Alvaro Siza
Bouca Housing Complex, by Alvaro Siza, Porto, Portugal (1972-76) and (2000-03)
A talk by Tony Fretton
17th October 2023 1830hrs
At The Gallery, London EC1
Sold out
"Architects don't invent anything, they just transform reality." Alvaro Siza
In this event Tony Fretton promises us an interpretive talk on the work of Alvaro Siza.
Alvaro Siza was born in the town of Matosinhos, near Oporto, Portugal, in 1933. He studied architecture at the Escola de Belas Artes in Oporto from 1949 to 1955, and his first design was built in 1954. From 1955 to 1958, he worked with architect Fernando Tavora. Through the 1950s, Siza developed several projects in Matosinhos, including private houses, a Parochial Center, a Tourist Office, and a low-cost housing project as well as the acclaimed Boa Nova restaurant (1958-63; renovated 1992) and a public swimming pool in Leca da Palmeira (1958-65). After the fall of Portugal’s fascist dictatorship in 1974, Siza became involved in numerous public housing projects to improve Portugal’s housing conditions. Since then he has designed churches, schools, shopping centers, libraries, and museums, both in Portugal and other countries.
His awards include the 1992 Pritzker Prize, The Golden Medal of The Superior Council of Architecture of the College of Architects of Madrid in 1988; the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1988; Portugal's National Prize of Architecture in 1993; the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Praemium Imperiale in 1998, the Wolf Prize in Arts in 2001, the Urbanism Special Grand Prize of France 2005. More recently he was awarded the RIBA's 2009 Royal Gold Medal and the International Union of Architects' 2011 Gold Medal. In 2012 he was awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement by the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2019 he won the National Architecture Award of Spain.
Tony Fretton is a British architect known for his residential and public gallery buildings, as well as other British and international design work. He graduated from the AA and worked for various practices before setting up his own firm, Tony Fretton Architects, in 1982. Tony is a visiting professor at the University of East London, and at ETH Zurich. He is also a trustee of Docomomo UK.