Imagining the Evident
by Álvaro Siza
monade, 2021
Hardcover | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches | 156 pages | 67 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9789899948594 | 28.00€
PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:
The referential book by Álvaro Siza on his own work, in its first English edition. Describing some of his projects, his expectations and struggles, references and decisions, this book is a fundamental contribution to the understanding of Álvaro Siza’s architectural thinking.
The text is accompanied by an extensive set of drawings from his notebooks, an obstinate presence in Siza’s particular way of working, some of which never published before.
A personal and fundamental testimony of one of the most celebrated living architects, covering the full range of design – from architecture to city planning, furniture and objects – in a must-read book for all interested in Art and Architecture.
dDAB COMMENTARY:
Imagining the Evident is the English translation of a book, Immaginare l'Evidenza, first published in Italian in 1998. As such, the words and sketches by Álvaro Siza, the most famous architect from Portugal, cover the first few decades of his career, from the famous tea house and pool at Leça de Palmeira to various projects in the 1990s; most of the projects predate or overlap with Siza's 1992 Pritzker Architecture Prize. There are no photographs in the book, so it less a monograph than a sketchbook of ideas, a revealing look inside the mind of a famous yet sensitive architect. The name of the book reveals as much.
Just what the phrase "imagining the evident" means is explored by Daniela Sá in a short postscript written for the English edition; it and a few new sketches by Siza are the only additions to the newly translated book. Sá's short text on Siza's thought process follows an equally short essay, "The Other," by Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti that accompanied the original book. He is clearly enamored with Siza's architecture, more so his sketches, which even then were instantly recognizable. Gregotti also links Siza's words and drawings, writing about his (my emphasis) "diversity of writing of the spaces and forms of the project." One could take Imagining the Evident as an expression of this "writing."
The book is organized into three thematic chapters ("To Repeat is Never to Repeat," "Navigating Through the Hybrid of Cities," and "Essentially") that are followed by an autobiographical note and the short texts by Gregotti and Sá. Siza's sketches are inserted throughout to clarify his words, yet without being directly referenced. Although the drawings should aid readers in understanding the physical characteristics of the projects he describes, those with a greater understanding of his buildings, particularly in the first-person, will benefit the most from the revealing of Siza's thought process. (Those looking to do just that should consider Álvaro Siza Architectural Guide: Built Projects, a guidebook I've yet to put to full use.)
Imagining the Evident is a short, almost leisurely book, one I think of akin to sitting down with Siza in his smoke-filled office as he flips through his sketchbooks and recounts the invention of each project depicted. I have more familiarity with the architect's sketches than his words, so I was surprised by some of the latter, here translated by Tania Gregg and Daniela Sá. Siza has a way with words, apparently, as when he writes in regards to the reconstruction of the Chiado area in Lisbon: "The work of the architect [...] becomes the work of a detective who is trying to re-establish old, vital correspondences that have been traumatically cut and are barely noticeable." Phrases like these are highly visual, making me think Imagining the Evident could hold as much power even without the sketches.
Imagining the Evident is available via monade books as a standalone book and as a limited edition with a silkscreened sketch signed and numbered by Siza.
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