Rafael Moneo   ‘‘Architecture is not a pre-established language, nor does it establish a language,” Alvaro Siza Vieira once said. Why do l choose this statement to begin my commentary on his work? Because in my view it offers many keys to understanding Siza's archi

Laurent Beaudouin   Time and motion as elements of spatial perception; geometry as a way of revealing geography; urban schemes taken as natural landscapes; scale and repetition as indicators of a collective: these are the patent features of Álvaro Siza’s work. Laurent B

Vittorio Gregotti   Álvaro Siza’s projects in their final presentations always reveal traces of the creative process that has generated them, over and above his painstaking work of depuration and synthesis. It is such complex network of practically invisible signs that

Kenneth Frampton   Álvaro Siza’s work has always adhered to that delicate point of balance whereby, without renouncing a continued exploration of the linguistic references belonging to the architectural discipline, he easily adapts to the conditions imposed by the prog

Álvaro Siza   Netherlands   The commission for this curious complex of two houses and two shops was an offshoot of the housing development called 'De Punkt en De Komma’ which Álvaro Siza had built in The Hague between 1983 and 1988. In this earlier project, the Portuguese archi

Álvaro Siza   Germany   The course of history left its mark on a divided city, but in time Berlin has regained its freedom and the buildings flanking The Wall can now be seen in a renewed, happier perspective. Such is the case of two interventions by Siza in one of the area

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   The kindergarten at Penafiel is located in an institutional area of the city, near the law courts. Due to the rocky terrain of the area, it was not possible to dig, so the complex rose over an artificial horizontal plane created at the highest level

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   The extension of the school was carried out in stages, starting with the remodelling of the original building. Later Álvaro Siza built the so-called Carlos Ramos Pavilion to accommodate classrooms for the initial years of the course. This is a U-shap

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   Taking from the cloister typology frequent in schools, Siza started out by drawing a U-shaped structure and then went on to attach the secondary elements to it. Main entry is through a platform raised over the street and flanked by two open-use volum

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   For the library of the University of Aveiro, Álvaro Siza decided on a unitary distribution for books and readers to share the same spaces in, save the necessary exceptions. This is an elongated building resting longitudinally on three unequal bays. T

Álvaro Siza   Spain   The Galician Center of Contemporary Art will be the second building to be erected by Álvaro Siza in Spain, this time in line with the celebration of the year of St. James. The site is naturally within the complex urban scheme of Santiago. It is more

Álvaro Siza   Spain   The former Riquer Gate once gave access to the city of Alcoy from the old Madrid high road, wich reached it by way of the steep banks of the Barxell eiver. When the María Cristina bridge was built in the last century, the area began to decline into i

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   In this reconstruction of an existing building, most of the existing concrete structure has been maintained, rein­forced by two new columns wich primarily support the main facade. A new core of elevators and stairs has been introduced into the center

Álvaro Siza   Germany   Siza’s commision for Vitra has developed in two phases. The program first included an office building and a factory for the metal elements of the Vitrashop systems. Siza located two buildings on either side of the Charles Eames Strasse, wich is the p

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   Álvaro Siza’s assignment in the town of Marco de Canavéses was to create a complete parochial center, with church, funerary chapel, auditorium, school and residence. As in many of the Portuguese master's projects, the urban context was of fundamental

Álvaro Siza   Netherlands   The Ceramique Terrein complex occupies a site roughly similar to a section of a circle. Its curved side is defined by a wide boulevard. One of the elements of the project is sited almost parallel to this curve, a linear block of six floors, slightly

Álvaro Siza   Spain   Among the many architectural projects undertaken for the 1993 Saint James Holy Year celebrations in Santiago de Compostela is Siza’s Center of Art, located next to the monastery of Santo Domingo de Bonaval. Next to the monastery, an old stable of the

Álvaro Siza   Portugal   Siza’s Malagueira housing project, one of the most ambi­tious urban interventions of the young Portuguese democracy after the 1974 Revolution of the Carnations, has gradually grown over the years from a low-cost hous­ing project into thee authentic c

Álvaro Siza   Spain   Invited to participate in a series of utopian projects for Madrid, Siza returned to the Parque del Oeste, near the site of his unrealized competition-winning project for the Min­istry of Defense Cultural Center. His proposal includes two elements; th