ÁLVARO SIZA
THROUGH THE LENS OF PEDRO CARDIGO
ÁLVARO SIZA
Álvaro Joaquim Melo Siza Vieira was born in Matosinhos in 1933.
He studied Architecture at the former School of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, between 1949 and 1955. Being his first work built in 1954.
He was a teacher at the Oporto School of Architecture of the University of Porto, city where he works.
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; he is an “Honorary Fellow” of RIBA/Royal Institute of British Architects; he is a member of BDA/Bund Deutscher Architekten; “Honorary Fellow” and “Honorary FAIA” of AIA/American Institute of Architects; he is a member of Académie d’Architecture de France; of Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts; of IAA/ International Academy of Architecture; National Geographic Portugal; Honorary Partner and Honorary Member of the Portuguese Architects Association; member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Honorary Professor at China Southeast University and the China Academy of Art and Honorary Member of the Academy of the Portuguese Language Architecture and Urbanism Schools.
PEDRO CARDIGO
Pedro Cardigo, discovered his passion for photography early on. He started photographing when he was 8 years old, but the course of his life and academic paths tried to keep him away from photography. At 18 he entered college to study management and later economics, which led to a long and fullfiling business career. During this time, he had opportunities to pick up his cameras again and thus began to develop several projects as a photographer, having embraced his passion again exclusively about six years ago.
He experienced different areas of photography such as portrait, fashion, streetphotography and architecture, always in his own artistic style.This led him to identify and recognize his preference in architecture photography, which is his current area of work.
In his black and white work we can see the influence of the classic film esthetic and motif, presence shown in the way the light is present in the scenes. His work resembles more often than not a frame taken from an imaginary film. In is architectural photographic work, we notice a great attention to detail and the way the light works and travels across a structure and textures, giving his images a special kind of mood.
THROUGH THE LENS OF PEDRO CARDIGO
* SIZA _ PEDRO CARDIGO, photography exhibition curated by António Choupina, at the Gramaxo Foundation from 12 October 2024 to 7 July 2025. Exhibition presented in three acts, organised according to the chronological order of the respective works on display.
* SIZA_ PEDRO CARDIGO, exposição de fotografia comissariada por António Choupina, patente na Fundação Gramaxo entre 12 de Outubro de 2024 e 7 Julho de 2025. Exposição apresentada em três actos, organizados por ordem cronologica das respectivas obras expostas.
I was very pleased to see the set of photographs by Pedro Cardigo of the works I designed and exhibited at the Gramaxo Foundation*.
Pedro Cardigo photographs black and white in well-thought-out compositions, honing the light, interior and exterior angles in a way that reveals the careful study the particular character in each design, the articulation between the different spaces.
ÁLVARO SIZA
Vi com muita satisfação o conjunto de fotografias de Pedro Cardigo, relativas a obras por mim projectadas e expostas na Fundação Gramaxo*.
Pedro Cardigo fotografa a preto e branco em bem definidos planos, escolhendo luz e ângulos interiores e exteriores de um modo que revela o cuidado estudo do carácter particular do desenho e a articulação entre os diferentes espaços.
ÁLVARO SIZA
Pedro Cardigo, discovered his passion for photography early on. He started photographing when he was 8 years old, but the course of his life and academic paths tried to keep him away from photography. At 18 he entered college to study management and later economics, which led to a long and fullfiling business career. During this time, he had opportunities to pick up his cameras again and thus began to develop several projects as a photographer, having embraced his passion again exclusively about six years ago.
He experienced different areas of photography such as portrait, fashion, streetphotography and architecture, always in his own artistic style. This led him to identify and recognize his preference in architecture photography, which is his current area of work.
In his black and white work we can see the influence of the classic film esthetic and motif, presence shown in the way the light is present in the scenes. His work resembles more often than not a frame taken from an imaginary film. In is architectural photographic work, we notice a great attention to detail and the way the light works and travels across a structure and textures, giving his images a special kind of mood.
