Francisco Barata Fernandes was born in 1950, in Porto. 

He had a degree in Architecture from the Porto School of Fine Arts (ESBAP) and a PhD from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP). He was full professor, chairman of the Board of Directors (2006-2010) and of the Scientific Board (2014-2018) and coordinator of the Doctoral Programme in Architectural Heritage at FAUP. 

In 1996, he won the Instituto Nacional de Habitação (INH) Prize, with the design for the Massarelos Housing Complex, in Porto, developed with the architect Manuel Fernandes de Sá.

 In 2014, he was awarded the João de Almada Prize, together with the architects Nuno Valentim and José Luís Gomes, for the conservation of a building dating from 1928, located on Rua Alexandre Braga, originally designed by the architect José Marques da Silva. 

During his career, under the Barata Arquitectos architecture office, besides the already mentioned Massarelos Housing Complex, he carried out the conservation works of the Santa Maria da Feira Castle, the Mother Church of Vimioso and the S. Miguel Patio, in Évora. He was responsible for the interventions on the Cadeia da Relação Square, the Olival Square and Almada Street, for the Porto European Capital of Culture 2001 and conceived the design for the seafront of S. Paio, in Canidelo, Vila Nova de Gaia (Polis Programme). 

He carried out research on urban development policies and conservation of historic centers in Italy, under a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation grant. He has participated in conferences and taught courses in Portuguese and international architecture schools. He was a member of the Critical Board of the Doctoral Programs in Architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan, a member of the Scientific Board of the publications “Ricerche sul restauro e sulla conservazione” and a member of the International Evaluation Board of the Research Department of Architecture and Urbanism. 

He was also a member of the Veronica Prize Advisory Board at Harvard University and research coordinator of the architecture partnership between the S. Paulo University and the University of Porto. He edited, among other titles, “Transformation and Permanence in Porto Housing – The Forms of the House in the Form of the City" (1999), resulting from his doctoral thesis. 

He participated in publications such as La cultura della Città (1992); Interventions in the Historic Center (CRUARB) of Porto, 1901-2001, Guide – Exhibition of Modern Architecture (2001) and Le forme della casa nella forma della città (2009).

He collaborated with the Municipal Council of Porto in the Municipal Master Plan (PDM) revision, having produced an urban study for the Corujeira Square and for the future square bordering the former Municipal Slaughterhouse. 

He died on August 17, 2018. In 2019, the ANUÁRIA/FAUP exhibition was dedicated to the pedagogical and didactic work of professors Francisco Barata Fernandes and Manuel Graça Dias. 

In 2020, he was posthumously honored with a dedicated exhibition at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, and included in the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of this institution (1980-2020), entitled Continue Inovating and curated by Antonio Esposito and Andrea Ugolini and commissioned by Carla Garrido de Oliveira and Mariana Sá. 

(Universidade do Porto Digital / Gestão de Documentação e Informação, 2020)