ALVARO JOAQUIM DE MEJO SIZA VIERIA

Siza, whose full name is Alvaro Joaquim de Meio Siza

Vieira, was born on June 25, 1933 in the small coastal
town of Matosinhos, just north of Porto, Portugal. Siza
studied at the University of Porto School of Architecture
from 1949 through 1955
 LECA
SWIMMING
POOLS
Completed on
1966. The Leça
de Palmeira
beaches are on
the northern
coastline
of Matosinhos, a
small town to the
north of Porto, as
well as Siza’s
The Boa Nova Tea House, one of Siza's birthplace.

earliest commissions, was awarded to

him in 1956. His collaborator, Fernando
Tavora, had won the competition for
the project and passed it onto Alvaro
Siza. Its location close to Siza's home
town had its significance, especially due
to the architect's intimate familiarity
with the landscape.
AWARDS
• Portugese architect Álvaro Siza (born 25 June
1933) is known for his sculptural works that
have been described as "poetic modernism."
When he was awarded the Pritzker Prize in
1992, Siza was credited as being a successor
of early modernists
• Siza first gained recognition in the 1960s
with his Leça Swimming Pools and his Boa
Nova Tea House, and has remained hugely
influential ever since: among his most
respected works is his gravity-defying
Portuguese National Pavilion for the 1998
Expo; his Fundação Iberê Camargo was a
joint winner of the first ever Mies Crown Hall
Americas Prize (MCHAP) in 2014; and at the
2012 Venice Biennale he both completed an
exhibition pavilion and was awarded the
Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
FUN FACTS
• University of Porto School of Architecture from 1949 through 1955,
completing his first built works (four houses in Matosinhos) even before
ending his studies in 1954. That same year he opened his private practice in
Porto.
• In 1966, Siza began teaching at the University, and in 1976, he was made a
tenured Professor of Architecture. In addition to his teaching there, he has
been a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard
University; the University of Pennsylvania; Los Andes University of Bogota
in Colombia ; and the Ecole Polytechnique of Lausanne in Switzerland.
• In addition, he has been a guest lecturer at many universities and
conferences throughout the world, from the United States, Colombia and
Argentina to Spain, Germany, France, Norway, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Austria and England in Europe.
Latest work
Jeju Island Tea House
• With Carlos Castanheira, Jong Kyu Kim