Yesterday we had the chance to see once again Alvaro Siza in Madrid on a special occasion. The reason, the excuse or the event was the launch of the book "Siza x Siza" photographed by Juan Rodriguez and Carlos Seoane, a voluminous compilation of 157 pictures with only six works chosen by Siza himself, among which 124 hand-drawn by the architect are interspersed and accompanied by a long and interesting interview by Carlos Seoane that runs throughout the whole book.

The pre-act.

In a small auditorium on the third floor of the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, a previous press conference to which I have been invited began, with Prussian punctuality, at 18:30h.

When I entered, a minute later, Siza had already begun a small presentation and he was emphasizing the importance of drawings in the process of constructing the projects, "a wonderful and fast instrument". He thanked both Juan and Carlos for the "extraordinary" realization of the book and he commented, laughing, especially because it has not cost for him.

After a quick presentation Siza began answering a question of Anatxu Zabalbeascoa to explain the reason of the selection of only 6 works for the book. Siza was one by one explaining his motives: Boa Nova because it was his first public work; the pools for the importance of his intervention in the landscape; Da Malagueira for its social importance, the Faculty of Architecture of Oporto for his relation as professor; the CGAC of Santiago de Compostela for being his first museum and the Church of Marco Canaveses for his personal memories.

Siza was generous in the explanations, he was delighted and eager to talk. So I took the opportunity to ask. I had some prepared questions that were obviously impossible to ask in such a short time so I decided to comment them up loud so that Zabalbeascoa, who would be responsible for leading the round table later, could pick some of them such as why he had not chosen any of the works of the last twenty years? (Canaveses was the latest and it was completed in 1996).

Some time before I had listened again to Siza singing in a video and I decided to refuse the rest of what I had prepared and asked for something less obvious for the act and at the some time I think more natural to know the personage:

  • I have just listened again you humming the Beatles song "When I'm 64" in the video of Fernando Guerra and I wonder, are you a happy man? and in that sense, what is the women influence in your architecture?

As I formulated the question Siza laughed with complicity. About women he was frugal but clear, "women obviously, of course, have been an important factor and influence in all aspects of my life" ,said Siza and in relation to the first question, the answer was based on recognizing that not everything has been easy, that of 1,500 projects only 200 had been constructed but that he has managed to make this bad times blurred over time, bad things fell and only the good ones remained.

Some more questions and we moved to the room where the round table was held. On the way to the lift one of those questions that I could not make, when I met Juan RodriguezWhy all photographs in black and white?

Why not? Juan answered and, why all drawings carefully published in color? to what Juan said "I'll be honest, because actually it is a technique that I feel more comfortable with and that I have been controlling more and better over time".

Chronicle of the event.-

The event, really crowded with attendands, and characterized by the ostentation the institution gives to its facilities, began with a presentation of gratitude by the authors. Afterwards, they got up to a round table formed from left to right by: David Cohn, Juhani Pallasma, Álvaro Siza, Javier Navarro, Rafael Moneo, Eduardo Souto de Moura and on the right end of the table, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa.

I must point out that the person in charge of chairing the table did not disappoint at all. I had already heard from Anatxu (and I also had, obviously, read his writings in El País for years) in the presentation of a book in Alicante (Spain) where we had met as guests.

  • Anatxu started the conference by throwing the question that had remained unanswered in the press conference: "Why had only six buildings been chosen, none of them from this century, and whether they considered if there was some other building they would have included ".

Souto guessed that the reason for that was that, probably, the work of Siza does not present yet enough historical distance. Moneo, although he understood the selection that had been done, recalled that he would have also included the building of San Salvador de Bahía. Pallasma spoke about the path Siza had taken along his complete career, which was difficult to separate, and his relationship with Alvar Aalto. Cohn marked that he feels a great impression with any of Siza’s building, but that the one which had impressed him the most was Quinta de San Ovidio.

  • Anatxu, taking advantage of the reflexion Pallasma had made in the first round about what is the truth in Architecture, relaunched it as a general question.

Souto said that beauty is not the consequence of the truth but that truth appears when people remain content. Moneo spoke of Siza’s career addressing its continuation, against the fragmentation other architects present along their professional path, lacking a common language. Pallasma responded by saying that it is the ability to imagine what do people feel and how dangerous it is to speak of an absolute truth. David Cohn insisted on this idea, clarifying that the truth consists actually in finding ways to empathy, that the dimension of truth is in constant bargaining, and that the community therefore needs to achieve agreements constantly to point at the concept.

