Evora: The Latest Architecture and News

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Immerse yourself in the cultural and architectural heritage of Portugal and Southern Spain on a once-in-a-lifetime 15-day journey with Architectural Adventures.

From historic Lisbon to lively Madrid, visit and explore 12 cities and two UNESCO World Heritage Sites while enjoying world-class accommodations and fine regional dining. See the iconic Belem Tower in Lisbon, visit the renowned Cathedral in Seville, and experience the eclectic architecture of Madrid including the 2,800-room Rococo Royal Palace.

In an essay and accompanying mini-documentary film by Ellis Woodman for The Architectural Review, Siza's iconic Quinta da Malagueira housing estate (1973-1977) in Évora, Portugal, is comprehensively explored and examined with a refreshingly engaging critical weight. Rather than develop multi-story housing in the sensitive landscape around the city, Siza proposed "a plan that distributed the programme between two fields composed of low-rise terraced courtyard houses." As a result, the arrangement of these structures adjust to the "undulating topography ensuring that the narrow, cobbled streets along which the houses are distributed always follow the slope."

As is made clear in the film (above), one of the remarkable aspects about the Quinta da Malagueira estate is that it is "governed by a third layer of infrastructure" which takes the form of "an elevated network of conduits that distributes water and electricity [...] much in the manner of a miniature aqueduct." For Siza, this was a logical move as it provided the cheapest means of distributing utilities around the complex. Woodman ultimately concludes that "Siza’s work at Malagueira invites a reading less as a fixed artefact and rather as one episode in the site’s ongoing transformation."

Read extracts of what Pier Vittorio Aureli, Tony Fretton, and John Tuomey (among others) have said about Siza's œuvre and approach after the break.

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