Carlos Marreiros: the Macanese architect, painter, and heritage advocate

Carlos Marreiros (b. 1957, Macau) is a Macanese architect, urban planner, painter, and cultural figure. A graduate of the Lisbon fine-arts academy's architecture department, he has designed buildings across Macau, Hong Kong, and Portugal and was responsible for the Macau Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. A long-standing advocate for Macau's heritage, he turned the Holy House of Mercy's Albergue SCM into a cultural and arts venue, and stands as a leading figure of Sino-Portuguese cultural exchange.

A Macanese architect who shapes Macau's cityscape on the drawing board while guarding its memory with a painter's brush and a heritage advocate's voice.

Carlos Marreiros is a Macanese architect, urban planner, painter, and cultural figure. His work spans architecture, painting, and heritage preservation, making him one of the emblematic figures of contemporary Sino-Portuguese cultural exchange.

Profile

• Chinese Name: 馬若龍
• Portuguese Name: Carlos Marreiros
• Born: 1957 (Macau)
• Region: Macao
• Domains: Culture (Architecture · Painting · Heritage)
• Subject type: Macanese · Architect · Painter

Background

The Macanese (土生葡人, Macaense) are a community that took root in Macau over centuries, blending Portuguese and Chinese ancestry and culture. Marreiros was born into a Macanese family in Macau in 1957 and grew up in that bicultural world. He went to Portugal to study architecture at the Lisbon fine-arts academy (ESBAL), and after graduating in 1981 studied and worked in Germany and Sweden, gathering cross-border experience in architecture and planning.

Work & Career

I. Architect and urban planner

After returning to Macau, Marreiros served in the territory's government bodies for architecture, urban planning, and cultural preservation between 1983 and 1986, working in the public realm. He later founded MAA — Marreiros Architectural Atelier, whose work spans Macau, Hong Kong, and Portugal and includes public spaces such as Macau's Tap Seac Square. He was also responsible for the design of the Macau Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

II. Painter and cultural promoter

Beyond architecture, Marreiros is an active painter whose work has been widely exhibited. He has long devoted himself to the preservation and promotion of Macau's cultural heritage, and stewards the Albergue SCM cultural and arts venue, turning that cluster of historic buildings into a place for exhibitions and creative work.

Connection to Macau

Marreiros's architectural and cultural work is rooted in the urban fabric of Macau and the history of Sino-Portuguese exchange. Whether designing public spaces, revitalising historic buildings, or pursuing painting and cultural advocacy, he keeps Macau at the centre, expressing the city's distinctive cross-cultural character.