Álvaro Siza Vieira
Encyclopedia
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, born 25 June 1933 in Matosinhos
Matosinhos
Matosinhos Municipality is located in Porto District, Portugal. The main city is Matosinhos. It is bordered to the south by the city of Porto and lies within the Greater Porto subregion. The municipality has a population of 168,451 in 10 parishes. Many people have recently moved from the...
a small coastal town by Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
. He is internationally known as Álvaro Siza (ˈaɫvɐɾu ˈsizɐ).
Life and career
He graduated in architecture in 1955, at the former School of Fine Arts from the University of PortoUniversity of Porto
The University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...
, the current FAUP
Porto School of Architecture
The Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto , or FAUP, is an architecture faculty located in Porto, Portugal, and one of the thirteen constituent faculties of the University of Porto.- History :...
- Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto. He completed his first built work (four houses in Matosinhos) even before ending his studies in 1954, the same year that he first opened his private practice in Porto. Siza Vieira taught at the school from 1966 to 1969, returning in 1976. In addition to his teaching there, he has been a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
Harvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...
; the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
; Los Andes University of Bogota; and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.The school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government with the stated mission to:...
.
Along with Fernando Távora
Fernando Távora
Fernando Luís Cardoso de Meneses de Tavares e Távora, simply known as Fernando Távora , was a renowned Portuguese architect and professor....
, he is one of the references of the Porto School of Architecture
Porto School of Architecture
The Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto , or FAUP, is an architecture faculty located in Porto, Portugal, and one of the thirteen constituent faculties of the University of Porto.- History :...
where both were teachers. Both architects worked together between 1955 and 1958. Another architect he has collaborated with is Eduardo Souto de Moura
Eduardo Souto de Moura
-Life and career:Souto de Moura was born in Porto, and studied sculpture before switching to architecture at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, the current FAUP - Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, and receiving his degree in 1980. From 1974 to 1979 he worked with...
, e.g. on Portugal's flagship pavilions
Pavilion of Portugal in Expo'98
The Pavilion of Portugal in Expo'98, situated in Parque das Nações in Lisbon, Portugal was the building which sheltered the Portuguese national representation in that event, being erected until today....
at Expo '98
Expo '98
Expo '98 was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from Friday, May 22 to Wednesday, September 30, 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future," chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries...
in Lisbon and Expo 2000
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
in Hannover, as well as on the Serpentine Pavillon
Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...
2005. Siza's work is often described as "poetic modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
"; he himself has contributed to publications on Luis Barragán
Luis Barragán
Luis Barragán Morfin was a Mexican architect. He was self-trained.-Early life:Educated as an engineer, he graduated from the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros in Guadalajara in 1923 and was self-trained as an architect.After graduation, he travelled through Spain, France , and...
.
Among Siza's earliest works was a public pool complex he created in the 1960s for Leça da Palmeira, a fishing town and summer resort north of Porto. In 1977, following the revolution in Portugal, the city government of Évora
Évora
Évora is a municipality in Portugal. It has total area of with a population of 55,619 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The municipality is composed of 19 civil parishes, and is located in Évora District....
commissioned Siza to plan a housing project in the rural outskirts of the town. It was to be one of several that he would do for SAAL (Servicio de Apoio Ambulatorio Local), the national housing association, consisting of 1,200 low-cost, housing units, some one-story and some two-story row houses, all with courtyards. He was also a member of the team which reconstructed Chiado, the historic center of Lisbon destroyed by a fire in 1988.
Most of his best known works are located in his hometown Porto: the Boa Nova Tea House (1963), the Faculty of Architecture (1987–93), and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
Serralves Foundation
Serralves Foundation is an art foundation whose mission is to raise the general public's awareness concerning contemporary art and the environment. The foundation is located in Porto, Portugal.-Casa de Serralves:...
(1997). Since the mid-1970s, Siza has been involved in numerous designs for public housing, public pools, and universities. Between 1995 and 2009, Siza has been working on an architecture museum on Hombroich island, completed in collaboration with Rudolf Finsterwalder. Most recently, he started coordinating the rehabilitation of the monuments and architectonic heritage of Cidade Velha
Cidade Velha
Cidade Velha , or simplyCidadi in Cape Verdean Creole, is a city located 15 km from Praia on the island of Santiago. It is the oldest settlement in Cape Verde and used to serve as the capital of Cape Verde...
(Old Village) in Santiago, an island of Cape Verde.
Recognition
In 1987, the dean of Harvard Graduate School of DesignHarvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...
, the Spanish architect José Rafael Moneo, organized the first show of Siza’s work in the United States. In 1992, he was awarded with the renowned Pritzker Prize
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
for the renovation project that he coordinated in the Chiado
Chiado
Chiado is the name of a square and its surrounding area in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. The Chiado is located between the neighbourhoods of Bairro Alto and Baixa Pombalina....
area of Lisbon, a historic commercial sector that was all but completely destroyed by fire in August 1988.
