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Rating: 
Summary: A good introduction
Review: ...first of all, it’s quite convenient to have some geographic knowledge when your writing something; when the previous reviewer wrote that Siza reconstructed a burned out section of an Italian town, he should know that this town is Lisbon and Lisbon is not in Italy but is the capital of Portugal! I my opinion the introductory essay is very good, it presents the ideas of one of the great architects of the moment, it’s true that the book lacks some references to other important projects of Siza, but you can’t have it all…
Siza has proven to be amongst the most coherent and complete of all architectural works this century. This coherence is not based on stylistic repetition: it lies in the progressive evolution of the act of designing and, as such, Siza’s work is immediately recognisable wherever it be found. This is a good introduction to his work!
Rating: 
Summary: not quite enough
Review: The author presents about ten of Siza's work. Among them his museum of comtemporary art, a house, a school, a park, a water tower, a housing project and the reconstruction of a burned out section of an Italian town. There is not quite enough detail to allow one to understand how the buildings were put together. I have found that statements by practicing architects-as opposed to criticisms or reviews by academicians-are worth their weight in gold. The introductory essay-by Siza-was terrific. In it he talks about what an important part changes in scale play in creating a cityscape, how changes in one part of the city fabric causes adjustments in another, and finally concludes with the observation that 'The craft [architecture] is incompatible with the very notion of specialization....' My favorite passage: "An architect is no ballerina. But like any carpenter or electrician, like a director, or even a simple walk-on performer without lines, the architect must be familiar with the work, must know when to not to use too much light, or too little, must know how to avoid an expression that is overdone or too subtle, must recognize the difference among all the many voices and gestures so as not to attribute equal weight when doing so would be an error."
Rating:
Summary: not quite enough
Review: The author presents about ten of Siza's work. Among them his museum of comtemporary art, a house, a school, a park, a water tower, a housing project and the reconstruction of a burned out section of an Italian town. There is not quite enough detail to allow one to understand how the buildings were put together. I have found that statements by practicing architects-as opposed to criticisms or reviews by academicians-are worth their weight in gold. The introductory essay-by Siza-was terrific. In it he talks about what an important part changes in scale play in creating a cityscape, how changes in one part of the city fabric causes adjustments in another, and finally concludes with the observation that 'The craft [architecture] is incompatible with the very notion of specialization....' My favorite passage: "An architect is no ballerina. But like any carpenter or electrician, like a director, or even a simple walk-on performer without lines, the architect must be familiar with the work, must know when to not to use too much light, or too little, must know how to avoid an expression that is overdone or too subtle, must recognize the difference among all the many voices and gestures so as not to attribute equal weight when doing so would be an error."
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