Álvaro Siza's Architecture

In 2020 I visited two of Siza’s works in Northern Portugal: a bank in Vila do Conde (something white and Le Corbusier-ish with many windows in a street with mainly traditional buildings) and the Casa Carlos Beires in Pavoa de Varzim (a yellow family house located in a residential area with other interesting modern buildings, looking very run down). Both have since been dropped from the shortlist of this nomination, so I had to return to Portugal to reclaim my ‘tick’. 

The Pavilhão de Portugal serves this purpose very well, as it lies only 3 stops by metro (disembark at Oriente) from Lisbon Airport. I visited it during a stopover for a few hours on my way to Cabo Verde. The Pavillion is considered one of Siza’s main works, so it is a sure bet. I knew it was undergoing renovations and I wasn’t expecting much from the area either, since former fairgrounds such as these often fail to find a new use. It proved to be a bustling area though, mainly attracting Lisbon’s youth. There is a big modern mall adjacent to the metro station, and I found an endless line of 14-year-old girls waiting for a concert by Gracie Abrams to start in the MEO Arena.

The City has not long ago sold the Pavillion to the University of Lisbon. They are renovating the usable half, adding airco and making it liveable in general. The other half, the one with the curved roof and the tiled …

I visited Alvaro Siza's Bouca housing complex as well as the faculty of architecture of the university of Porto on oct.the 20th,2024. I had already visited his designed tea house and the pool/piscina das Mares in his native Matosinhos a few years ago.I have also been several times to the portuguese pavillon of the expo 98 in Lisboa-Oriente(now closed to the public due to renovation works).

I even live only about 10 minutes' walk from one of his works, the Bonjour Tristesse building in Berlin, but it should better be called Welcome Tristesse because it is a pretty unsightly and unpleasant building that reminds you of the banlieues of Paris or the big and gray social housing projects in West Germany in the 1970s.

Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira, is one of the most important contemporary european architects. In Portugal, Siza is considered the main representative of modernism. No doubt that he is an important architect of our time, but I don't see any OUV in his work. And in contrast to the famous Bauhaus architects, his buildings did not found a new movement or lay the foundation for a new look for many cities. There are important architects like him in many countries and regions on our planet-there are a dime a dozen. I dont see why his works should be considered something from another planet. Personally, I don't find his Expo pavilion, teahouse or pool in Matosinhos to be from a different dimension. The architecture …

In 2023, I visited several components as part of a week-long road trip through Portugal. We started in Porto at the school of architecture (FAUP) and we continued the same day by car to Matosinhos for the two components there. A few days later, I visited the Expo Pavilion in Lisbon together with Samuel and Natasa.

The most memorable building of those I saw was the Piscina for its scenic location facing the Atlantic. The architecture of the sites felt fairly common and followed general modernist trends. Perhaps only an architect can spot the local sprinkle Alvaro Siza gave his buildings; I couldn't.

What I did spot were two egregious safety issues, akin to those reported by Ian. At FAUP, there was an inclined staircase without a rail on one side (see picture), so anyone walking straight would fall several meters. At the Piscina, there was a low-hanging concrete roof (<1.50m) where you could hit your head brutally. From Le Corbusier, I am used to Modernist buildings lacking in basic amenities (e.g. too few toilets in his Tokyo museum). I had not yet encountered an architect ignoring common sense regarding basic safety measures.

OUV

While I may appreciate its style and local importance, its limitations in terms of global impact raise concerns for me. These are not buildings that have sparked a global architectural movement (e.g., Bauhaus), but rather local interpretations of styles developed by earlier generations of architects. Making my point, Els refers to his …

We decided to throw ourselves into this tentative site a little more by staying in an apartment in the Barrio da Bouca in Porto, located a short walk (or two metro stops) from the centre of the city.

I rather liked the unique layout and aesthetics of the estate, squeezed into a triangle of ground, it was densely populated but provided ample space between buildings, and the units themselves were pleasant and spacious. The interiors offered design touches that separated it from your standard holiday rental. I liked the sliding wall that separates a bedroom from the main living space, and the wooden shutters across the doors and windows were both very functional and aesthetically pleasing, bringing back fond memories of Casa Barragan. 

