Alvaro Siza: Complete Works [Paperback]

Kenneth Frampton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2006

The Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza (b.1933) is one of the world's most respected architects. The recipient of many awards, including the prestigious Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1992, Siza has built and taught in Portugal and internationally since the late 1950s. This monograph is a comprehensive study of Siza's work, from his early built work - the Boa Nova Tea House, Portugal (1958-63) - to his latest projects. Siza has received critical acclaim for works in Germany (Schlesisches Tor, Berlin), Spain (Galician Centre for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela), Italy (restoration of the Campo di Marte, Venice) and Portugal (Portugese Pavilion at Expo '98, Lisbon). His projects have been exhibited widely. Siza's architecture is vigorous and coherent and distinctively apt to respond to the environment without detracting from its functional and stylistic identity. This book charts over 40 years of work to cover built works, projects, writings, photographs, drawings and many of Siza's sketches. An extensive introduction by Kenneth Frampton describes the works' evolution, while writings by Siza himself are interspersed throughout the volume, offering a unique personal perspective to his work and to twentieth-century architecture as a whole.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is so comprehensive in its illustrative material that an outsider with no previous awareness of Siza's oeuvre can make fair and balanced judgements on how the architect has evolved, which buildings work, and where he has become tired ... an exceptional book.' (Times Literary Supplement)

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 620 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714846333
• ISBN-13: 978-0714846330
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.8 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,762,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book of the architect of the moment!, March 17, 2001

By 

J. Moura (Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alvaro Siza: Complete Works (Hardcover)

Some people say Siza is the architect of the white! Probably, if whe can understand that the white colour of his facades is the consequence of his absolutly control of plans and forms. He is a genius! This book is a good way to show almost all works of Siza. For me there is only one book that is better than this one: "Alvaro Siza - the book, from ElCroquis".But anyway, buy this book if you want to understand the genius of Alvaro Siza.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Overview, October 30, 2006

By 

D. Bank "LM" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alvaro Siza: Complete Works (Paperback)

If you want to get a fine overview of Siza's works, this book might be just fine. It inculdes a short presentation of all of his works, the major buildings are featured more extensively. There are plenty of Siza's beautiful sketches and abstract line drawings might clarify his projects sufficiently (how could the editor oversee that the faculty of Porto is mirrored?). It is remarkable that most of the photos do not present the the projects in the just finished state, but how they look like right now, making plain how gracefully Siza's buildings get older. I have to agree that Le Croquis might show his major buildings more in depth and documents far more Siza's own point of view with two long interviews, however this edition is for sure worth the money.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as ISBN: 8864130063, November 14, 2011

By 

Eugene Tenenbaum "reluctant reader" (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alvaro Siza (Archipockets) (Hardcover)

Small size; not many pages and projects; very small and barely legible plans, sections, and elevations; good quality photos; well published on not glossy paper; very well bound; inferior to 120-page Alvaro Siza (Minimum, Essential Architecture Library), ISBN: 8864130063.