Writer: Álvaro Siza

Siza at sixteen

Siza at sixteen

Manuel Montenegro and Álvaro Siza

Pouco a pouco, quase sem dar por isso, o carvão começou a não partir, o papel a não manchar, o miolo de pão a manter a plasticidade, o fôlego a aumentar. E a confiança. Slowly but steadily, unwittingly, the lead began to not break, paper to not stain, the bread… Read More

Álvaro Siza: Drawn Closer

Álvaro Siza: Drawn Closer

Álvaro Siza

I began using sketchbooks in 1977, and this is the first of them. I had been asked by the new communist mayor of Évora to plan a very large social housing development – Quinta da Malagueira – as an extension of the medieval city on an abandoned agricultural estate. Until… Read More

the difficulty of designing furniture

the difficulty of designing furniture

Álvaro Siza

I Architecture: a tree here, a house there, or a temple; on the right a hill, or plain, sea, river; a bridge, regular outline of this street, the irregularity of another; colour, rhythms, climate, this client; yellowing photograph, parchment, power, marginality.Not as a matrix. Provocation, hence vocation to distort, to… Read More

the Birth of the Column

the Birth of the Column

Álvaro Siza

You walk along the street with all its traffic and find yourself in front of the big archway. Through it you see the courtyard, which comes as a surprise. The scale is domestic rather than monumental, but the building’s façade – with its portico and columns, which are whiter than… Read More