Graduated in architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon (FAUTL) in 1986, he has been a visiting professor at the ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon. He also taught at the School of Architecture of the International University of Catalonia (ESARQ-UIC) in Barcelona and at the Escola Superior de Artes Decorativas de Lisboa (ESAD). He has lectured in Portugal, Spain, the United States, Hungary, England, Brazil, Belgium and Italy. He has also been a member of the juries for the architecture awards of the São Paulo Biennial in 2003, Europan Spain 2007, ArquiFad 2011 and the committee of experts for the European Prize for Urban Public Space, as well as curator for Portugal at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010.

Together with his brother, Nuno Mateus, he founded ARX Portugal Arquitectos in 1991, a practice that has received numerous national and international awards, mentions and nominations. Some of ARX's outstanding projects were shown in the exhibition "Realidade Real" at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB) in 1993. He also participated in other exhibitions, such as "Percurso / Útvonal - ARX Portugal" (Budapest, 2000), "Afluencia 0,1" (Fundação de Serralves, 2002) or "Nara Trienal" (1994). He is chairman of the Board of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and was also executive director of the 2007 and 2010 Triennale.