SIZA - PEDRO CARDIGO:
THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW OF THE MASTER’S WORK
PEDRO CARDIGO
This project, Álvaro Siza through the lens of Pedro Cardigo, began with the opportunity to photograph Monte da Lapa, one of Álvaro Siza’s last projects in Porto, for a book published by AMAG. It was during this first encounter with the architect’s work that I realised the depth of the challenge and inspiration that awaited me. The simplicity and complexity of the work developed at Monte da Lapa opened the creative doors to a universe where light, matter and space dialogue with almost poetic precision.
Photographing architecture isn’t just about capturing buildings, it’s about translating the soul of a space into an image, its relationship with time, light and the people who inhabit it. With the architect Siza, this task takes on even more depth. His work, so sensitive and rigorous at the same time, demands an attentive and respectful eye, capable of engaging in dialogue with his creative intent.
Each photograph is a testimony to this search. Choosing to work in black and white was a conscious, almost inevitable decision. This minimalist palette allows us to distil the essence of Siza’s work, emphasising the purity of the shapes, the contrast between light and shadow, and the texture of the materials.
Black and white in this project is not only an aesthetic choice, but also the ultimate example of duality and a tribute to the timelessness of Siza’s work. There is something universal and perennial about his creations, and the absence of colour reinforces this idea. With no colour distractions, the focus is on the fundamental elements of architecture: the light that designs spaces, the shadows that define them and the contrasts that create dynamism and depth.
The title of this book, ÁlvaroSizathroughthelensofPedroCardigo, reflects this duality. It is a celebration of the architect’s creative genius, but also an invitation to the viewer to see his works through my eyes. More than a faithful portrait, these images seek to excite, arouse curiosity and reveal details that sometimes go unnoticed, and are not intended to be a mere cataloguing of Siza’s work. It is not a visual inventory, but a personal interpretation. Each photograph is the result of an intimate interaction with the space - moments of contemplation where silence and deep observation allowed me to understand the architect’s intention. In works such as the Boa Nova Tea House, the Marés Swimming Pool or the Serralves Foundation, I realised how Álvaro Siza builds invisible bridges between the building and its context, integrating himself into the landscape in an almost organic way.
I hope that each reader can be inspired, not only by Siza’s architecture, but also by the way photography can reinterpret space and time. After all, a photograph is never just a reproduction, it is a new layer of narrative that adds to the original work, a testimony to the encounter between the architect, the space and the photographer.
António Choupina, architect, graduate from the University of Porto’s Faculty of Architecture (FAUP). Founded the studio CH.A (CHoupina.Architects) in 2010, the same year he collaborated at the School of Arts and Design (ESAD). He was responsible for interventions at the Palace of Charles V in Granada and at the Sverre Fehn Pavilion, during the Official Visit of the Presidency to Norway. In 2019-20, he was responsible for the construction of the Camerich Pavilion at China’s International Furniture Fair (CIFF) and is currently designing a Design District in Bergamo, together with Álvaro Siza, with whom he has developed various cultural projects between Asia, Europe and North America. In partnership with the Aedes Architecture Forum, the Vitra Design Museum, the Aga Khan Museum, Espai Alfaro, the Tchoban Foundation and the Marques da Silva Foundation, he has commissioned international exhibitions such as ‘Visions of the Alhambra’, ‘AlfaroSiza’, ‘Unseen & Unknown’ and ‘Two Towers’. As a curator at the Nadir Afonso Museum and the Serralves Museum, he conceived the retrospectives ‘Architecture on Canvas’ and ‘Maria Antónia Siza, 50 Years Later’, having also developed the ‘Naked Architecture’ program and the inaugural show of the Álvaro Siza Wing, ‘C.A.S.A.’, and is currently preparing its travel to the Power Station of Art. He has supported various initiatives both inside and outside Portugal, such as the Bauhaus100 and the New European Bauhaus, in Berlin and Brussels, as