Architect Day: Alvaro Siza

by GenCept | March 30, 2010

Álvaro Siza is one of the great exponents of world architecture. To visit one of his works is certainly a great experience--feeling a little into the mind of a master of architecture that enhances the design on a large scale until the minimal detail.

alvarosizavieira.com.

Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira was born in 1933 in Matosinhos near the city of Porto in Portugal. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts in Porto in 1955 after 6 years of study, later teaching there between 1966 and 1969. He always had an admiration for the works of Adolf Loos, Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto, but early on was able to establish his own language, based not only on the international modernist references as well as the strong building tradition of Portugal. Thus, Alvaro Siza, presents unique works in the modern Portuguese scenery.

" There are two different words in portuguese that mean 'to look' and 'to see and understand'. The tool of an architect is to be able to see.” Álvaro Siza

Architect Day: Álvaro Siza
Boa Nova Tea House, Matosinhos, Portugal

Siza established a very important relationship with architect Fernando Tavora, his teacher and principal reference to the School of Porto, with whom he developed a strong friendship and creative complicity. He created true milestones in Portuguese architecture, influencing many other architects. His architecture, combining formal complexity and apparent simplicity of design, won the world over after some time with works in America and Asia, through major points of architecture, like the USA, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands. He has deservedly received the Pritzker prize and the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

"I am against this idea of specialization. I like to diversify my work, and I've done a bit of everything. You can not make a good housing estate or a museum without having done houses. The architecture is only one. The hands that draw and the hands that build are always the same.” Álvaro Siza