Appropriate Nature in the early works of Távora, Siza and Souto de Moura

Abstract

A very common theme in the architecture of northern Portugal is paying attention to the relationship with the place and with nature. Some of the early works by Távora, Siza and Souto de Moura allow a lecture on inherited approaches, either shared, adapted or reconverted, which exemplify the evolution of architecture in this theme in the second half of the twentieth century. To this end, we are going to talk about nature appropriation in both physical and cultural terms, and about the appropriate both from the point of view of what is proper and of what has become one's own. In this journey, we will see how Távora synthesises tradition and modern architecture in the Ofir house, starting from the conditions of the natural surroundings as parameters that adjust the compositional tools of architecture when it comes to appropriating the place. We will also see how Siza takes up the notion of a fragment of enclosed nature that delimits an exterior space with the precise conditions for the gaze and the relationship with the interior, in which the precision of the geometry and the exact positioning in the territory are fundamental for the appropriation of nature. And finally, we will see how Souto de Moura transforms these approaches from a pragmatic operative of the appropriation of a delimited and predefined natural space, also including the ruin as an available natural material with which to work.