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taught at different schools: what’s the essence
of your teaching? What do you teach with
greater enthusiasm?
AS: What interests me the most is what I
learned with my master during my first expe-
rience at the School: understanding what lies
behind the goals, the creation, the intelligence
of each student. Now that classes are larger
(back then we were fifteen or so, and the pro-
fessor could talk with each student), it is quite
easy to ruin a student’s work. It is a way of
annulling his qualities, and not understand
his skills. And that’s when I remember when
I was a student, when I wanted to become a
sculptor and didn’t care for architecture, and
when I received the first critique from a teacher
(from the director in fact, an extremely intel-
ligent person). He looked at my work, smoked,
thought… and then started. And what a way of
starting… He said to me: “You can tell perfectly
well that you haven’t seen any architecture
at all, so I suggest you go to a bookstore and
buy some magazines.” So I went and bought
four issues of L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui,
which is what we had back then: an issue on
Gropius, another on Aalto, another on Neutra
and another on hospitals, that I didn’t even
read. But Aalto was a shock, Aalto above all.
Instead of making me feel I was a disgrace, my
teacher let me think that, with more informa-
tion in my hands, I could change the results.
And that’s a good thing.
I would say young architects to fight while
energy lasts, and to not accept those negative
trends. We are in time. We have to fight in a
more constant manner, with long-term objec-
tives. But the essential conquest is the pleasure
that practicing architecture gives… If we don’t
get there, the profession is unbearable.
Siza’s last phrases could sound like a doc-
trinal claim, a rousing speech, but he himself
is the best example of why we should listen
to his words. The determination, focus on
work and pursuit of style have turned Álvaro
Siza not only into a professional role model
but also into an ethical symbol. And surely it
is no coincidence that the purity of his work,
white and tuned, matches that rectitude of the
firmly asserted spirit. Loving the profession,
striving for the well-made work, being atten-
tive to the finishes, taking the measure of a
building from the high structure to the details
or conquering an idea and a social conscience
are the greatest treasure of an artist, and also
his personal fortress. The fame of this Por-
tuguese giant isn’t, after all, just the result
of his skill and inventiveness, but rather of a
professional ethic that in its human condition
integrates everything.
