The exhibition includes portraits and travel drawings – created over a period of more than 60 years by the architect Siza who personally chose them – a video-documentary and unpublished contents presented on this particular occasion.

The project originated from the many meetings that the two curators had with Álvaro Siza at his studio in Porto. In addition to highlighting his extraordinary eidetic memory, it narrates his activity as an architect and chiefly the personal side of his life. Beginning with drawings made by Siza during his youth, then the frequent trips to Italy and abroad, the most recent dinners with friends, and relaxing moments free from the burden of work. The narrative is broadened with memories, meetings, ironic notes and views pertaining to that extraordinary "journey without a plan", which is life itself. Hence the creation of a unique, unpublished project, firstly through the digital restoration of the drawings that retrieve the traits and marks of each sketch and then return it to paper – via typo ink print technique with one-ff plate (prints personally authenticated by Siza - 53 works, 1/1 copy) – in order to reveal his technical growth and sensitivity in perceiving reality.

In Siena – a city studied and depicted in his notebooks – Álvaro Siza’s drawings interact with the evocative atmosphere of the Magazzini della Corticella inside Santa Maria della Scala thanks to the installation set up by Dumbo Design Studio in cooperation with Graniti Fiandre (formerly ADI Design Index Selection 2018 in the Exhibition Design category for the show at FAB - Fiandre Architectural Bureau in 2017) which includes varied areas and accompanies visitors on a tour that reveals the most intimate and personal aspect of human nature incorporated with design culture.

Large lecterns – with ceramic-based surfaces and structures designed purposely for this exhibition – present the works of the Portuguese architect and create a highly intimate and welcoming atmosphere. The exhibition also includes two video installations: the interview carried out by the curators in Siza's studio with a background of particularly significant areas of Porto and Lisbon (presented at the Milan Design Film Festival in 2017) and Atelier XYZ’s video-installation that virtually leads the viewer to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean with a view point from the Boa Nova Casa da Cha restaurant (designed by Siza 1958/1963), amid the rock formations of Leça de Palmeira. The exhibition dedicated to Álvaro Siza's drawings also proposes – as already presented in other showings – a wide selection of photographs (here in small analog video frames) chosen from the hundreds of shots taken over the years by the two curators and friends and enthusiasts that narrate the origin of the project to the present and the countless contacts generated, which often go far beyond professional activities.

Architecture Speaks: The Language of MVRDV, Innsbruck (Austria), Adambräu, 6 july / 28 september 2019

Brazilian Modern: the Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx, New York, NYBG New York Botanical Garden, 8 june / 29 september 2019

Genova (Italy), Palazzo Ducale, Sala Liguria, 8 / 25 november 2018

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Josef Hoffman - Otto Prutscher, Brtnice (Czech Republic), Josef Hoffmann Museum, 1 july / 27 october 2019

Mon Univers, Zürich (Switzerland), Pavillon Le Corbusier, 11 may / 17 november 2019

The exhibition Mon univers extends over all floors and is dedicated to the Swiss architect’s passion for collecting, giving visitors a glimpse of his versatile creative cosmos. Throughout his life, Le Corbusier pursued the vision of a synthesis of the arts, and for this purpose he amassed objects and trouvailles from art, industry, folklore, and nature, which he arranged in assemblages. He drew on a wide variety of objects as references and sources of inspiration for his various artistic practices—including conch shells, ceramics from the Balkans, flotsam, and industrial glass. The exhibition brings together originals from Le Corbusier’s private collection with historical photographs, casts, and paintings, as well as finds from nature. Loans from the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris, important private collections, and the Antikenmuseum Basel enter into a visual and thematic dialogue with the pavilion.

BIG Formgiving, Copenhagen [København], DAC Danish Architecture Center, 12 june 2019 / 5 january 2020

A catalogue exploring the notion of Formgiving will be published by Taschen by the end of the year.

Formgiving was made possible due to the generous support from Realdania, Industriens Fond, Beckett Fonden, Lego, Ole Kirk's Fond and many of our sponsors: “The urban development of the future needs architects who can walk unexpected paths. Bjarke Ingels turns huge, global challenges into limitless possibilities. He is a Danish world phenomenon who mobilizes sustainable urban development with spirit, creativity and imagination. BIG shows us that architecture can be unpretentious and down to earth. Realdania is delighted to support this exhibition, which demonstrates through play and learning that architecture creates the framework for our lives and therefore has an impact on us all,” said Jesper Nygård, CEO of Realdania.