Arch 538GSiza and Souto de Moura: Modernity and the Traditions of Building

Portugal: Post/Modern, Post/CrisisReflections and observations in current architectural practice on the

Western edge of the Iberian Peninsula

July 2014Andrew Carnochan

PROLOGUE

Following a thematic study of the works of Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura in their home country of Portugal, this final paper reflects on initial speculations of the significant projects and working methods of two Pritzker Prize wining architects with the awareness of the produced artefacts. A ‘grand tour’ of the projects was followed with discussions with the ‘next generation’ younger architects who have graduated under the discipline and culture of the preceding masters, and have since had to negotiate new forms of practice with the backdrop of the recent economic events that continue to challenge the design community.

THE COURSE

“Don’t ask me about this building or that one. Don’t look at what I do. See what I saw.”- Luis Barragan

Beginning with a two week briefing seminar, analyzing the historical context(via readings) and interpreting the built work(books, magazines, digital publications, etc.) we set out to observe, record and discuss a series of critical projects that walk through the careers of the two architects. In the closing days of the pilgrimage, we made arrangements to meet and discuss with some of the younger working practices in Lisbon and measure their positions on the current economic climate, and where they position themselves in changes to the role of the architect in contemporary practice.

This final entry expands from the initial discussions of the portfolio’s of Siza and Souto de Moura within the critical lens of the topics; attitudes of the institution(s), the Porto School, formation of urbanity, beyond the porto school, and tradition and modernity. The following two sections, Post/Modern an Post/Crisis attempts to summarize the investigation and form a synthesis between the precursor seminars and the field observations and discussions.

Seminar sessions, UBC

Architectural pilgrimage, Braga Stadium Discsussions in-situ, Lisbon Chido District

POST / MODERN….expressions of Tradition & Modernity in Portuguese Architecture

Post/Modern is a record and visual essay of the selected works we observed in Portugal and Spain.These are moments observed in addendum to the formal academic study/review of these buildings, the position of the architects careers, and the development of modernity in Portuguese architecture. It observes traces of ideas in the work that may hint at a larger dialogue in the context of Portugal. From experiments with material, light, site, technology one can read this collection of details as it attmepts to reveal the style and language of the practice and development of modern architecture in Portugal.

Expanding from the format of a digital travel blog of the journey, Post/Modern catalogs the observations from the investigation into a visual inventory of the traits of modernity and tradition as noticed in person rather than through the pages of international publication.

Connecting the existing stone wall to the new granite is carefully crafted. A new grid established from the scale of the material addition collides with the existing stone, whose starting point is not the original wall, but begins elsewhere. This discrete acknowldgement of the new and old, a negotiated edge.

Cos 24, F. Taverna

The techtonics of construction here set up so many questions of order. The top member of the truss is set on a steel pin, while the bottom chord is embeded in the column, which does not touch the ground. Integrating these experiements of material and order ware at the foundation of Porugal’s modern architecture.

Tennis Pavilion, F. Taverna

Compressed between these two walls as one transitions between a large city boulevard and the infite open ocean is a strange sensation of thresholds. The simple offset in the stone tile and overbearing canopy deters from being trapped in forced perspective.

Oceanside Pool, A. Siza

The composition of this very modest walkway informs us about territory and program with a simple adjustment of material. The polished white tile door sill adjacent to the concrete paver suggests rest while the continuous cast concrete path noticeable red guard rail imply movement.

Boca Housing, A. Siza

Porto School of Architecture, A. Siza

Despite the effect of water on a lot of these projects, the craft in details of transition and turning corners is highly refined. The subtle fillet on the concrete roof slab exposes a thin metal drip edge to protect the roof slab edge, offering a beautiful contrast in composition and material.

Portugal Pavilion, A. Siza

The suspension of the massive span of this canopy to its remarkably thin profile is magnified by its subtle exposure of steel reinforcement cables at either end.

Boa Nova Tea House, A. Siza

Here the contrast between the two roof conditions intensifies the formal beauty of the roof profile. A thick and heavy timber structure is cantelivered out adjacent to the roof tile only just breaching the white washed wall.

Galacian Museum of Contemporary Art, A. Siza

The exagerated stair is given a refined profile made of marble. This edge is by no concidence blended into the door jamb of the adjacent corridoor uniting program of stage and floor transition.

Pousseada Santa Maria, E. Souto de Moura

There is a firmness in the horizontal laid granite stone here. A simple pin connection to the vertcial face by the slender vertical steel post, compliments the tradition of structural order in a very modern fashion of minimization.

Braga Foorball Stadium, E. Souto de Moura

The tension that resides in this detail expresses the absolute specatle of this building. The awesome scale and mass of the grandstand is balanced by the impossibly thin roof structure, like a veil with tattered edges.

University of Santiago, A. Siza

Under the mass of the large building projection, a thin and flimsy guard rail assists one with walking the subtle ramp, but then falls limp to the ground, playfully like a tired child.

