das Nações, where the International Construction Fair was taking place. After finding out what had been going on and picking up some necessary documentation, he took advantage of being so near to drop in on the Vasco da Gama Centre, one of STA’s 8.00 pm renowned projects and the location of one of the bookstores he often visits on Saturdays.

Leaving the Vasco da Gama Centre and on the way to the station car park where he had left his car, he could see the buildings surrounding the old Olivais Dock, from the Camões Theatre to the Dockside Restaurants and Amphitheatre, passing by the “Olympic Building” and the Portugal Pavilion with its Canopy. It is a source of pride that only the Oceanário was not a STA project. These grand public spaces remind him of another civic space, the Belém Cultural Centre, where he is will attend a stage show based on Wagner’s “Valkyrie”. This, in turn, reminds him of the meetings he once had with the great architect Vittorio Gregotti (who recently passed away at the age of 92) when he talked about Show Modules - a real privilege!

Whenever the opportunity arises, António Segadães meets friends for dinner and takes the opportunity to explore cuisine from around the world – one of his passions! And while on this topic, it is worth explaining his preferences in more detail: when it comes to national gastronomy, Alentejan cuisine with its miraculous herbs is always a good bet, but so also is a tasty oven-roasted kid. He considers European cuisine essential – Spanish, French or Italian in particular – while Angolan cooking must include a good fish “moamba”, a “muzongué” and a delicious goat stew (the latter made by António himself)! Travelling to Morocco or Tunisia, a good “tagine” is always an excellent option, as well as a “pastilla” of very thin puff pastry (like Tentugal pastries) stuffed with shredded pigeon, couscous, sultanas, cinnamon and honey. Moving on to the Near East, he highlights the excellent salads and “mezzes” of Turkey. Journeying a little further - to China – he remembers the very spicy Sichuan cuisine. And then, before reaching the refinement of Japan, he recommends Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. Jumping to the Americas, he highlights Brazil, with Brazilian “feijoada” (which must include every element), a good “Vatapá” and “Carne de Sol”. And, of course, to Mexico, with one of the richest cuisines in the world, beginning with the starters and snacks, then trying the “tamales” and “guacamoles” with “totopos” and finishing off with minced or roast meat!

The canopy of the Ceremonial Square attached to the Portugal Pavilion for Expo’98, Lisbon, is one of his most remarkable projects

António Segadães Madeira Tavares

Born on December 3, 1944, in Luau (Angola), he graduated in Civil Engineering at FEUP and followed a remarkable career in the area of engineering projects, service buildings and special structures as well as the restoration of buildings. In 1969 he joined the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering to begin his professional career.

Among his most outstanding achievements were the Runway Expansion at Funchal Airport, the canopy of the Ceremonial Square attached to the Portugal Pavilion, the Camões Theatre (the latter two being built for Expo 98), and the Reinforcement and Consolidation of the Rossio Railway Tunnel and Emergency Galleries.

His works also include the Belém Cultural Centre, several shopping centres such as “Vasco da Gama Shopping”, among many others, while not forgetting his restoration of old buildings, such as the fire-devastated Chiado Area of Lisbon, or the Bank of Portugal, in Évora, to name but two.

He was, successively, Director of the Studies and Projects Department of the construction company Teixeira Duarte, Technical Director of TRIEDE and is currently director and managing director of STA - Segadães Tavares & Associados, Engenheiros e Arquitetos Consultores, Lda.

He taught at the Instituto Superior Técnico, at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Luanda and at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (between 1969 and 1973), and was Full Professor (guest) at the Department of Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (between 1999 and 2013).

He is author of the book “Matrix Analysis of Structures”, published in 1972 by the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering. He has published dozens of articles in specialized publications and presented many papers at national and international congresses and conferences. Senior member of the Order of Engineers (specialist in structures), and member of the International Concrete Federation, the American Concrete Institute, the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering and the Portuguese Geotechnical Society.

Awarded an honorary doctorate (Doutor Honoris Causa) from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2012), he has received many prizes, including the “Outstanding Structure Award”, presented by the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering for the airport runway expansion project in Madeira (2004). His distinctions awarded by the Portuguese Republic include “Ordem do Infante D. Henrique” (2006) and “Ordem de Mérito” (2000), the “Gold Medal” from the Order of Engineers (Ordem dos Engenheiros) (2011) and the “SECIL Award” for Civil Engineering (2001).