Vasco Magellan
Builder • Founder • Researcher • Creator
Design Driven Engineering
In the Age of AI, functionality is no longer a differentiator. It is the baseline.
We are entering a new era where design and shape are woven into the very fabric of the digital experience. I advocate for Renaissance Eclecticism: a philosophy that rejects the sterile in favor of the soulful.
By merging the precision of Engineering Physics with the intuition of Architecture, I build complex systems that don't just work, they resonate. This is the new status of the web:
Design is as vital as the code.
Work
Products I built
I have been developing products for clients and for myself. It helped me develop technical skills in full stack development, product design, and business development. Here are some of the products I've built.
An app to increase physics intuition by exploring some of the most famous paradoxes of science.
Platform for tracking account signals and sending alerts to users' preferred productivity tools.
Discover history as I retraced Magellan's journey—learning about past explorers and experiencing dynamic, real-world terrain simulations along the way.
An AI assisted tool to manage engineering requirements at scale - with particular focus on the space sector. This tool managed more than 30 thousand engineering requirements enhancing the overall quality of the engineering process.
A chatbot powered by LLMs to help the Portuguese population access public services and complete bureaucratic tasks with ease.
Projects I founded
Initiatives and ventures I've started, bringing ideas from concept to reality. Materializing an idea, and getting away from the imposter syndrome is the most rewarding feeling.
Plantarbor is a reforestation initiative restoring Portugal's forests and biodiversity—planting nearly 2,000 trees nationwide. Through community planting events in places like Serpa and Bioparque, plantarbor rejuvenates vital habitats and ecological zones. Their unique fundraiser plants a tree for every Christmas decoration sold, inviting everyone to celebrate and contribute to a greener Portugal, one tree at a time.
AI for All, in collaboration with Code for All, makes AI knowledge accessible to everyone. By offering clear, jargon free resources tailored to different professions, the initiative promotes digital inclusion and ensures AI benefits all communities.
the studIO is an online coding platform focused on learning by doing, immersing learners in real world projects, collaboration, and interactive practice. It goes beyond teaching code by helping learners understand how computers work and how to think and create like coders.
Plantarbor is a reforestation initiative restoring Portugal's forests and biodiversity—planting nearly 2,000 trees nationwide. Through community planting events in places like Serpa and Bioparque, plantarbor rejuvenates vital habitats and ecological zones. Their unique fundraiser plants a tree for every Christmas decoration sold, inviting everyone to celebrate and contribute to a greener Portugal, one tree at a time.
AI for All, in collaboration with Code for All, makes AI knowledge accessible to everyone. By offering clear, jargon free resources tailored to different professions, the initiative promotes digital inclusion and ensures AI benefits all communities.
the studIO is an online coding platform focused on learning by doing, immersing learners in real world projects, collaboration, and interactive practice. It goes beyond teaching code by helping learners understand how computers work and how to think and create like coders.
Research I did
I started my career as a Physics Researcher. I studied in Lisbon, Germany and in the Netherlands. Through these places I learned a lot about the scientific method, which still guides the way I learn.
Research on magnetic confinement of laser induced plasma. This was an experiment designed by Sir Roger Penrose in order to experimentally verify the hopf fibration topology as a stable magnetic confinement for plasma.
Development of a novel wave synthesis system for an interferometer responsible to create an ultrashort laser pulse - used to create the attosecond pulse. This experiment led to the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Aesthetics I created
I don't want to call myself an artist, but I do enjoy my creative expression. Music was my preferred medium, and architecture remains my unfulfilled dream.
I do believe that beauty is fading away in today's world...
I made it my mission to bring it back.
Os Capitães da Areia is a Portuguese band that emerged in Lisbon in 2009. A band with a distinctive 80s sound that aggregated the core influences of the Portuguese Synth Pop.
Centered on a hopeful vision of the Future, the project combines danceable and dreamlike music with a manifesto about rebirth, uncertainty, and the space between yesterday and tomorrow, aiming to resonate with a diverse European audience.