Once again, the Serralves Museum of Modern Art invites architects, students and those interested in architecture in general to participate, for three consecutive days, in a series of reflections on contemporary architecture in relation to themes and values present in the work of Álvaro Siza. 

From the conviction that architecture is a form of conversation – and conversation, in turn, a form for the creation of knowledge – it has been the intention since the beginning of this project that each edition should be centred around a theme that will provide a framework for these sessions. The title proposed for the sixth edition of The Álvaro Siza Talks is Essential Conversations.

Regardless of the scale and any other of the many constraints that surround a project, each of Álvaro Siza’s projects is an opportunity not only to understand and highlight the essential ingredients of a problem, a place, a culture and a tradition, but also to advance slowly and patiently in the search for the very essence of architecture. Both when it comes to an urban intervention, in which he manages to maintain the essence of a place without renouncing a profound – and therefore, at times, almost invisible – transformation, and when it comes to the design of a piece of furniture, in the process of which, “slowly, the evolution of the project is oriented towards the reduction to its essence and a gradual approximation to its substance”. (1)

The work of the architects participating in this year’s Talks shares, in our opinion, a certain desire to also approach, with different instruments and from different angles, this elusive essence. Some do so from the construction and material condition of architecture and others, perhaps, from drawing and ideas. The opening lecture will be delivered by Francis Keré (Berlin / Burkina Faso), and the speakers include Roberto Collovà (Palermo), María González (Sol89, Seville), Ricardo Bak Gordon (Lisbon), Jaume Mayol (TEd’A arquitectes, Mallorca), Smiljan Radic (Santiago de Chile) and Inge Vinck (architecten jan de vylder inge vinck, Ghent).

In addition to Álvaro Siza, the Scientific Committee of “The Álvaro Siza Talks” is composed of Eduardo Souto de Moura, Farrokh Derakhshani (Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture), Philippe Vergne (Director of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art) and Carles Muro (curator of "The Álvaro Siza Talks").

“The Álvaro Siza Talks” are organized by the Serralves Foundation in collaboration with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

(1) “Essentially”, in: Álvaro Siza, Imagining the Evident, Monade, Lisbon, 2021.

PROGRAMME

13 NOV (WED)

7:00PM WELCOME

7:30PM OPENING LECTURE - FRANCIS KÉRÉ

14 NOV (THU)

5:00PM JAUME MAYOL (TED’A)

6:00PM INGE VINCK (ARCHITECTEN JAN DE VYLDER INGE VINCK)

15 NOV (FRI)

5:00PM RICARDO BAK GORDON

6:00PM MARÍA GONZÁLEZ (SOL 89)

7:00PM ROBERTO COLLOVÀ

9:30PM SMILJAN RADIC *

The conferences will be in English (except Roberto Collovà’s conference which will be in Italian), with simultaneous translation into Portuguese.