Roberto Ivens House, Álvaro Siza

DATE

07.08.2026

What will the walls be like between which the architects of today grew? What was the first building they knew and inhabited? In the case of Álvaro Siza, this is the number 582 of the Roberto Ivens street in Matosinhos, Portugal.

Siza’s grandfather acquired the property, where the renowned architect, at just 14 years old, completed his first project: the Pavilion. It was a small structure where he and his brothers enjoyed spending time together. This multi-purpose space—a very simple structure built with the help of a local master builder—is considered by the history of architecture as the first work drawn by the master.

With this first architectural achievement, Siza tested his abilities, which allowed him to continue with his initial contributions to the art he had discovered. Small projects followed, all of which were completed without having obtained a diploma yet.

This first intervention in the house was followed by others, such as the one in which he installed a fibrocement pipe that secures and unites the house from top to bottom without touching the ground.

But time passed and Portuguese and his brothers grew up. Despite leaving the nest, the house that the architect’s master lived in from his adolescence and which he renovated on several occasions never ceased to be linked to growth and learning, as it is today an artists’ residence.

The Siza family decided to transfer the building to the Matosinhos municipality to prevent it from falling into the financial interests of real estate companies. And it was Siza himself who, in 2009, redesigned his childhood home to convert it into the main headquarters of the Casa da Arquitectura. Thus, this became an extraordinary exercise in transformation in continuity; according to the functionality and purpose of the building, it is adapted, but we always recognize a new inner life superimposed on the memory of a family home.