Alvaro Siza is one of the main contemporary architects; the quality of his work has been recognized by the critics, by the public, and with prestigious international prizes such as Mies van der Rhoe Prize in 1998 and Pritzker Prize in 1992.

Siza has a high idea of designing: "architecture is art" , not only a simple and proud statement, but also a controversy in a period of time when the building art has not always show to be at a noble level. It is not only an expectation to design art, but also the dialogue between the Arts within the project, for this reason his architectural work appears always as " total masterpiece ". His work doesn't forget any element that can be integrated and communicated: from the environmental context to the real art, from anything that could be designed and realized, to the finishing and the furnishing.
Alvaro Joaquim Melo Siza Vieira was born in 1936 in   Mathosinhos, on the surrounding outskirts of Porto; he studied at the School of Fine Art of Port from 1949 to 1955. In an autobiography, with his characteristic sense of humor , writing about himself in third person, he remembered: " he became an architect instead of sculptor, so to not contradict his father ".
From 1955 to 1958 he worked with Fernando Tavora, one of the most important Portuguese architects in the Fifties, He was sensible to the research of integration between the local and traditional elements of the practice to build, and the model of Modernism. Siza's first important work is from 1958, when he designed the restaurant Boa Nova a Leca da Palmeira , where between 1961 and 1966 he realized a swimming pool. In a beautiful environmental situation, on the ocean shores, the lower architecture of the building "communicates" with the natural elements, the stones and the water, balancing or integrating the artificial that has been built with the natural of the surrounding.  

"THE ARCHITECT WORKS HANDLING THE MEMORY"

" The relationship between nature and construction is decided in architecture. This relationship, that is basic in each project, is my obsession ", stated Siza. From Boa Nova, this sensibility represents one of the constant in the work of the Portuguese architect. Since the beginning his style derives from the teachers of the functionalistic architecture, - among other things -geometrical shapes, edged and strict lines, rude materials; but his designing is always searching for something more, of different "words".   Critics find in his buildings memories of modern architects less orthodox, like Alvar Aalto or Frank Loyd Wright. This has been recognized by Siza: "I understand possible to find references to a work - he wrote - but the difficulties will be large if the work is mature, because there will be not only a relationship, but many more... The architect works by handling his memory, there are no doubts, rarely consciously but more often unconsciously".  
In forty years, Siza realized many project in Portugal and around the world. Some of these were very elaborated and finished during many years, because his work prefers a strong tie with the physical "place" of the architecture, he often forms a strong relationship with the final users. Siza adds about his takes of the projects, that because of his nature and choice, he is slow, thoughtful, he follows slow steps to reach the heart of the problem and of a vision, of adjustments and second thoughts, "only in this way is possible to reach the perfection   in the realization, that reaches the level of poetry".
He projected in small and large scale: public urbanization - for example, in 1988 the project to rebuild the Chiado , a large area within the city of Lisbon destroyed   by a fire - public spaces, such as schools, religious places and museums, and private residences.

In the Portugal wing to the Expo of Lisboa in 1998 , the two main bodies are symmetrical and divided by tall columns, they contain service areas for presentation, conferences, and the interior is decorated by Siza and another famous Portuguese architect, Eduardo Souto de Moura,   who worked with him for a long time. The two parallelepipeds are tied by a large and spectacular "sail" of concrete, anchored with steel line, where it is possible to have shows in the open.  

"ARCHITECTURE AND GEOMETRY "

" Architecture and geometry " to Siza; he seems never be completely happy of this geometry, and he continuously works to introduce "more", a small or large beautiful "remaining": a miracle cover, or, for example, the shaped going in the front of the building - like in the Library of the Aveiro University of 1988 -, or a overhanging gallery   that reminds the meeting of architectural volumes - such as in the recent rectorate of Alicante's University .
Siza projected different buildings for many Universities, between the end of the Eighties and the beginning of Nineties.