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Description:
The project series documents the 1983 design entry for the Kulturforum. While the records were held in the office’s archives this project was assigned the number 21/80. The office assigned the date 1983 for this project. This project was a competition entry for the International Architectural Exhibition Berlin competition (International Bauaustellung, IBA, circa 1979-1987), an urban renewal strategy for West Berlin, Germany. Siza also submitted five other entries to the IBA: Görtlitzer Bad swimming pool; Block 70 and 89 (Fränkelufer residential complex); Bonjour Tristesse (Block 121); Block 11-12; and Monument to Gestapo victims. The Kulturforum was a complex of cultural buildings. The site underwent many changes during Nazi Germany and post-war with the construction of the National Library of Staatsbibliothek, designed by Hans Scharoun. Two examples of features that the IBA asked participants to include in their design proposals were to exclude vehicle traffic between the library and national gallery, and to reinterpret the Forum space. Documenting this project are several sketches and studies. There are also plans, elevations, and axonometric drawings of site plans. Siza’s office has indicated on some of the studies that they were possibly not created by Siza. Where this is the case it has been noted with the physical material. Photographs and negatives document the competition site and model, and there are transparencies and slides of drawings. Also included is textual documentation on the competition site and a few letters from members of the Berlin Senate, two of which are from Brigitte Cassirer (later Brigitte Fleck).

Description:
The Álvaro Siza fonds documents the architectural work of Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza. Records in this fonds document Siza’s projects from 1958-2012, including built and unbuilt designs. A collaborative project was established between the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Fundação de Serralves, and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian to allow for international research and access to the archive. The archive is shared by the three institutions with each institution holding different projects while collaborating on the descriptive work and increasing the visibility of the archive. The holdings at both the Fundação de Serralves and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian focus on Siza’s Portuguese projects, while the portion of the archive held by the CCA mainly includes Siza’s projects abroad. All three institutions are committed to describing the archive and making it accessible for scholarly research. The processing of the Siza archive held by the CCA has been divided into four phases to allow for access to parts of the archive while still in process. For the first, second, and third phases, the processing archivist has described the projects from the fifties, sixties, and seventies, as well as projects for the IBA competition in Berlin, urban renewal projects in The Hague from the eighties, urban plans, museums, and individual houses between 1980 and 2000. The processing archivist has also described approximately 203 sketchbooks. Many of these sketchbooks include sketches related to architectural projects which were processed. The complete list of projects processed by the CCA to date can be found in series AP178.S1. The bulk of the Álvaro Siza fonds is arranged in Series AP178.S1, which contains documentation for over 200 of Siza’s architectural projects. Records in this archive are predominantly from 1970 to 2000. Series AP178.S1 mainly contains conceptual, design development, presentation, and working drawings. Also included are photographic materials, models, born digital records, and textual documentation, which include correspondence, project proposals, and notes. The architect’s creative process is captured in 282 sketchbooks arranged in Series AP178.S2. In all there are approximately 60 000 drawings, 3000 folders of textual documentation, 9.46 linear meters of photographs and negatives, 6,545 slides, 250 CD-ROMS, 101 floppy disks, and 371 models that document the architectural activities of Siza and his office. Among the drawings are sketches by Siza on various items, such as napkins, receipts, envelopes, or on the back of working drawings. The fonds contains several types of architectural projects including residential buildings, museums, universities, urban plans, offices, and city restorations. Of particular significance are the sketchbooks, comprised of sketches for architectural projects, Siza’s travels, people, and animals as well as notes and draft letters. The sketchbooks are organized in chronological order, starting in the late 1970’s to the beginning of the 2000’s. Locations, notes, and dates have also been identified on the front of each sketchbook along with the sketchbook number. The sketchbooks provide a unique perspective of Siza’s use of drawing as part of his work process.

Description:
The project series documents the 1979 design entry for the Görlitzer Bad swimming pool. While the records were held in the office’s archives this project was assigned the number 48/70; in the past the office identified the project as number 159. The office assigned the date 1979 for this project. This project was submitted to the International Architectural Exhibition Berlin competition (International Bauaustellung, IBA, circa 1979-1987), an urban renewal strategy for West Berlin, Germany. Siza would later submit proposals to the IBA for Block 70 and 89 (Fränkelufer residential complex), Block 121 (Bonjour Tristesse), Block 11-12 (Kottbusser Damm), Monument to Gestapo victims Prinz- Albrecht-Palais, and a proposal for the Kulturforum. The Görlitzer Bad swimming pool was Siza's first international project and first competition. Preceding the IBA competition, Siza attended the 1976 International Design Zentrum (IDZ) symposium in Berlin, "Stadtstruktur-Stadtgestalt". Brigitte Fleck, responsible for national and international architecture competitions for the Senate of Berlin (1971-1985), invited Siza to participate in the IBA competition to design the swimming pool for Kreuzberg. Fleck had heard of Siza’s participation in the IDZ symposium and became interested in Siza’s work with the Servicio Ambulatorio de Apio Lokal (SAAL). By this time Siza’s work with SAAL had been published in the December 1976 and March 1978 publications of the Lotus International Quarterly Architectural Review (numbers 13 and 18). Fleck felt that Siza's work with SAAL would be relevant to the IBA. In 1979, Siza entered his design for the Görlitzer Bad swimming pool to be built on a vacant area on the east side of Kreuzberg. The design for the pool was strongly opposed by the public because the dome over the main swimming pool was said to resemble a mosque. This area of Kreuzberg was largely populated by Turkish Muslims and there was hostility towards this immigrant community. Although Siza’s entry went through the first round of the IBA competition, it did not win the competition and was only awarded a special prize. The project series contains sketches and studies, as well as conceptual and design development drawings of elevations, site plans, and floor plans. Documentation for the competition includes site plans for the competition and a strata plan. The photographs, negatives, contact sheets, and slides mostly document the model and drawings for the project.

