Inês Bordado Ferrão and Sónia Caldeira Ferrão established OFICINA DOS JARDINS in 1999, after having worked together on and off for several years, following their graduation in 1996 as Landscape Architects at Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Faculdade Técnica de Lisboa. From its inception, OFICINA DOS JARDINS has developed multiple projects in different areas and on various scales - designing and planning private gardens, historic garden restoration, planning public spaces, urban developments and tourism resorts. OFICINA DOS JARDINS’s first major undertaking was the requalification, in 2000, of the garden of the Church of Graça in Santarém. This was followed by Francisco Caldeira Cabral Urban Park in Algés, Lisbon, and of Maria Leonor Square in the sports district of Algés, both completed in 2005. The design of Rossio Square in Pernes, Santarém, was completed in 2006. From 2008 to 2010 OFICINA DOS JARDINS entered into a partnership with Parques de Sintra, Monte da Lua, and took part in the recuperation and management of Pena park. In 2007 OFICINA DOS JARDINS, in partnership with the architecture firm Extrastudio, won the tender for the re-qualification of Légua Beach, in Alcobaça. In 2009 OFICINA DOS JARDINS was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Valdebebas Urban Park, Madrid, and was awarded the 1st prize for the Tavira Island public space re-qualification; in 2013 it was awarded the 1st prize for Horta Seafront re-qualification, in Faial Island, Azores, whose first stage of construction was completed in 2021. As part of the Atelier RUA team they won competitions for the new Linhaceira school in Tomar (2014), which opened in 2021, and for the Sacavém and Moscavide Urban Centers Revitalization Projects (2015), both already partially built. Within the scope of private gardens, the atelier has developed several projects in recent years – in Sesimbra, Meco, Azeitão, Carcavelos, Lisbon, Algarve.
SÓNIA CALDEIRA Degree in Landscape Architecture from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, in 1996 presenting a final dissertation in vegetation. In 1993, she participated in the ELEE / Masterclasses in Landscape Architecture, in Berlin. From 1997 to 1999 she taught vegetation in the course of Garden Restoration at Escola Profissional de Recuperação do Património de Sintra. From 1994 to 2004 collaborated with the studio TOPIARIS in the developing of projects in the area of urban planning, private gardens, industrial integration, and restoration of historic sites.
INÊS FERRÃO Degree in Landscape Architecture from Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, in 1997. Between 1996 and 1997 she participated in an internship supported by IPPAR, under the theme “Program for Intervention in the Exterior Spaces of Sintra National Palace”, presented as a final dissertation. She participated in the ELEE - Masterclasses in Landscape Architecture, in Dublin (1992), in Lyon (1993), and in Berlin (from October 1995 to March 1996). Between 1994-1995 she collaborated with Landscape Architect Luís Cabral. From 1998 to 1999 taught gardening in the course of Garden Restoration at Escola Profissional de Recuperação do Património de Sintra. Between 1997-2003, she collaborated with Landscape Architect Viana Barreto, in the development of the areas of urban planning, tourism detail plans, environmental impact studies, road landscaping, private gardens.