Born in 1959 in Funchal. The professional training began with a migration to Lisbon.Upon the return to the Island, he created his own office, located in Funchal’s city center.There are a few moments in the history of the office which represent a source of plentiful honor and satisfaction, especially when awarded or referenced by people of great esteem, like: the winning of such prizes as the commend given by the Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas: Comendador da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique; the Alvar Aalto Medal in Helsinki in 2012, the Prémio AICA Carreira da Associação Internacional de Críticos de Arte/Ministério da Cultura in 2007; his nomination for the Prémio Pessoa that same year; the Premio FAD de Arquitectura 2007, in the City and Landscape category; his nomination for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award in 2005; the national prize “A Pedra na Arquitectura” in 2005; the Prémio Enor Portugal 2005; his shortlisting for the European Public Space Award in 2008 and for the Contractworld Award 2008; his nomination for the Klippan Award, also in 2008, and for the Prémio Secil. Moreover it is worth to mention his participation in a series of national and international exhibitions like the Global Ends – Towards the Beginning exhibition at Gallery Ma in Tokyo to celebrate the galleries’ 25th anniversary (where seven architects all over the world were invited) and whose theme was bonded to those architects who search the real meaning of things, on their own location, taking advantage of itself and alienating from the architectural globalization phenomenon, not in the development of new technologies section, but in the way how they understand the act of projecting in architecture. As well as the exhibition “Inverted Ruins” on the 15th Venice Architectural Biennale, 2016.
Invited Professor in several Universities, with special relevance at Cornell University for the Option Studio by Art, Architecture and Planning Department, in Ithaca, 2017; at Scuola di Architettura Urbanistica Ingegneria delle Construzioni by Politecnico di Milano, in Milan, 2016; at Escola da Cidade in São Paulo, Brasil for a post-grad; at Escola de Arquitectura of Universidade Católica in Santiago Chile for the Workshop Arquitectura Santiago, 2015; at Universidade de Sassari in Alghero for the II Master Internazionale di Livello in Waterscape, 2014; at Universidad Nebrija in Madrid for the Máster Universitario en Arquitectura, 2013-2016; École d’Architecture de Nancy for an architecture workshop, 2010; at Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa for an architecture seminar, 2009.
Besides his activity as an architect, Paulo David created an annual architecture laboratory focused on emerging themes of the city, open to students from all over the country. He has also founded and co-coordinates an urban studies studio “Gabinete da Cidade” as a result of the major fires in Madeira in the Summer of 2016.
On a daily basis, he walks through gardens in the city where he admires trees that came from all continents in the world. Not keeping a website and avoiding taking part in the social networks is intentional. Does not own a watch and, at the weekends, he wanders along a path on the islands coast that ends up in diving into the Atlantic.