architect: Álvaro Siza
location: Oliveira de Azemeis, Portugal
year: 19711974
Between 1969 and 1974 Siza was asked to design two projects for two different banks, finished in the same year. The first one was at Vila de Conde, 30 km north of Porto, the second at Oliveira de Azemeis, 70 km south of Porto. The two plans shared some of the same features: the internal spaces were defined by curved glazing, a large staircase leading to the upper floor (at Vila de Conde it’s lit from above) and the extremely stylish workmanship possible with the use of marble. Both projects were influenced by Aalto’s organic architecture, respectful of those traditions based on a type of modernity where tectonics are determined by the choice of materials and wisely balanced by the matching of geometry with free form.
The Oliveira de Azemeis branch shows the extent to which Siza was concerned with the idea of integrating buildings to the size and conditions of the existing site. This is why he matched the facades and the different heights of each volume with the existing ones.
In this way one can quickly and easily identify the urban scale of the whole. The dichotomy between what’s internal and what’s external is solved through a double façade: one for the interior, the other for the exterior – a slightly unusual and yet brilliant way to accept such a contradiction and reach expressive unity that corresponds to the building’s various functions. Firm, sculptured surfaces, either horizontal or curved, clearly show the plastic purpose of the internal spaces.
F.B.
project: Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor
date: 1971-1974
architect: Álvaro Siza Vieira
collaborators: António Madureira, Francisco Guedes de Carvalho, Adalberto Dias, Nuno Ribeiro Lopes
client: Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor
location: Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal
photo: FG+SG, Hisao Suzuki
