Architects and Technology Index

The work of Alvaro Joaquim de Meio Siza Vieira has come to epitomise the approach of some, mainly European, architects who have rejected the display of construction technologies in their work in favour of more sophisticated architectonic developments in areas such as the use of natural light and the relation to the features of the site, and who have developed an attitude of broadly political and social responsibility to the construction and use of their work. This approach has been christened 'critical Regionalism' by writers such as Kenneth Frampton, who emphasises the experiential nature of the work over the graphic.

Portugal is one of the poorest country in Europe with a very undeveloped building industry. Siza uses local materials and works closely with local craftsmen to achieve an extremely high quality of detailing. As in many countries in Southern Europe, this means rendered concrete frames and terracotta block infill. This flexible and adaptable technology allows not only varied relationships of solid to void - window to wall, for example - but also sheltered openings and high thermal mass appropriate to the climate.

There are reasons beyond the material nature of the construction, however, which explain why Siza is so highly regarded. The sensitivity to the handling of building volumes, internal spaces, staircases, natural light, and views through windows is a deliberate counterpoint to their generalised treatment in much contemporary architecture. The building is treated as an extension of its context, but in no sense historicist; it is not its appearance, but the movement around the site and into the building and the disposition of building volumes which relate to the context. Siza was born in Matosinhos in the North of Portugal in 1933. He studied at the School of Architecture at the University of Oporto from 1949 to 1955, and began to build even before he graduated. He came to notice with works such as the Boa Nova Restaurant, Matosinhos (1958-63), the Swimming Pool at Leça de Palmeira (1961-62), and the Pinto e Soto Maior Bank, Oliveira de Azemeis (1971-74). What was noticeable was the response to context: in the Pool at Leça de Palmeira, the walls that form sheltered swimming pools are a direct response to sea levels and the rock formation; in the Pinto e Soto Maior Bank the site is a modest urban square and the volumes of the building, the openings and the pattern of movement form an extension to it.

Siza's first public buildings after the Revolution in 1974 were for the construction of public housing and the renovation of urban districts in Oporto. Bouça (1973-77) and Sao Victor (1974-77) for SAAL - serviço de apoio ambulatorio localw [local support service]. These were extremely low-cost projects in which great attention was necessarily paid to the urban spaces. They led to the commission for the Quinta da Malagueira housing (1977; under construction) in Évora. This was an entire urban quarter outside the walls of old city, one of Portugal's most beautiful cities which had been preserved relatively intact. The building form was of rows of 2-storey terraces back-to-back with access roads for cars and pedestrians between the rows, organised around an aqueduct reminiscent of the 16th-century 'Aguas da Prata' aqueduct in Évora, disused and now incorporated into the urban fabric. The construction of concrete and block intentionally left room for degree of adaptability in plan form during and after construction to meet the differing circumstances of the inhabitants. The Quinta da Malagueira housing led to commissions for housing at the Schlesische Tor, Berlin (1980-84) and a series of urban plans and housing - 'De Punkt en de Komma' (1983-88) and the Doedijnstraat estate (1989-), Schilderswijk, The Hague. This increased his international reputation and he now has commissions throughout Europe.

Siza's recent works include the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Oporto (1987-93), the Setubal College of Education (1986-93) and the Galicia Museum of Modern Art, Santiago de Compostela (1988-93). At the Faculty of Architecture the public spaces form a route along the contours of the site, leaving a podium facing the river for the studios. The Setubal College of Education has an 'H' shape plan reminiscent of the nearby monastery at Cape Espichel; the classrooms open to a courtyard with deeply overhanging roofs. The Galicia Museum of Modern Art lies on a narrow street on a steep hill in an historic town; it consists of 3 interlinked blocks: an entrance block aligned to the street, a small lecture theatre sticking out into the street and a long sequence of galleries along the contours behind. Due to simple and generally massive construction, highly varied window sizes and provision of shading devices, the internal environments in Siza' buildings are usually excellent. The brilliance and economy with which he achieves these results calls into question, for many architects, the necessity of overt displays of technology.

Thomas Deckker
London 2001