Rui Leão is a practicing architect and urban planner based in Macau SAR, China, where he founded LBA Architecture and Planning in partnership with Carlotta Bruni. From 1996, he has maintained a proliferous activity in architecture, landscape and urban design in Macau and Mainland China. He got his master degree in Architecture at Porto School of Architecture, and his Doctoral degree in Architecture and Urbanism at RMIT, Melbourne.
He is a recipient of the Arcasia Golden Medal of Architecture (2006), for his Sai Van Lake Square, and a recipient of the Jury Commendation for Innovation of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific heritage Awards for the design of the Reading Room for the Macau Portuguese School (2012) and the UNESCO Award for New Design in Heritage Context (2022) with his design for the M30 Integrated Infrastructure for Power Supply and Waste Collection.
He is the current president of CIALP (International Council of Portuguese Speaking Architects). In his tenure, he has brought CIALP closer to the UIA and motioned to have the Portuguese language as a UIA working language.
He is Chair of Docomomo Macau, the Macau Chapter of the International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement.