A hidden beauty. Siza’s adequacy lesson at the secret and delicate MMH

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/64.A.NF43K3AE

Keywords:

Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing

Abstract

For the design of the Manuel Magalhães House (1967-1970), Álvaro Siza revisited the purist rationalist principles of Modern Movement architecture. This project represents a shift in his work after the first Matosinhos’ houses and the Tea House of Leça da Palmeira. The appeal to the vernacular roots and a kind of telluric topos that characterized the works of the 1950s, in this project gave rise to an abstract and minimalist approach applied to a domestic life. Intricate and meticulous in all its details from inside to out, in this house the overall design achieves a perfect harmony, in other words, a balanced and beautiful gesamkunstwerk.

How to Cite

Tostões, A. (2021). A hidden beauty. Siza’s adequacy lesson at the secret and delicate MMH. Docomomo Journal, (64), 66–73. https://doi.org/10.52200/64.A.NF43K3AE

Published

2021-04-01

Issue

No. 64 (2021): Modern Houses

Section

Essays

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Copyright (c) 2021 Ana Tostões

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Author Biography

Ana Tostões, University of Lisbon

(b. Portugal, 1959). PhD, architect, architectural critic and historian, Chair of docomomo International and editor of docomomo Journal. Full Professor at Técnico – University of Lisbon, where she is coordinator of the architectural PhD program and the architecture research line of the Center for Innovation in Territory, Urbanism and Architecture (CiTUA). Her research field is the theory and history of architecture and construc- tion of the 20th century, focusing on the worldwide cultural transfers. She was awarded with the title of Commander of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique (2006), with the Gulbenkian Prize (2014) and with the BIAU Prize (2016).

References

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