Gonçalo Byrne has a degree in Architecture from the Lisbon School of Fine Arts and is an Honorary Causa Doctorate from the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon and the University of Alghero in Italy. In 1975, he established his own practice and in 1991 founded the studio Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos.

Since 1970 he has been a member of the Order of Architects and since 2008 has been a member of the Italian Association of Architects of the Province of Vicenza. He belonged to the direction of the Portuguese Section of the U.I.A., having been delegated to world assemblies and congresses of this organization. He was director of Jornal Arquitectos between 1985 and 1987.

Gonçalo Byrne has been teaching at several international universities, including Lausanne, Harvard, Venice, Mendrisio, Leuven, Pamplona, ​​Milan, Kansas State University, among others. He often integrates several contest and award juries, such as the Mies van der Rohe Award (2017); the Vasco Vilalva Prize, awarded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; the Swiss Architectural Award – BSI Architectural Foundation (of which he is a permanent member of the advisory board), the Juana de Vega Award (La Coruña), among others.
His studio is a reference in the Portuguese architectural context as a “second” school for many of his collaborators who, after leaving the studio and establishing their own practices, become co-authors of several works with Gonçalo Byrne.