Environment supports design : Alvaro Siza and Wellesley College

Abstract

The antecedent of this thesis is a reaction to a history of imposition on architectural solutions and the notion that there are architectural equations or languages that can repeatedly answer design and social issues regardless of time and place. This position does not advocate designing in a vacuum, quite the opposite. As Siza says in the quote on page 34: " ... proposals which refuse to set limits to reality cannot be based in a fixed image nor can they have a linear development." If the focused priority holds on the whole problem at that very moment and place, the result will become a response to some of the much larger questions, and that singular project will be able to use the greater body of knowledge which we all accrue over time, and not vise versa. The intent of this thesis is to explore some of the works of one architect, Alvaro Siza, as an exercise in understanding a process of form-making. The Portuguese architect was chosen for his unique stance in the recent past's and present time's architectural situation, and for the author's continual attraction to his work. The research of Siza's projects becomes a springboard for approaching an investigation into a design project for Wellesley College. A dialogue with the work of Alvaro Siza will supply feedback and examples. Inevitably, the research will have a life within the exploration of the Wellesley project as the movement from one to the other forces better understanding of both.