In statements to the media at the presentation of the Álvaro Siza Wing, the president of the Serralves Foundation, Ana Pinho, highlighted that the new building is "a milestone" in the history of the institution, whose cost amounts to 10 million euros, and It is financed with around 4 million euros from EU funds.
The new building connected to the Museum through an elevated walkway, described by Siza as a "bridge", gives access to a new elongated and broken volume, inside which new geometric games are shown in the architect's architectural language, whether on the roof, in the windows or in the triangular openings of the atrium, show a different formal interior articulation than that which usually allows Siza's spaces to be recognized and in which the relationship with the garden is constant.
This is an unusual project given the long-standing good relationship between an architect and the owner of a building, something that was recalled in the presentation did not happen even with the Popes. Their relationship of almost more than thirty years has allowed them to create the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, inaugurated in 1999, the Manoel de Oliveira Cinema House in 2019, and, in 2021, the construction of the Casa dos Jardineiros and the restoration of the Serralves House.
Álvaro Siza Wing by Álvaro Siza. Photograph by Nelson Garrido.The new building connected to the Museum through an elevated walkway, described by Siza as a "bridge", gives access to a new elongated and broken volume, inside which new geometric games are shown in the architect's architectural language, whether on the roof, in the windows or in the triangular openings of the atrium, show a different formal interior articulation than that which usually allows Siza's spaces to be recognized and in which the relationship with the garden is constant.
This is an unusual project given the long-standing good relationship between an architect and the owner of a building, something that was recalled in the presentation did not happen even with the Popes. Their relationship of almost more than thirty years has allowed them to create the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, inaugurated in 1999, the Manoel de Oliveira Cinema House in 2019, and, in 2021, the construction of the Casa dos Jardineiros and the restoration of the Serralves House.
"There are no difficulties, there are no doubts, there is a void, which is the worst thing there is when facing a project. That void really did not exist," Siza stated, adding "The main limitations [were] the location in an area of the [Serralves] Park classified as having protected plant species, access from the current reception (...) and access alternative from the garden."