well as the production of handmade paper, contemporary photography and African art in Leiria, Maia and Matosinhos, producing multiple publications on the frontier of architecture, art and philosophy, with contributions to the Scopio and Público newspapers, as well as to AMAG, Architectural Review, Architectural Digest, ArchiPosition, 4A, Casabella and Visuais magazine, among others. He has devoted himself to collecting artworks and producing books, scientific, architectural and artistic knowledge, in Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Mandarin, together with various personalities and thinkers, such as: Albuquerque Mendes, Álvaro Siza, Armanda Passos, António Quadros, Brigitte Fleck, Carlos Campos Morais, Carlos Castanheira, Dominique Machabert, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Fátima Carvalho, Fernando Lanhas, Francesco Dal Co, François Burkhard, Frank Gehry, José Luis Porfírio, José Saramago, Juan Miguel Hérnandez Léon, Juhanni Pallasma, Kazuyo Sejima, Kenneth Frampton, Kristin Feireiss, Marc Dubois, Nadir Afonso, Oscar Niemeyer, Richard Meier, Sou Fugimoto, Steven Holl, Thom Mayne, Valter Hugo Mãe, Wang Shu, William J. R. Curtis, Zhang Ke, et cetera. He is an editor at the A As Architecture Network in Florence, a visiting professor at the European University (MArch Valencia), a juror at international awards and a guest speaker at various institutions and events, such as IED Kunsthal (Bilbao), Fuorisalone (Milan), Open House (Porto), the International Architecture Design Forum (Shanghai) or the ArchiSummit (Lisbon), of which he is co-curator of the 2025 edition. He is an independent researcher in Portugal and the USA, having been responsible for numerous conferences on Iberian, European and global themes, together with the International Committee of Architecture Critics, ICOMOS/UNESCO, the Venice Biennale, Nasjonalmuseet, the Ismaili Centre, DOCOMOMO...
ANTÓNIO CHOUPINA
Revisited through Pedro Cardigo’s lens, Siza’s body of work returns to the black and white origins of early architectural publications, evoking “the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light” — as Le Corbusier would say.
Step by step, both of them silently seek that light, patiently revealing the (un)expected, a frame never before seen, the architect’s precise vision and a photographer’s emotional record, or vice versa. Álvaro Siza’s discovery of L’Architecture d’Aujourd’Hui had a profound impact in the early 1950s, sparking the design of his seminal works in a flash, like instant photographs.
The Boa Nova Tea House’s sloping roof hovers above the rocks, its cerulean surroundings and alabastrian walls, which are sublimated in the staggered greyscale of a chimney — a memory of the Veronese’s nearby shipwreck (1913). At Quinta da Conceição, an irrigation tank is transformed into an acropolis of joy and (de)light, within the texture of eucalyptus trees. A linear shadow sets forth a path, akin to that of the Ocean Pool and the sandcastlelike folklore of childhood. Considered one of the 20th century’s 100 most relevant buildings, this swimming pool is not in fact at the mercy of the tides, unlike the Australian rock pools, but rather filters and triangulates its placement in relation to the port.
From Leça da Palmeira’s trilogy to the Carnation Revolution, Siza sought to forge an ideal city upon the death of the dictatorship, one shaped by the dignity of its dwelling, where “Elite means: all of us” — as he prefaced [A Certain Harmony] in 2011. He kept Bouça’s poetry in the streets with the construction of a new school in Porto, facing the Douro River from atop the Golgotha. In this valley flanked by a bridge, the Architecture Faculty would revisit all of contemporary landscape, particularly within the library’s intimate atmosphere, where learning is illuminated by the hull of a crystal ship that intersects the roof. The towers’ rhythm translates a kind of Morse code, akin to that of Pedro Cardigo’s photographs, whose essence is that of the architect himself: simply Álvaro, as friends and schoolmates might say.
Following the largest subway system ever to be built in a single breath, São Bento’s underground station appeared on the site of Porto’s most crucial unbuilt project, one which seems to have gained new life. Past and future coexist in a symbiotic relationship, like the pre-existing Quinta da Boa Vista and the Gramaxo Foundation’s new infrastructure, a pavilion drawn by the shadow of the neighbouring stone pine.
