One of the distinguished members of the WAF 2025 jury is Diogo Burnay. An acclaimed architect, educator, and curator, Burnay brings a deep understanding of architecture’s role in shaping the public realm. His work examines the social, cultural, and political dimensions of design, emphasizing the discipline’s public relevance across time and context. As a jury member at this year’s festival, he contributes his extensive experience, following his curatorial roles at the 2022 Lisbon Architecture Triennale “Terra” and the 2024 XIII BIAU in Lima, Peru. In an exclusive interview with Building Catalog, Burnay shares his reflections on the evolving responsibilities of architecture in contemporary society.

What is the importance of festivals for you in terms of interdisciplinary dialogue?

Learning opportunities about the diversity of practices with great quality around the planet. 

Have you ever had a festival experience that inspired your career?

Every festival has provided a vast array of inspiring conversations.

What is your favorite material to use—or to see being used—lately?

White in-situ concrete & wood

Which stage of the design process challenges you the most, but ultimately brings the greatest satisfaction?

Detail Design & Construction

How do you approach architecture’s impact on society and the physical environment in a creative way?

Through engagement & conversations with all involved. 

What, in your view, makes a project truly unforgettable?

It’s relation with the landscape. 

How are today’s crises—climate, urbanization, migration—shaping tomorrow’s architecture?

Today’s crises were yesterday and will be tomorrow’s challenges architecture’s across the planet will always present new possibilities. 

If you could meet any architect from the past, who would it be?

Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto 

With today’s wisdom, what one sentence would you tell your younger self when you first started in architecture?

Be committed, be serious and have fun, it can be. 

Which city has most inspired you recently?

Tokyo 

Where does your inspiration usually come from?

Program, site, cinema, ideas

What is the first thing that comes to mind about the design process?

Flow strategies spatial structure 

What makes a building timeless?

Uniqueness, sense of craft and place 

The most romantic aspect of a building?

The place(s) where your heart stop and one looses the sense of time 

A building’s one must-have?

A place one can call “home”

What was the first building you drew as a child?

The Falling Water, my dream house 

If architecture were an animal, what would it be?

Seagull. In the air, on the ground, under water (It brings together, the 3 elements)

The first thing you sketch when starting a project?

Flow strategy - program structure

Define the cities of the future in one word.

Density call concepts of density - physical, cultural 

If a material had a personality, which one would you be best friends with?

In situ concrete does have a personality and a mind of its own. 

What type of music plays in your mind when you start a project?

Sakamoto, Hans Zimmer, Radiohead, David Sylvian, Suzan Stevens,

The architectural word of 2025?

Plurality, diversity.