  • Zabalbeascoa continued asking why does social housing remains as an unresolved question among architects.

Souto, who was the friendliest speaker of the night and the one with a more relaxed and informal speech, made a reflection on the importance of housing, which has existed as an architectural typology for seven thousand years. He also remembered how Siza once remarked "astronauts enjoy very much coming back home". Moneo also responded saying that architects should be restricted as the definers of life forms in front of such permanence.

  • The real Anatxu appeared naturally on the next question, when she cleverly asked if "architects thought during the design process about how buildings will be cleaned."

At that time Moneo tried to change the meaning of the question by centering on the artistic and plastic vocation which joined in the rationality of Siza, kind of eluding discussion topics as mundane as cleaning. Anatxu then again picked the thread of the debate by saying that since the previous question had not raised enough interest among the guests, she would continue talking about higher matters and asked about the personal mark architects can leave in their buildings.

The round table continued with different interventions. The public was given the floor and made several questions. Siza responded by saying that he was an insecure architect and that is something he thanked when designing, as it justified the realization of many drawings in each project to eliminate the doubts he may have.

Moneo was the one who spoke to close the event. When it seemed that the act was coming to its end, Anatxu saw that there was still enough time left to give the floor to the last two public questions: The first of the interventions asked what advice would Siza give to the new architects, to which he responded by explaining that he could not give it, since the general conditions that existed when he was young were radically different to the current ones. Anatxu lastly asked Siza on behalf of the foundation to end the discussion discussing any topic he wanted. Siza then gave closure to the act with a friendly thanks to all the authors and collaborators of the book.

Sizax Siza.
Autores.- Juan Rodríguez y Carlos Seoane. The book also includes texts of homage, specifically made for its publication, by Eduardo Souto de Moura, Kenneth Frampton, Juhani Pallasma and David Cohn.
Editor.- Fundación Arquía.
Cover.- Soft cover.
Number of pages.- 418 pp. CMYK.
Language.- Spanish.

 

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Álvaro Joaquim Melo Siza Vieira was born in Matosinhos (near Porto), in 1933. From 1949-55 he studied at the School of Architecture, University of Porto. His first built project was finished in 1954. From 1955-58 he was collaborator of Arch. Fernando Távora. He taught at the School of Architecture (ESBAP) from 1966-69 and was appointed Professor of "Construction" in 1976. He was a Visiting Professor at the Ècole Polythéchnique of Lausanne, the University of Pennsylvania, Los Andes University of Bogotá and the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University; he taught at the School of Architecture of Porto (jubilate in 2003).

He is the author of many projects such as: the Boa Nova Tea House and Restaurant; 1200 dwellings built in Malagueira, Évora; the Superior School of Education in Setúbal, the new School of Architecture in Porto; the Library of Aveiro University; the Museum of Modern Art in Porto; the Church and Parochial Centre in Marco de Canavezes; the Pavilion of Portugal for EXPO '98 and the Pavilion of Portugal in Hannover 2000 (with Souto de Moura); the dwelling and offices complex of “Terraços de Bragança” in Lisbon; and he has rebuilt the burnt area of Chiado in Lisbon since 1988, including the projects for some buildings like Castro e Melo, Grandella, Chiado Stores, and others.

He has been coordinated the plan of Schilderswijk's recuperation in The Hague, Holland, since 1985, which finished in 89; in 1995 he finished the project for blocs 6-7-8 in Ceramique Terrein, Maastricht.

In Spain he has completed the projects for the Meteorological Centre of Villa Olimpica in Barcelona; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Galicia and the Faculty of Information Sciences in Santiago de Compostela; the Rectorate of the Alicante University; Zaida building – offices, commercial and dwelling complex in Granada; Sportive Complex Cornellà de L’lobregat in Barcelona.

Cultural Centre and auditorium for the Ibere Camargo Foundation in Brazil; Municipal Centre of Rosario in Argentina; lodging-house in the Plan of Recuperation and Transformation of Cidade Velha in Cap Vert; Serpentine Pavillion (2005) with Eduardo Souto Moura; Museum of Modern Art of Naples in Italy; Anyang Pavilion in South Korea (with Carlos Castanheira); Mimesis Museum in South Korea (with Carlos Castanheira); are to be mentioned.