Lisbon Chido District, A. Siza

This smooth and recessed handrail often goes unnoticed while ascending the stairs to the small courtyard in the chido district. Profiled to follow the curved ceiling of the corridor, it traces ample space for the body in modest and clever finishings.

Mercado Cultural Caranda, E. Souto de Moura

The unfinished appearance of the edge condition here does not conceal the construction or transition of material. Neither steel or stone are trunkated and a stalemate is generated, further emphasized with the honest material profiles.

Casa das Artes, E. Souto de Moura

Here the assembly of materials exposes an envelope of the building layers. The entry almost disapears in the beauty of the massive granite stone walls and reflected glass, but is defined by the lining of brick masonry.

The casual and irregular stone block sizes set up a elegant dialogue witht the uniform profile of the stair and wall lining beyond. These conversations about these details are less with theoriticians and more with masons and trades, common to the vernacular of Portuguese practice.

Serralves Museum of Art, A. Siza

A single steel letter profile is the only sign or symbol found at the pool, complimenting the simple wayfinding, palette of material and clean frmaing of space, a small but fitting distinction of the refinded hand of the author.

Swimming Pool, A. Siza

A circular room clad in stacked brick is given order with the cast concrete wall. The wood flooring now has an orientation to affix itself to. Ordering becomes the directive role of the wall.

Silo Norte, E. Souto de Moura

The solid, almost uniterupted mass has only a few openings. It is here we undersatnd how think the envelope is. The enclosed entry is lined white, giving clear definition of the building as a frame.

Casa das Histories, E.. Souto de Moura

POST / CRISIS…. instability encouraging flexibility

Post / Crisis reviews of a conversation regarding the recent crisis’ that are changing the country, economies and practice of architecture.

As the impact of of global and local crisis’ continue to rearrange political and economic systems, the urge to minimize and simplify recognizes a more local and conscious understanding of practice. Younger, independent practices seek both the international competitions in part to learn from other traditions internationally, as well local projects to establish their foundation of a working process, and accept a general state of uncertainty which prompts them to continuously moidfy these newly minted methods.

A mobile conversation with Joao Caria Lopes, AtelierBASE

Joao Caria Lopes is an architect in Lisbon, and operates with no less than five local practices as a mobile researcher. After 5 years of working in various local offices, and teaching at the University of Lisbon he has developed a type of pratice that works alongside his colleagues instead of in competition of them. Among the various tasks he is involved with, he prefers to curate and coordinate not only work(competitions & commissioned projects) but lectures, workshops, interviews and publications.

Our ‘interview and discussion’ with Joao was a very real experience of his operating method in the contemporary field of architecture. We arrangeed to meet Joao at his home early midweek, his default office is a modest dining table with a laptop next to a substantial library of books. After introductions, small talk and the briefings on our interest in him and Portugal, he shares with us his experiences after graduation, the status of practice in Lisbon, the ‘old school’ traditions associated with Siza and Taverna, and the new generation finding more commonalities with Souto de Moura. The modesty of a simple and plain discussion in his home was very humbling to the myth of the architect in their personally designed apartment over looking the city or ocean. Lopes represents a very middle class Portuguese population, and he tells us about the builders and workers in his lineage, and how he was the first of his family to reach university. Now residing in the city with his young family in a small apartment, he organizes a collection of opportunities for his practice to exist and develop new ventures. His long term plans for his practice are always in a state of flux as the level of uncertainty is at an all time high, but is very optimistic about the direction a number of his colleauges are pursuing.

After the formal questionaire, we moved the conversation to the street, embarking on an ‘architectural office-crawl’, something he frequents to like a morning jog. We moved through the five practices he had worked at after graduation from school, being at each for an average of 18 months. At each, we were introduced to either a principal or senior architect and shown some recent work and at least one physical model (his mandate for the office crawl). We discussed the degree to which architecture is taken on in the city of Lisbon, and in Portugal by his fellow emerging colleagues, he replies jovily, “My life and office are like Lisbon - always in renewal”. As we navigate the city between ofice visits, various questions about Siza, Souto de Moura, transitions in urban life, life back in Vancouver, competitions, the upcoming venice biennale, and we begin to understand the respect Joao has of his country, its history, its connection to the world and its future. He speaks fondly of his practice in more’glocal’ architecture, understanding the local with a general awareness of the greater international global connections. He also reminds us that portugese are very aware of their history, the people know and have alot of respect for Siza and the porto school, they feel that he is within them all.

The experimentation of practice in this position keeps him mobile and flexible to engage in a number of different occupations. He encourages working with others in order to maintain relationship, rather than just relying on the attendance of informal gatherings(after work parties, etc.), and believes the only way to work with others is to share or even give others projects. Most architects would not simply just hand over a project especially in such conservative times, but he insists that interaction was the strongest force for developing the profession and mode of future practices. He adds that his education had taught him the skills of being an author, focusing on the singular concepts, a traditional practice

of working which he would continue into the atelier of Manuel Aires Mateus and produce some very beautiful work. However, his attitude towards the singular has deteriorated and now pratices within the lens of plurality, where the architect is not just one voice(counter to the generation of Siza). His multiple joint ventures with associate firms encourages and distances himself from a speific ‘style’ seen in the work, and rather develops a language of design that reads more heterogenously.

