Sixty years after designing As Quatro Casas (The Four Houses) – his first project, while still a student – Álvaro Siza Vieira reunites with his first client, Fernando Neto, in the documentary O Primeiro Siza, directed by Sara Nunes and produced by Building Pictures, a production company graduated from UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto. Award-winning and screened at international festivals, the film transforms the early career of Portugal’s greatest architect into a story with global repercussions, now available on the CaixaForum+ cultural platform of the “La Caixa” Foundation.

The reunion between Álvaro Siza and Fernando Neto reveals the participatory and deeply human dimension of the project. The film follows the tensions and decisions of this process – from the dilemma of the staircase without screws, about which the carpenters warned: ‘This staircase is going to fall!’, to the disagreement over the balcony, rejected by Siza but defended by the family. It was from this balcony that the song of the women from the canning factories in Matosinhos – ‘As Casas Mais Feias de Matosinhos’ (The Ugliest Houses in Matosinhos) – could be heard, recalls Siza. As the son of the first client points out, it was a work of courage, on the part of both the architect and the family, which remains innovative and admired by visitors from all over the world.

This project marked the beginning of Álvaro Siza‘s career, who would go on to become the most awarded Portuguese architect. ‘It was a very rich experience for my training,’ he recalls. Reflecting on how he was seen at the time, he says: “At the time, even at the age of 21, I had more power than I do today.” He concludes: “I know there are many exhibitions, many conferences, many news stories in the newspapers (…) but the reality is that there is – not a lack of interest – but contempt for architecture and architects.”

At a time when the housing crisis dominates public debate, O Primeiro Siza invites us to rethink the role of architecture in society. ‘More than building houses, it is important to think about the lives that are built in them. What kind of cities and countries do we want to build? Because everything starts at home,’ says director Sara Nunes. “Every element, from the stairs to the gate, carries a story: births, romances, games, concerts and also death. Architecture is not just walls and ceilings, but spaces that transform and define life experiences,” she concludes.

After its preview at Serralves, attended by Álvaro Siza, O Primeiro Siza was selected for festivals in Italy, Turkey, Spain and Sweden, and received the Best Film Award at Cinema Urbana in Brasília. The film was also presented at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai and at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. It will be screened in December at the Galician Centre for Contemporary Art and in January at the Barbican Centre in London, consolidating its position as an international reference in the encounter between architecture and cinema.

Available free of charge in Portugal and Spain on the CaixaForum+ cultural platform of the “La Caixa” Foundation, with the support of BPI, the film is now preparing to reach new cinemas in Portugal and beyond, taking the dialogue between architecture and the public even further. The trailer for “O Primeiro Siza” can be viewed on the Building Pictures page.

02 December 2025