Alvaro Siza report
Alvaro Siza designed great contextual architecture that is responsive to topography, light and the basic resources of the region with a strong deference towards local material and would create simplistic forms which were grounded in i the form of specific topographies. Siza commonly stuck to the roots of tradition of the Portuguese style and wished to explore an archaic and timeless sense of space, which had nothing to do with modernism at all, but which relied on ii geometrical schemata with a partly modern degree.
Alvaro had a strong emphasis on the lineaments of topography and to the spatial iii transition between buildings - he created buildings which responded intelligently to climate, place and landscape (without ignoring social and technological change). Siza’s buildings were like vectors of light and space iv holding together the fragments of the city or landscape.
Leca Da Palmeira is a minimal design with linear incisions drawing v together landscapes, rocks and sea ,
Siza endeavoured to find a balance between new human uses and the pre-existing topography whilst drawing together the spatial ambiguities and tensions of cubism with abstract planes and contours to guide the human figure over the strata of a vi site to intensify the experience of natural features in the setting.
The pools are constructed with low concrete walls with natural rock formations surrounding the edges from almost every angle, the water levels of both the pool and the
Atlantic Ocean appear to be equal vii and visually connected. The intentional blurring of the ocean’s
edge enhances the user’s feelings of expanse, but also blurs their understanding of 'man-made '.
References to traditional architecture are eliminated in favour of planar forms in exposed reinforced concrete whilst all building elements are constructed viii within the irregular landscape. The enclosure of the pool is organised on the basis of natural accidents and all areas
Alvaro had a strong emphasis on the lineaments of topography and to the spatial iii transition between buildings - he created buildings which responded intelligently to climate, place and landscape (without ignoring social and technological change). Siza’s buildings were like vectors of light and space iv holding together the fragments of the city or landscape.
Leca Da Palmeira is a minimal design with linear incisions drawing v together landscapes, rocks and sea ,
Siza endeavoured to find a balance between new human uses and the pre-existing topography whilst drawing together the spatial ambiguities and tensions of cubism with abstract planes and contours to guide the human figure over the strata of a vi site to intensify the experience of natural features in the setting.
The pools are constructed with low concrete walls with natural rock formations surrounding the edges from almost every angle, the water levels of both the pool and the
Atlantic Ocean appear to be equal vii and visually connected. The intentional blurring of the ocean’s
edge enhances the user’s feelings of expanse, but also blurs their understanding of 'man-made '.
References to traditional architecture are eliminated in favour of planar forms in exposed reinforced concrete whilst all building elements are constructed viii within the irregular landscape. The enclosure of the pool is organised on the basis of natural accidents and all areas
References: Hudson, 2007), 330. August 22, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/150272/ad-classics-leca-swimmingpools-alvaro-siza/. August 22, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/150272/ad-classics-leca-swimmingpools-alvaro-siza/. x Kenneth Frampton, Alvaro Siza, (England: Phaidon, 2000), 82. 22, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/150272/ad-classics-leca-swimming-poolsalvaro-siza/