The Serralves Foundation’s Álvaro Siza Wing was borne roughly a year ago and the Lello Foundation’s Open Sculpture came soon after, two works in which a kind of architectural archaeology is distilled, from a settlement within the primordial forest to a Roman temple of Jupiter. The Zebro Belvedere’s metaphorical spaceship appears from beyond the galaxy, hovering above the rocky desert of the Meseta Meridional, observing it through a double oculus like a giant protruding face on the cliff. This bird’s-eye view closes the open-ended photographs of the metrobus stops and a hill under construction – Lapa, a consolidated yet permanently mutating neighbourhood.
Jorge Gramaxo, born in Maia in 1981, studied in Porto, where he graduated in Civil Engineering from FEUP. After about five years working in Portugal, he moved to Switzerland where, for nine years, he worked in global product management, services and strategic themes at the headquarters of Hilti, a leading company in its sector. During this time, he deepened his passion for people and business development, which led him to move to the USA to lead a new team responsible for all engineering services.
On his return to Portugal, he took a sabbatical to devote himself to his family, which sparked the need to take over the leadership of the family project, the Gramaxo Foundation, where he currently serves as director and general manager.
ÁLVARO SIZA THROUGH THE LENS OF PEDRO CARDIGO
JORGE GRAMAXO
The Gramaxo Foundation is located in Quinta da Boavista, right in the centre of Maia. A residence of the Gramaxo family since the 17th century, since 2013 the founder has opened up this privileged place to the community, particularly to the people of Maia, to promote arts, culture and leisure.
The property bears the memory of almost 400 years of history, maintaining the various original buildings that are representative of rural architecture, such as the manor house that is still the family home, as well as various farm buildings, many of which have already been converted into exhibition spaces.
With the desire to share segments of the Gramaxo family’s private collection, as well as host contemporary artists, the idea of building a museum took shape in 2018. As so many of the architect Álvaro Siza’s projects were appreciated by the founder, for example during repeated visits to the Boa Nova tea house, the preference fell on this remarkable architect to design the building that now stands as a work of art in the landscape. Distinctive and with clear features that symbolise the authorship of a master, the architect Álvaro Siza, through the large glazed openings the vast surrounding nature reaches the interior, and vice versa, providing unexpected sensations and experiences.
In gratitude for the Gramaxo Foundation’s museum project, as well as in general recognition of the magnificence of Álvaro Siza’s work, we hosted an exhibition of photographs of part of his work in the auditorium. The way photographer Pedro Cardigo reads and interprets architecture, emphasising shapes and contrasts, provides poetic confirmation that Álvaro Siza’s projects are indeed examples of architectural art. The exhibition is elevated by the curatorship of António Choupina, who manages to understand and interpret Álvaro Siza’s thinking in a unique way.
Architecture will always be a clear focus for the Foundation, whether it’s praising our rural architecture or welcoming and recognising contemporary architecture. And of course, highlighting the architect Álvaro Siza will always be connected to the Gramaxo Foundation and its artistic and cultural offer.
BOA NOVA TEA HOUSE 012
QUINTA DA CONCEIÇÃO SWIMMING POOL 020
MARÉS SWIMMING POOL 028
BOUÇA NEIGHBOURHOOD 038
FAUP, ARCHITECTURE FACULTY 044
SÃO BENTO METRO STATION 052
GRAMAXO FOUNDATION 058
SERRALVES FOUNDATION ÁLVARO SIZA WING 084
OPEN SCULPTURE, LEÇA DO BALIO 102
ZEBRO BELVEDERE 118
MARECHAL GOMES DA COSTA METROBUS STOPS 126
MONTE DA LAPA 130
Pedro Cardigo, descobriu desde cedo a sua paixão na fotografia. Começou a fotografar pelos seus 8 anos de idade, mas o decurso da sua vida e os caminhos académicos tentaram afastá-lo da fotografia. Aos 18 anos entrou na faculdade para estudar gestão e mais tarde ainda economia, o que o levou numa longa e expressiva carreira empresarial. Durante este tempo, teve algumas oportunidades para voltar a pegar nas suas câmaras e assim começar a desenvolver vários projectos como fotógrafo, tendo voltado a abraçar a sua paixão em exclusivo há cerca de seis anos.