Other prizes include: The Golden Medal of The Superior Counsil of Arquitecture of the College of Architects of Madrid in 1988; Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture, the Prince of Wales Prize in Urban Design from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and the Alvar Aalto Medal
Alvar Aalto Medal
The Alvar Aalto Medal was established in 1967 by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Finnish Association of Architects . The Medal has been awarded intermittently since 1967 when the medal was created in honour of Alvar Aalto. The award is given in recognition of a significant contribution...
in 1988; Portugal's National Prize of Architecture 1993; the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Praemium Imperiale
Praemium Imperiale
The Praemium Imperiale is an arts prize awarded since 1989 by the imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film...
in 1998, the Wolf Prize in Arts
Wolf Prize in Arts
The Wolf Prize in Arts is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation, and has been awarded since 1981; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine and Physics, awarded since 1978...
in 2001, the Urbanism Special Grand Prize of France 2005.
Siza's Iberê Camargo Foundation
Iberê Camargo Foundation
The Iberê Camargo Foundation is a cultural institution dedicated to preserve and promote the work of Brazilian painter Iberê Camargo ....
in Porto Alegre, his first project built in Brazilian territory, was honoured by the Venice Architecture Biennale with the Golden Lion award in 2002. In 2007 the Brazilian Government awarded him the Cultural Merit Order Medal. More recently he was awarded the RIBA
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
's 2009 Royal Gold Medal
Royal Gold Medal
The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture....
and the International Union of Architects
International Union of Architects
The International Union of Architects is an international non-governmental organization that represents over a million architects in 124 countries. The UIA was founded in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1948. The General Secretariat is located in Paris...
' 2011 Gold Medal.
Siza was conferred the title of Honoris Causa Doctor by the following universities: Polytechnic University of Valencia
Polytechnic University of Valencia
The Polytechnic University of Valencia is a Spanish university located in Valencia, with a focus on science and technology. It was founded in 1968 as the Higher Polytechnic School of Valencia and became a university in 1971, but some of its schools are more than 100 years old.- Characteristics...
; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.The school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government with the stated mission to:...
; University of Palermo
University of Palermo
The University of Palermo is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.-History:The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when medicine and law were taught there...
; University Menendez Pelayo, in Santander; Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in Lima, Peru; University of Coimbra; Lusíada University of Porto
Lusíada University of Porto
The Lusíada University of Porto is a Portuguese private university located in Oporto, and founded in 1989.-Organization:Currently 3 374 students attend the courses provided by ULP's three faculties and two institutes...
; Universidade Federal de Paraíba; the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Pollo delle Scienze e delle Tecnologie, in Naple; the University of Architecture and Urbanism of Bucharest “Ion Mincu”, Romania (2005); and the University of Engineering in Pavia, Italy (2007). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
as well as Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
, the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
, the Académie d'Architecture de France and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
European Academy of Sciences and Arts
The European Academy of Sciences and Arts was created in 1990 in Salzburg, Austria by heart surgeon Felix Unger of Salzburg; the cardinal archbishop of Vienna, Franz König; and the political scientist and philosopher Nikolaus Lobkowicz....
.
Selected projects
- 1958-1963: Boa Nova restaurantRestaurantA restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
in Matosinhos (Photos). - 1958-1965: Quinta de Conceição swimming-pool (Photos).
- 1962: Miranda Santos House
- 1966: Leça da PalmeiraLeça da PalmeiraLeça da Palmeira is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Matosinhos and part of the city with the same name. It has 5.97 km² and had 17.215 inhabitants in the 2001 census....
swimming-pool (Photos). - 1981-1985: Avelino Duarte HouseHouseA house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
Ovar. - 1987-1993: Faculty of ArchitecturePorto School of ArchitectureThe Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto , or FAUP, is an architecture faculty located in Porto, Portugal, and one of the thirteen constituent faculties of the University of Porto.- History :...
of the University of PortoUniversity of PortoThe University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...
(Photos; Photos 2). - 1988: Rebuilding plans of the ChiadoChiadoChiado is the name of a square and its surrounding area in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. The Chiado is located between the neighbourhoods of Bairro Alto and Baixa Pombalina....
neighbourhood after a fire, LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. - 1995: LibraryLibraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
of the University of AveiroAveiro UniversityUniversity of Aveiro is a Portuguese new generation public university, with its headquarters in Aveiro since its 1973 creation. It also provides polytechnic education in three distinct additional poles....
. - 1997: Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art (Photos).
- 1998: Architectural Practice, Porto (Photos).
- 1999: Residential tower, MaastrichtMaastrichtMaastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
. - 2002: Southern Municipal DistrictDistricts of RosarioThe districts of the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina are administrative divisions created to decentralise the workings of the municipal government....
Center, RosarioRosarioRosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....
, ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
(first work by Siza in South America) http://www.rosario.gov.ar/sitio/servicios/cmdsur.jsp http://www.rosarioturismo.com/patrimonio/nota_ampliada.asp?idarticulo=34 - 2005: Serpentine GallerySerpentine GalleryThe Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...
Pavilion 2005 (Photos). - 2008: Iberê Camargo FoundationIberê Camargo FoundationThe Iberê Camargo Foundation is a cultural institution dedicated to preserve and promote the work of Brazilian painter Iberê Camargo ....
, Porto AlegrePorto AlegrePorto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
, Brazil. - 2009: New Orleans tower, RotterdamRotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Netherlands.