area 101 – álvaro siza

From the presentation of works which Alvaro Siza designed in North Portugal on occasion of the Europe-America exhibition, at the International Venice Biennale of Art in 1976 up until today,…

The projects on the Atlantic coast north of Porto have been and still are one of the undertakings Siza is most fond of. Right from the beginning of his career…

In all of Siza’s projects dating back to this period, great care is taken in integrating the constructions with their surroundings. In this particular case Siza took this to an…

Between 1969 and 1974 Siza was asked to design two projects for two different banks, finished in the same year. The first one was at Vila de Conde, 30 km…

This single family house was built at the time of the Carnations Revolution (1974), just before the period when Siza was dealing with issues related to council homes. During those…

The Malagueira district at Evora, 185 kilometres south west of Lisbon, between the capital and the Spanish border, represents one of the largest operations of low density, council housing of…

The district of Bouca represents the second experiment in building with the participation of the inhabitants, following a specific SAAL program. The first experience had been the residential estate of…

In 1988 the council administration of Lisbon instructed Alvaro Siza to plan the rebuilding of the Chiado quarter, damaged during the fire of 1986, and the building of a commercial…

This is a villa by the sea, on the isle of Majorca, right in the middle of a pine forest in  Palma itself. It is in fact three separate buildings…

The Adega Mayor wine cellars are roughly 180 Km east of Lisbon, near the Spanish border. The hills are covered in olive groves and vineyards. On the west side there…

Situated in Porto’s eastern suburbs, the Gondomar complex is formed by a main building for sports and another smaller one for cultural and pedagogical activities as well as small conferences….

The museum of the Ibere Camargo Foundation in Porto Allegre is currently considered to be Alvaro Siza’s last great work. It is particularly important for the original spatial organization chosen…

This project, currently under construction, was devised by Siza for Particosa in the Spanish Pyrenees. Construction of the spa in Particosa has only recently begun thanks to the considerable financial…

Among the numerous cultural centres and museums designed by Alvaro Siza, the Mimesis museum in Paju Book is one of the smaller ones. The part accessible to the public is…

The site chosen for the new church of Santa Maria del Rosario, built to celebrate the Jubilee, is situated in the Roman suburb of Pompei alla Magliana. As a response…

The project for the Museo di Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina in Naples chiefly involved restructuring a historical building which had already been transformed a number of times over the centuries. Alvaro…

The project for this council housing complex, now in its final stages of completion, was a result of a competition which took place in 1985 and was won by Alvaro…

Studio Álvaro Siza, Porto, July 19th 2008 photo by FG+SG François Burkhardt: What is, in your opinion, the reason why your work is so successful and elicits so much interest?…

He was born in Matosinhos in 1933. He became architect, rather than sculptor, in order not to contradict his father. He began working during his school years, as he lacked…