“The First Siza”, new documentary about the Pritzker Prize winner

DATE

16.02.2026

The film is structured around the reunion, more than sixty years later, between the architect and Fernando Neto, his first client and one of the owners of those houses. This encounter introduces a temporal dimension that allows architecture to be understood not as a finished object, but as a reality that evolves alongside those who inhabit it. Through this relationship, the documentary highlights architecture’s ability to integrate into people’s lives, accompanying them and transforming over time.

The narrative is constructed through conversations with Siza himself, with the residents of the houses, and with historian Francesco Dal Co, combined with archival material and contemporary footage. This layering of time makes it possible to observe how an initial, seemingly modest project already contains the principles that would define his later work. Architecture thus appears not as an isolated gesture, but as part of a continuous process in which memory, experience, and transformation are intertwined.

Beyond documenting a specific project, “The First Siza” reveals the formal coherence that characterizes the Portuguese architect’s work. In these early houses, the fundamental elements of his thinking are already present, such as attention to context, precision in the construction of space, and the ability to transform ordinary conditions into meaningful experiences. The documentary shows how these principles emerge as a direct response to reality, shaped through observation and experience.

In this sense, the film revisits the origin of an exceptional career while also allowing architecture to be understood as a discipline inseparable from time and life. Through this retrospective perspective, it becomes clear that Siza’s work is defined by its capacity to endure, to adapt, and to continue being inhabited.

MARCH VALENCIA | ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

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