Research Of Site Strategies Applied In Alvaro Siza’s Architecture Works

Site is one of the most important elements of architecture. No matter where or howconstruction activity happens, there is always a place to perform it. However, theimportance of site was ignored by modernism architects who largely focused on function.Nowadays, that ignorance has born a bitter fruit. Trees are cut down, lakes are filled, sitebecomes out of recognition and construction activity degenerates into violence. We shouldrethink that situation. Architect must respect site and make it as the starting point ofdesign.In this thesis I researched Alvaro Siza’s processing technique of the relationshipbetween architecture and site. The reason why I chose his works is that Siza concernsabout the combination of contemporary architecture and the site’s regional character andemphasizes the comprehension and representation of the genius loci. He could alwaystransform the unique character of a site into the soul of a design.First of all, I re-definition the concept of “site”. From that definition, we can analyzethe site’s natural and urban elements. Then we can unscramble the strategies Siza appliedin his design when he faced such elements. I concluded Siza’s two unique site strategies.First, in urban context, he usually set a new building’s control point into the corner of anold building. Then he used geometry to control the whole site skillfully. Second, in naturalcontext, Siza was used to “slice” the site. That technique makes his just like anarcheologist to find the perfect connection point between his architecture and the site.At the end of the thesis, I compared the site strategies of Le Cobusier and AlvaroSiza in order to highlight Alvaro Siza’s distinct methodologyof design. Insummary, he setthe site as his starting point of design, explore the relationship between architecture andsite then finally fused the site’s character into his building. I hope that this thesis canprovide some meaningful suggestions for the architectural practice and research.