He has participated in several lectures and conferences in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Norway, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, England, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Canada, United States, Romania, Greece, South Korea and Sweden.

Having been invited to participate in international competitions, he won the first place in Schlesisches Tor, Kreuzberg, Berlin (now built), at the recuperation of Campo di Marte in Venice (1985) and at the renewal of Casino and Café Winkler, Salzburg (1986); Cultural Centre for the La Defensa, Madrid (with José Paulo Santos) (1988/89); J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California (with Peter Testa) (1993); Pietà Rondanini Room, Sforzesco Castell, Milan (1999); Special Plan Recoletos-Prado, Madrid (with Juan Miguel Hernandez Leon e Carlos Riaño) (2002); Toledo Hospital (Sánchez-Horneros office) (2003); “Atrio de la Alhambra” in Spain (with Juan Domingo Santos)(2010); “Parco delle Cave”, Lecce in Italy (with Carlos Castanheira) (2010).

He has participated in the competitions for Expo 92 in Sevilla, Spain (with Eduardo Souto de Moura and Adalberto Dias) (1986); for "Un Progetto per Siena", Italy (with José Paulo Santos) (1988); the Cultural Centre La Defensa in Madrid, Spain (1988/89); the Bibliothèque of France in Paris (1989/90), the Helsinki Museum (with Souto de Moura) (1992-93); Flamenco City of Xerez de la Frontera, Spain (with Juan Miguel Hernandez Leon) (2003).

From 1982 to 2010 has won many different awards and have been assigned with Medals of Cultural Merit from many country around the world. Doctor "Honoris Causa" in various European and International universities.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science; "Honorary Fellow" of the Royal Institute of British Architects; AIA/American Institute of Architects; Académie d'Architecture de France and European Academy of Sciences and Arts; Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts; IAA/International Academy of Architecture; American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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José Juan Barba (1964) architect from ETSA Madrid in 1991. Special Mention in the National Finishing University Education Awards 1991. PhD in Architecture ETSAM, 2004. He founded his professional practice in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com). He has been an architecture critic and editor-in-chief of METALOCUS magazine since 1999, and he advised different NGOs until 1997. He has been a lecturer (in Design, Theory and Criticism, and Urban planning) and guest lecturer at different national and international universities (Roma TRE, Polytechnic Milan, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, UNAM Mexico, Univ. Iberoamericana Mexico, University of Thessaly Volos, FA de Montevideo, Washington, Medellin, IE School, U.Alicante, Univ. Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-U.I.C. Barcelona,...).

Maître de Conférences IUG-UPMF Grenoble 2013-14. Full assistant Professor, since 2003 up to now at the University of Alcalá School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain. And Jury in competitions as Quaderns editorial magazine (2011), Mies van der Rohe Awards, (2010-2024), Europan13 (2015). He has been invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione".

He has published several books, the last in 2016, "#positions" and in 2015 "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi " and collaborations on "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione", "La Mansana de la discordia" (2015), "Arquitectura Contemporánea de Japón: Nuevos territorios" (2015)...

Awards.-

- Award. RENOVATION OF SEGURA RIVER ENVIRONMENT, Murcia, Sapin, 2010.
- First Prize, RENOVATION GRAN VÍA, “Delirious Gran Vía”, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
- First Prize, “PANAYIOTI MIXELI Award”. SADAS-PEA, for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture Athens, 2005.
- First Prize, “SANTIAGO AMÓN Award," for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture. 2000.
- Award, “PIERRE VAGO Award." ICAC -International Committee of Art Critics. London, 2005.
- First Prize, C.O.A.M. Madrid, 2000. Shortlisted, World Architecture Festival. Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de los Ríos. Tera, Esla y Orbigo, Barcelona, 2008.
- First Prize. FAD AWARD 07 Ephemeral Interventions. “M.C.ESCHER”. Arquin-Fad. Barcelona, Sapin 2007.

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Published on: November 21, 2015
Cite: "Siza x Siza. Questions in the air" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/siza-x-siza-questions-air> ISSN 1139-6415
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