Lopes points out that the triage of the ‘crisis’ is passing and that redeveloped forms of communication are developing part in response to a lack of public and private work, but a resurgence in fixing other types of work, whether it be the form of communication, knowledge sharing, research, and generally being more involved than just design and construction, “Architecture is not just about building, but is also about the before and the after”.

Following around an emerging architect such as Lopes, witnessing his ‘routine’ of daily practice is a refeshing balance from the discipline of design focused work. We encounter neighbours, see the communities, observe local traits and conditions, but more importantly we talk and share knowledge. Collaboration is not just about pursing ideas and concepts in groups but more sharing knowledge, and finding the opportunities within common or distinct facets. We don’t always need to be discussing building, invention or design. Observation and sharing reveals more about how architecture becomes sustained in a culutre.

A Practice of Dialogue - Estudo Previo (Preliminary Study)

“centred on the real conditions that determine an architectural production before any sketch or model or even before we become architects”

Estudo Prévio is the digital journal Joao is co-editor of with Filipa Ramahete. This semi-annual publication is coordinated with the Centre for Architecture, City and Territory Studies (Centro de Estudos de Arquitectura, Cidade e Território) of Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (CEACT/UAL). Similar in Canada(OnSite, Bracket, etc.) young architects are taking command in blogospheres and self publications as more local forms of practice, knowledge sharing and discussion about various issues in practice.

With estudo prévio, Lopes and Ramahete have already begin to uncover some of the more pertanit issues in Portugal (and the practice of architecture), not just covering good design practice, good buildings, materials or other such over published things.

Of the four publications to date, they have covered the topics; Crisis, Suburbs, Emergent, Domestic, and finally Research(pending release). These are by no means lightweight issues to begin a journal with and have in doing so, gathered quite a reputation of followers, mostly students and young graduates. The publication includes a number of serious interviews and essay’s from a variety of authors, locally and internationally and assist in the sharing of knowledge with the growing issues of contemporary practice.

FINAL THOUGHTS…. reflections on terminology and practice

As we walk away from Portugal and in reflection of the trip and investigation of these projects we produce a final speculation on a number of items. It becomes evident that terminiology has been a growing discussion part of the larger context study, and the definitions we were using throughout have shifted the lense by which we see these projects and speculate on the process’s. From the many conversations on site, in cafes, in transit, at bars, these terms start to develop a new perspective of the practice of architecture not just in Portugal, but perhaps globally. That list begins with tradition and modernity, and is not limited to;

clarity, divergent, plurality, author, collaborator, glocal, emergent, invention...

...and finally crisis. Becoming more vague and overused in the scale of today’s discussions of economy, business, globalization or even architecture, crisis itself is in crisis.

Today we are all working in a post/crisis climate, in anticipation of more changes and challenges ahead. The emerging generation of practitioners generally accept these conditions and configure their modes of practice toward it rather than trying to restore the original convention of ’doing things’.

Originally titled ‘Modernism Between Crises’, the revised theme (Post/Modern, Post/Crisis) acknowledges the constant state of flux that exists in current practice, and generates a sense speculation for frontier generations.

What Portugese architects are challenged with now is the rapid state of change to their profession and role within the global industries. Some have kept at pace with these changes, others have shifted the direction of their practice into new opportunites, a type of professional or even industrial upcycling.

Lopes, Joao Caria. (Interview). May 20 2014. Lisbon, Portugal.Conducted by Nada Alawi, Tami Matyusunda & Andrew Carnochan (UBC SALA)http://www.atelierbase.com/#! (Website)

Lopes, Joao Caria, and Filipa Ramahete. “Editorial Zero: The Architect and Crisis.” Estudo Prévio. Cooperativa De Ensino Universitário - Universidade Autónoma De Lisboa, n.d. Web. 06 June 2014. <http://www.estudoprevio.net/en>.

Tavares, André. “Prizewinning Ruins”. Domus Magazine. Web. Posted 14 March 2012. http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2012/03/14/prizewinning-ruins.html

The Architecture Review, Jul 2004http://info.upc.edu.pe/hemeroteca/tablas/arquitectura/architecturalreview/archreview1289.htm

Mola, Francesc Zamora. Eduardo Souto De Moura: Architect. Barcelona, Spain: Loft Publications, 2009. Print.-Essay, Modern and [Therefore] Genuine, Helino Pinon, 9 July 2001.

Slessor, Catherine. “Navigating a Quiet Revolution.” Comment. Architectural Review July 2004: 46-47. Print.

All photos submitted by Andrew Carnochan.

Bibliography & Inspiration