Experimentou diferentes áreas da fotografia como o retrato, a moda, a streetphotography e arquitectura, sempre com um estilo artístico próprio. Isto, levou-o a identificar e reconhecer a sua preferência pela fotografia de arquitetura, que é a sua atual área de trabalho.
No seu trabalho de fotografia de arquitetura, notamos uma grande atenção ao detalhe e à forma como a luz trabalha e percorre a estrutura e as suas texturas, conferindo às suas imagens um tipo especial de atmosfera. Nas suas imagens a preto e branco podemos ver a influência da estética e do motivo do cinema clássico, presente na forma como a luz incide nas cenas. O seu trabalho assemelha-se, na maioria das vezes, a um fotograma retirado de um filme imaginário.
SIZA - PEDRO CARDIGO:
O OLHAR DO FOTÓGRAFO SOBRE A OBRA DO MESTRE
PEDRO CARDIGO
Este projeto, Álvaro Siza pela lente de Pedro Cardigo teve início com a oportunidade de fotografar o Monte da Lapa, um dos últimos projetos do arquiteto Álvaro Siza no Porto, para um livro publicado pela editora AMAG. Foi nesse primeiro encontro com a obra do arquiteto que percebi a profundidade do desafio e da inspiração que me aguardavam. A simplicidade e a complexidade do trabalho desenvolvido no Monte da Lapa abriram-me as portas criativas para um universo onde a luz, a matéria e o espaço dialogam com uma precisão quase poética.
Fotografar arquitetura não é apenas captar edifícios, é traduzir em imagem a alma de um espaço, a sua relação com o tempo, a luz e as pessoas que o habitam. Com o arquiteto Siza, essa tarefa ganha ainda mais profundidade. A sua obra, tão sensível e ao mesmo tempo tão rigorosa, exige um olhar atento e respeitoso, capaz de dialogar com a sua intenção criativa.
Cada fotografia é um testemunho dessa busca. Optar por trabalhar em preto e branco foi uma decisão consciente, quase inevitável. Essa paleta minimalista permite destilar a essência das obras do arquiteto Siza, destacando a pureza das formas, o contraste entre luz e sombra, e a textura dos materiais.
O preto e branco, neste projeto, não é apenas uma escolha estética, para além de exemplo máximo de dualidade, é também uma homenagem à atemporalidade da obra do arquiteto Siza. Há algo de universal e perene nas suas criações, e a ausência de cor reforça essa ideia. Sem distrações cromáticas, o foco recai sobre os elementos fundamentais da arquitetura: a luz que desenha os espaços, as sombras que os definem e os contrastes que criam dinamismo e profundidade.
O título deste livro, Álvaro Siza pela lente de Pedro Cardigo, reflete essa dualidade. É uma celebração do génio criativo do arquiteto, mas também um convite ao espectador para ver as suas obras através do meu olhar. Mais do que um retrato fiel, estas imagens procuram emocionar, despertar a curiosidade e revelar detalhes que, por vezes, passam despercebidos, e não pretende ser uma mera catalogação da obra do arquiteto Siza. Não é um inventário visual, mas sim uma interpretação pessoal. Cada fotografia resulta de uma interação íntima com o espaço — momentos de contemplação onde o silêncio e a observação profunda me permitiram compreender a intenção do arquitecto. Em obras como a Casa de Chá da Boa Nova, a Piscina das Marés, ou a Fundação Serralves, percebi como Álvaro Siza constrói pontes invisíveis entre o edifício e o seu contexto, integrando-se na paisagem de forma quase orgânica.
Espero que cada leitor possa ser inspirado, não apenas pela arquitetura de Siza, mas também pela forma como a fotografia pode reinterpretar o espaço e o tempo. Afinal, uma fotografia nunca é apenas uma reprodução, é uma nova camada de narrativa que se soma à obra original, um testemunho do encontro entre o arquiteto, o espaço e o fotógrafo.
SÃO
GRAMAXO FOUNDATION
OPEN SCULPTURE, LEÇA DO BALIO PAGE
ZEBRO
BOUÇA
