Álvaro Siza Vieira - Architecture and Grace
How buildings achieve a certain grace and elegance seems wrapped in a mystery that is almost impossible to define, even today. During a recent site visit for a new project in Sintra, Portugal, we took some time out to visit a work of sublime simplicity.
At the Expo ’98, Architect Alvaro Siza produced a single sweeping masterpiece in the National Pavilion structure, situated along the Tagus River in Lisbon. A visual harmony is expressed with a structural clarity that is eye-watering.
A covered public plaza is transformed into a sheltered environment with a draped concrete canopy, hung from two monolithic porticoes. The structure expresses an awareness of timeless classical principles of proportion, geometry and aesthetic harmony.
—