Siza, Álvaro, << SEE zuh, AHL vuh roo >> (1933-…), is an influential Portuguese architect. Siza’s designs reflect great awareness of Portuguese artistic traditions. His projects show his sensitivity toward the surrounding sites, whether natural or human made, as well as the effects of natural light. Siza typically employs local building materials for his structures. In 1992, Siza was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious international award in architecture (see Pritzker Architecture Prize).
Most of Siza’s projects are in Portugal. He first gained recognition with his designs for two swimming pools. The first (1965), built in Matosinhos, was integrated into an existing park. The second (1966), built in Leça da Palmeira, was built into a rocky outcropping along the North Atlantic Ocean and barely distinguishable from the ocean.
Siza soon attracted commissions for a broad variety of projects, including housing developments, individual homes, banks, office buildings, art galleries, restaurants, and shops. Among these buildings are the housing project (1972) in Caxinas; the Borges & Irmão Bank III (1986) in Vila do Conde; the Faculty of Architecture (1993) of the University of Porto; the library (1995) at the University of Aveiro; and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto (1997). Outside Portugal, Siza designed the Galician Center for Contemporary Art (1994) in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Siza also designed a number of buildings in Germany, such as the Schlesisches Tor Apartments (1983) in Kreuzberg and the Vitra factory (1986) in Weil-am-Rhein.
During the 1990’s, Siza began one of his most ambitious projects, the restoration of the Chiado area of Lisbon. This historic commercial area was nearly destroyed by fire in 1988.
Álvaro Joaquim de Meio Siza Vieira was born on June 25, 1933, in Matosinhos. He studied architecture at the University of Porto from 1949 to 1955 and opened his first architecture office in 1958. Siza began teaching at the University of Porto in 1966 and was made professor of architecture in 1976. He has also taught at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania in the United States; University of the Andes in Bogotá, Colombia; and the Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Switzerland.
