Customer Reviews

Alvaro Siza: Complete Works

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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.

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.

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.

This monograph gives a wide-ranging coverage to both the built, as well as the unbuilt work of Alvaro Siza.
Most project entries contain sketches, images, and line drawings. The images are good quality, Siza's sketches are incredible as always, my only complaint is that the line-drawings tend to be a little small.
The essays vary in quality, but overall, this is the best monograph of Siza's work which I have seen.
I highly recommend this volume.