The car park buried underneath the whole complex was a lovely solution to parking concerns in a dense urban setting. The small business units also brought some more interest to the estate, especially the lovely little architecture book shop. In the three days we stayed there we saw plenty of guided tours, seemingly for students, where lecturers were pointing out the finer details of the site.

However there certainly were flaws. The bathrooms being buried in the centre of the units must be plagued by mold (as ours was) due to the lack of fresh air and ventilation. The bannister free staircases, whilst visually appealing, certainly make this parent of a rampaging toddler very happy to live in the UK with its building codes …

Although I have a fondness for modern architecture, I was not very familiar with Álvaro Siza's work when it was included in Portugal's revised T-list in 2017. His style is often classified as Critical Regionalism and is characterised by clear forms, simplicity and the restriction to the essential elements. Alvar Aalto (on the Finnish T-list) also represents this style. The list of Siza's works is extensive and includes many private homes, social housing complexes, residential areas and public buildings such as banks or swimming pools. Later in his career, he also designed museums or Expo pavilions and other representative buildings. All these buildings are still used for their original purpose. Therefore, most of them are not open to the public, or only partially during regular opening hours.
When I was preparing for my trip to Portugal in May 2018, I spent some time selecting the Siza buildings that would be worth visiting. The Unesco entry doesn't help. It is more a hymn of praise to Siza and his impact than a detailed description of his buildings. Only a few are mentioned, but it is obviously not yet decided which sites will be included in a nomination. Meltwaterfalls compiled a list of sites and coordinates here on the forum. That was very useful, so a belated thanks to him.

Álvaro Siza's buildings are spread all over Portugal, many of them are in Oporto and its surroundings. It is therefore easy to include some of these sites in your itinerary, …

October 2020 - I am a big fan of modern architecture, inspired by Bauhaus and Corbusier. But this nomination might be a bit early for an architect who is still living and working. The Corbusier WHS is encompassing his most striking buildings in the world, this nomination whereas just lists almost anything Alvaro Siza built within Portugal. Anyway we enjoyed the few buildings we saw. The Portugal Pavillon of Expo 98 has a majestic roof reminiscing a cloth blanket. Unfortunately we missed the housing estate in Evora, which I regret. But we have also visited the bank in Vila Conde, the Piscinas de Mare, which were in renovation, and the Casa de Cha de Boa Nova. A beauty! As iconic as Frank Lloyd Wrights Falling Water. We spent the night on the parking lot next to the Teahouse and got to see it at three different times of day. Did not have the pocket money for dinner there though. This building will make it onto the list at some point. In whatever constellation.

On my last night in Portugal I had booked a hotel in Lisbon, near the airport, just South of Vasco da Gama Bridge. This area is known as Parque das Nações (newly created district, 2012) and its a vastly different area of Lisbon. In this Northeast area along the Tagus River, you can see the massive bridge (longest bridge in Europe). There is also a plethora of venues for music, art, and culture. 

This is the setting we find Alvaro Siza's "Pavilion of Portugal". In some sense this is New Lisbon, in part a product of the 98' World Expo. The Pavilion itself is quite unique, its design elements have been described with an "enormous and impossibly thin concrete canopy, draped effortlessly between two mighty porticoes." This is an accurate description. My picture partly captures this, but not perfectly. This public venue seems well-used as a musical and cultural space. As I visited the Pavilion, workers were preparing for a large concert. 

The setting is excellent, the nearby esplanade on the water and museums all made a fine area to walk. For any architectural enthusiast, this site and other works by Alvaro Siza should be interesting. A living modernist architect of whom's work spans seven decades, perhaps this can be seen as exceptional?

Driving the most popular motorway Lisbon-Porto we made a quick detour to see the university campus in Aveiro, especially its library building, placed on Portuguese T-List. The library, according to the description of the proposal, is one of the best examples of Alvaro Siza's architectural style. I am not familiar with modern architecture and I have not heard about Alvaro Siza before, but I liked the library building and the whole campus. In style and atmosphere it is so different from (not so distant) University of Coimbra but if I was a student again, I might consider these two places equally. I am not aware how many buildings of the Aveiro University have been designed by (or in cooperation with) Alvaro Siza, but the library building is similar in style to all other edifices of the campus. The library building can be seen from outside, taking photographs is not allowed inside (and as a visitor you can only enter the lobby). Although all my family liked the visit, being ignorants in modern architecture we could not understand the potential outstanding universal value of the place.