Abstract
Siza’s mastery in freehand drawing is well known, as is his ability to use the sketch to ideate new spaces. Perhaps what is less known is that for him neither drawing nor modelling, nor any other single design tool, including digital ones, is enough, as his methodology depends on the combination and integration of all of them. To watch a creative mind in action is fascinating, and it is not easy to disclose which is the precise role of each tool at a precise moment, but we know, as Siza says, that all these means are mutually supportive, and that architecture emerges from their interaction. To the observer they seem randomly used although they are not. As a matter of fact, it’s a complex process, where the main objective is the production of a qualified space for living, that is, architecture with a capital A. Models are only a piece of this mysterious puzzle. Indispensable, though.
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Notes
Steven Holl Lectures at Porto Academy, 25 July 2018. URL: https://www.stevenholl.com/news/688.
Aalto, Domus (1947).
Pallasmaa, The Thinking Hand (2009).
Pallasmaa helped us to find the drawing Siza was referring to. We are grateful to Ana Luísa Sá who directly contacted him, and to Pallasmaa himself.
The Mimesis Museum in Paju Book City, South Korea, with Carlos Castanheira.
Carlos Castanheira (b. 1957) graduated from the Architecture School in Porto (FAUP) and has been Álvaro Siza’s partner for several projects in Portugal and abroad (see Fernandes (2013)).
Carlos Ramos (1897–1969) was a Portuguese architect, urban planner and educator. He was the director of the Porto School of Fine Arts (EBAP) from 1952 to 1969.
Fernando Távora (1923–2005), architect. A participant in several CIAM and Team 10 meetings, he was a key person in the modernization of the Porto School.
The famous Casa de Chá in Boa Nova near Porto, the very first building designed by Álvaro Siza.
Eduardo Souto de Moura has his own practice in the same building of Álvaro Siza and they have been partners on several projects. He was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2011.
Álvaro Siza is speaking of the dwelling masterplan, commissioned by Fidelidade Seguros, to Entrecampos in Lisbon.
Alberti, in Book II of De re aedificatoria (1988: 34).
This is the Punta della Dogana Museum and Art Center, formerly the Gae Aulenti Art Gallery, refurbished by Ando in 2009.
“It is convenient for anyone who has to do the profession of architect to understand the perspective by showing the exterior and interior of the building, so that he does not have to spend on a wooden model, or wax or earth” (Rodrigues 1576: fol. 11r, our trans.); see Xavier (2006).
References
Aalto, Alvaro. 1947. La trota e il ruscello di montagna. Domus. No. 223–225.
Fernandes, Eduardo. 2013. Critical Eclecticism. The Way(s) of the Porto School. Docomomo 49: 52–57. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.52200/49.A.TEK40OMA.
Pallasmaa, Juhani. 2009. The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture. Wiley.
Rodrigues, António (attr.). 1576. Tratado de Arquitectura. Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional, Cod. 3675.
Alberti, Leon Battista. 1988. On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Trans. Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach, Robert Tavernor. MIT Press.
Xavier, João Pedro. 2006. Sobre as origens da perspectiva em Portugal O “Liuro de Perspectiva” do Códice 3675 da Biblioteca Nacional, um Tratado de Arquitectura do século XVI. Porto: FAUP Publicações.
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Xavier, J.P., Duvernoy, S. Álvaro Siza on the Role of Models in Architectural Design. Nexus Netw J 23, 817–831 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-021-00574-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-021-00574-9