© Office of Álvaro Siza

Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, recipient of the Pritzker Prize,has donated a large part of his architectural archive to the Canadian Centre for Architecture,Montréal (CCA). In a statement this week, Siza announced his decision to place the material in the care of the CCA in order to foster discussion and dialogue in a research-oriented context.As one of the world’s foremost international architecture collections, the CCA offers a unique environment dedicated to the study and presentation of architectural thought and practice. Álvaro Siza’s work can be studied in the context of the international archives of Peter Eisenman, Arthur Erickson, John Hejduk, Gordon Matta-Clark, Cedric Price, Aldo Rossi, James Stirling, as well as Pierre Jeanneret, Abalos & Herreros, Foreign Office Architects, and others housed
at the CCA.

CCA Director Mirko Zardini states, “The CCA is thrilled to accept this generous donation. I have known Álvaro Siza and followed his work closely for several decades. His architecture escapes easy classification, but always offers a lesson – a new way of seeing the world around us. His buildings have a distinct character and particular relationship to their urban or natural settings, always born from the desire to participate in the world. Siza’s drawings and sketches reflect his ability to capture the essence of a place through careful observation. No matter in which country he works, the finished buildings are always distinctly of the place as much as they are distinctly his. His vision on architecture and the city generates a new dialogue within the CCA collection.”

In addition to the archive at the CCA, Siza is donating specific project archives to the Fundação de Serralves and Fundação Gulbenkian in Portugal. Siza selected which projects would be held in which location, combining the need for national representation of his work with international access. The three institutions will collaborate on a consistent cataloguing of the material and the sharing of the related research and programming.Álvaro Siza (born 1933) emerged in the late 1950s at the forefront of developing a new architectural language adapted to the cultural and social context of Portugal. He received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1992 and the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2012, among many other recognitions. The Siza archive at the CCA comprises projects representing his life-long interest and study of houses, housing, and city planning,as well as designs for cultural centres, museums, and universities throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. The material includes sketches, drawings, study models, as well as related digital files, correspondence and documentary photographs. The CCA is committed to cataloguing and storing the materials and making them accessible to scholarly research.

Statement by Álvaro Siza

During the last years I have sensed the need to organize the archive of my many years of activity dedicated to architecture. The demand of students and architects to consult these files, and the suggestions I have received on how to make these documents accessible, has led me to seek out a well-considered solution. During this process the strong interest on the part of individuals and institutions was confirmed, which has touched and motivated me.

For some time now, drawings and models from my archive can be found in architecture collections in Paris (Beaubourg), New York (MoMA), and London (Niall Hobhouse Collection). It is my desire that so many years of work can become useful in many ways, as a contribution to the research and debate on architecture, particularly in Portugal and with a perspective opposed to isolation – as it is already taking place today and this is indispensable. I initiated some conversations, I listened to recommendations, and I have now formed my own idea on the way my archive should be organized, and how and where to locate it.

I have chosen to:

1. donate to two Portuguese institutions that already have the experience, quality and capacity to develop or enlarge their respective archives (Fundação Gulbenkian and Fundação de Serralves) with the goal of increasing access, dissemination and active participation in a debate that is no longer simply national nor centered on an individual.

2. donate to the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, an institution of unequaled experience and prestige and with a sustained series of activities (exhibitions, publications, research, relations with other related institutions and large visibility). As the CCA is recognized for its experience in the preservation and presentation of international archives, it will care for a large part of my archive and make it accessible alongside the work of other modern and contemporary architects. Based on recent conversations, CCA is open to collaborate with Fundação Gulbenkian and Fundação de Serralves to establish a consistent cataloguing system and to share the research and related programming.

The Cultural Representative of the City of Porto, Paulo Cunha e Silva, has informed me of the decision to create an exhibition space for the architecture of the city, particularly focusing on models. I have expressed my support in participating to initiate this new collection and believe in the importance of this project for the general public and the debate on architecture.

—Álvaro Siza, 23 July 2014

> via The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)