Description:
The project series documents the 1979 design entry for Block 70 and 89, also known as the Fränkelufer residential complex. While the records were held in the office’s archives this project was assigned the number 55/70. The office assigned the date 1979 for this project. This project was submitted to the International Architectural Exhibition Berlin competition (International Bauaustellung, IBA, circa 1979-1987), an urban renewal strategy for West Berlin, Germany. Six months prior to submitting the design for Block 70 and 89 Siza submitted a design for the Görlitzer Bad swimming pool, which did not win the competition but received a special prize. Siza later submitted proposals to the IBA for Bonjour Tristesse (Block 121), Monument to Gestapo victims Prinz-Albrecht-Palais, Block 11-12 (Kottbusser Damm), and the Kulturforum, all of which are documented in this fonds. The IBA divided West Berlin into two parts: IBA Neubau ('new building'), led by Josef Paul Kleihues, and IBA Altbau ('old building') led by Hardt-Walherr Hämer. IBA Nuebau's focus was to build new structures while IBA Altbau's was to renovate existing buildings. The competition site for Block 70 and 89 was located on the west side of Kreuzberg, a district on the eastern edge of West Berlin. Although this project was part of the Altbau section, it nonetheless required building new housing complexes, which was generally under the purview of the Neubau section (Mota, "An archaeology of the ordinary" 299). Siza won second prize in the competition for his design of Block 70 and 89. This design proposal is said to have prepared Siza's ideas for his first international built project, Block 121 (Mathur, "The migrant's time"). The project series contains sketches and studies, which include notes. Several of the project sketches also include sketches of people. Documenting the design proposal are site plans, elevations, interior elevations, and floor plans. Photographs, negatives, contact sheets, and slides depict the project site and surrounding area as well as the model and drawings. Additionally there are panoramic photomontages of the project site. Please note that documentation for this project series is housed with documentation on Block 11-12 in file AP178.S1.1980.PR03.008, in the order it was kept by the office. Documentation for Block 70 and 89 includes an invitation to the competition, recommendations from the IBA advisory council, and other information regarding the competition.

Description:
Series AP178.S1 is the largest series of the Álvaro Siza fonds and documents over 200 of Siza’s built and unbuilt architectural projects. The series is divided into project series which are arranged chronologically by project year. Presently, materials in this series range from 1958-2012. The CCA will also receive materials documenting Siza’s more recent work in future additions. Documenting the projects are conceptual, design, presentation, and working drawings, as well as photographic materials, textual documentation, and models. Although the drawings for each project have been identified, Siza often sketches or doodles on textual documentation, such as minutes of meetings or notes. When possible, folders that include textual documents with sketches or doodles have been identified. Amounts and types of materials vary from project to project. Project documentation is usually in Portuguese, with some exceptions including French, English, German, and Dutch. Most project series include sketches, studies, and working drawings. Other drawings included are site plans, floor plans, topographic surveys, elevations, sections, as well as technical and mechanical details. Also documenting the projects are photographic materials and textual documentation, such as correspondence, building programs, contracts, notes, and other working details. Photographic materials found within this archive are slides, negatives, photomontages and photographs of project sites and models.The photomontages were often used to study the function of the project site. To fully understand Siza’s methodology, sketchbooks (Series AP178.S2) should be viewed alongside the project drawings, when possible. Each project series description highlights sketchbooks in series AP178.S2 which contain related sketches. It is important to note that not all projects are represented in the sketchbooks in Series AP178.S2. Moreover, project series descriptions only list related sketchbooks when sketches have been positively identified as related to the corresponding project. The Siza fonds will be processed in four phases. The materials processed in the first, second, and third phases are architectural projects from the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s; urban planning projects; Reconstrução do Chiado; Berlin projects submitted to the IBA competition; cultural institutions; individual houses; and the Plano de urbanização Deelgebied 5 Schilderswijk-West in The Hague. Among The Hague and the Berlin projects are the Punt en Komma social housing, Bonjour Tristesse, and the Residential settlement in Schilderswijk. This series is better understood in the context of how the records for architectural projects were arranged by Siza’s office. Earlier projects were initially numbered by Siza’s office and then received new project numbers by the office archivist, who joined the office in the 1990s. Project files have been kept in the order in which they were received by the CCA, which is how they were arranged by the office archivist. The project numbers and dates assigned by Siza’s office archivist are included in the descriptions for each project and form the basis for the arrangement of this series. The office archivist numbered projects consecutively by decade, for instance, 58/80 was the 58th project during the 1980s. Numbers which were included in square brackets, ex. [14]/75, show that the project was not a ‘full’ project and contains a small amount of documentation. When projects are followed by a letter (A, B, C) this signifies a project is connected to the first. When the project number is followed by a number (1, 2, 3) this signifies a separate building within a larger project. For the purposes of arrangement, project numbers that were assigned a letter or number are arranged as sub-series of the related project series. Exceptions to this numbering convention are projects 23/60, 25/60, 28/60, 33/60, 34/60 and 35/60. These projects were not in the office’s original project list and were not officially considered projects. The office archivist assembled documentation related to these projects and assigned them numbers. In the early 2000s a large number of photographic materials were gathered together by the office archivist from various correspondence files for a digitization project initiated by the office. These materials remained housed together as a photograph collection in the office. Not all of these materials were digitized by the office. Those that were digitized were assigned numbers which have been identified in the file descriptions. It is important to note that several photographic materials were left with the textual documentation or drawings. When this is the case they are identified in the file description. There are also several panoramic photomontages which were created by either gluing or taping several photographs together to make panoramas of project sites.