“How can a city transform without destroying what exists? How can acknowledging time and history positively influence neighbourhood planning? How do citizens participate in this process?” These questions and more, ever timely, inform this exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, which looks at the works of Álvaro Siza through the lens of his urban projects and “experiential way of understanding a place.”
The Portuguese icon donated his archive to the CCA, and the drawings, photo collages, models and his sketchbooks within form the basis of this exploration, which is rounded out by photographs by Gabriele Basilico, Nuno Cera, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Alessandra Chemollo and Balthazar Korab. A book that coalesces a series of conversations the CCA had with Siza in Porto, along with other notes and documents, accompanies the exhibition.
