Álvaro Siza Vieira Book order

Álvaro Siza was born in 1933, on the same year that the Bauhaus closed its doors. He is perhaps the last living modernist or, at the very least, the most significant voice to carry out the unfinished modernist project all the way into the 21st century. 'Siza – Unseen & Unknown' showcases this continuity through 100 sketches, as well as its contradictions. These drawings are from his most personal archive, in addition to small collections of close friends and family. Hence, they focus not only on the professional legacy but also on the familial one, where Maria Antónia Siza (1940– 1973) takes centre stage. His wife will draw him, he will draw her and the loving embrace of the human body will be transversal to architecture, art, life. In many ways, the Bernini folds of Maria Antónia’s clothes and hair develop in Siza’s own ink lines and this anthropomorphic research goes on long after her death at just thirty two years old. Those bodies will grow increasingly more abstract, like the Venus de Milo, losing its limbs and becoming something more. Those arms multiply and turn back into architecture and geometry in their son’s work, Álvaro Leite Siza (1962). Father and son labour independently on related themes, themes of mythology and religion, where the Hellenic sacred feminine is ever-present. Robes come down and monks or nuns transfigure into sensuous figures, intertwined in the marital bed – where we last say goodbye to Maria Antónia, revealing the importance of family. The future is now in the hands of a grandson, Henrique Siza (1992). Overall, each sketch is a window to the world, both literally and metaphorically. Ensembled together, like a fenêtre en longueur, they give us perspectives of different landscapes, playing with the proportion of that which is represented in them and with the scale of the museum itself, like a flip book in a condensed treasure box inhabited by mankind.

The book explores the architectural contributions of Álvaro Siza across various countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, highlighting his unique design philosophy and impact on contemporary architecture. It also features insights from Giovanni Chiaramonte, who teaches photography history and theory, adding depth to the visual representation of Siza's works. The combination of architecture and photography provides a comprehensive look at the aesthetic and cultural significance of Siza's designs in a global context.

Vor 40 Jahren begann in Evora ein soziologisches und städtebauliches Experiment: die Siedlung Malagueira von Álvaro Siza. Die Herausgeber Brigitte Fleck und Günter Pfeifer dokumentieren die Entstehung dieses ungewöhnlichen und einzigartigen Stadtteils und zeigen dessen Entwicklung bis zum heutigen Tag. Abílio Dias Fernandes, Roberto Collovà, Enrico Molteni, José Pinto Duarte, Jean-Michel Lager sowie Álvaro Siza selbst lieferten Geschichten, Fakten, Analysen, Bilder und Pläne aus den verschiedenen Entstehungsphasen. Der reich bebilderte Band mit 49 Skizzen von Álvaro Siza in Originalgröße und einem Vorwort von Hanns Zischler ist im Juni 2013 erschienen.

Alvaro Siza Vieira zählt zu den bedeutendsten europäischen Architekten der Gegenwart. Die Publikation über sein Laborgebäude auf dem Novartis Campus ist der dreizehnte Band der Monografie-Reihe zu den neuen Architekturen in Basel. Sein Haus steht an prominenter Stelle in der Nähe des Rheinufers und des ehemaligen Hafens. Siza hat die Fassade mit einer zweiten Haut aus Glas überzogen und damit dem Bau eine mehrschichtige Ausstrahlung verliehen. Im Inneren werden die vielfältigen Installationen an den Decken nicht verborgen, sondern sind offen und sichtbar belassen, um eine möglichst grosse Flexibilität der Nutzung zu gewährleisten.

Overzicht van het werk van de Portugese architect (geb. 1933) met interview en biografie.

From start to finish, it took the Modernist Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, winner of the 1992 Pritzker Prize and designer of The Serpentine Gallery's 2005 Summer Pavilion, 33 years to construct the Bouça Residents' Association Housing in the northern city of Porto--which he realized in association with architect António Madureira. During those years, Siza completed numerous important commissions, including the architecture faculty building at the University of Porto in 1985 and the Fundação Serralves museum of contemporary art in that same city in 1999. In 1988 he restored the Chiado district of Lisbon, Portugal, after a devastating fire; and his Portuguese Pavilion for Lisbon's EXPO 98 was internationally recognized. While Siza was busy with all of these buildings and plans, the first phase of the Bouça project was falling ever deeper into disrepair, hampered by municipal neglect. It has since been brought up to Siza's standards, and this publication appraises the project, now happily completed. Siza's sketches, many of which are published here for the first time, reveal the tenacity of his search for the right solution.