Álvaro Siza

Alvaro Siza's work is recognized internationally for its beauty, simplicity, and gravity. The stark lines and geometric clarity of his buildings produce almost startling experiences of space. Among his earliest projects was a beach bathing complex in Matosinhos, just north of Porto, in which earthworks and a series of concrete walls define pools in the ocean that are enclosed enough to swim in but over which water can flow. This kind of a sensitive intrusion into a site, common to many of Siza's buildings, lends them the serenity of structures much older. Despite the timeless quality of his work, Siza's history is intimately bound up with that of Portugal. Included in this volume is a cooperative housing project he designed in Porto immediately after the 1974 revolution, about one third of which was built under the auspices of a newly-formed housing cooperative. 30 years later, Porto's city council decided to build the rest of the project and refurbish the existing houses. Both phases of building required multiple discussions between the residents and the architect, and reflect the changing political and social life of the country. All projects in this book are documented in full, with sketches, drawings, and photographs, and detailed descriptions by author Carlos Castanheira and Siza himself. Siza's architecture has been defined as continuously experimental; as this generously-illustrated volume makes clear, each of his designs responds creatively to its setting but his work as a whole retains a unity of form. In addition to residential, cultural, and infrastructural projects in Portugal, this book includes the Ibere Camargo Foundation in Puerto Alegre, Brazil, opened to wide acclaim in April 2008, and projects currently under construction including a mimesis museum in Paju, South Korea, as well as a cultural centre in Ceuta and a sports hotel in Huesca, both in Spain.

Během rozhovorů, které proběhly v letech 1977 až 2005 a které jsou zde sesbírány, Álvaro Siza komentuje své projekty. Jsou zde zahrnuty všechny jeho důležité projekty včetně těch, které nebyly realizovány. Počínaje sociálními ubytovnami, realizovanými těsně po karafiátové revoluci 25. dubna 1974, až po Nadaci Camargo v Brazílii otevřenou v roce 2008. V rozhovorech objasňuje studie a poznámky k jednotlivým projektům. Rekonstrukci čtvrti Chiado v Lisabonu po požáru v roce 1988, urbanistický plán centra města v Montreuil, muzeum v Santiagu de Compostela... Tato kniha také vypráví příběh jednoho setkání, které se uskutečnilo před třiceti lety a nebylo nikdy přerušeno. Protínají se zde pohledy spisovatele a novináře Dominiqua Machaberta a architekta Laurenta Beaudouina. Kromě svých realizací se zde Siza zmiňuje také o lidech, kteří mu jsou drazí, a o své vlasti – Portugalsku. Jedinečná příležitost dozvědět se více o myšlenkách velkého současného architekta.

Alvaro Siza (b.1933) is considered Portugal's greatest living architect. His buildings are known for their austere beauty and their imaginative relationship to their surroundings. Relatively unknown outside his native Portugal when he won the 1992 Pritzker Prize, he has since built a number of masterful buildings around the world while retaining strong ties to his country. This volume highlights over 20 of these projects, approximately half of which are in Portugal. Each is explained in depth by author Carlos Castanheira as well as Siza himself, and illustrated with photographs, complete sets of drawings, and a wealth of Siza's sketches.