Tradition is Innovation
What is innovation? Is innovation everything that is beyond our habits and traditions?
In contemporary portuguese architecture, innovation is seen and evaluated from a different perspective. The work of Siza Vieira, and other portuguese architects, combines modernity, recognizable in their white walls, and history, rooted in the matter and in the territory.
Until the 1974 revolution, portuguese modern architecture was mainly developed by the architects of Oporto who, distant from the capital, enjoyed more creative freedom. It was the Oporto architects who introduced the modern movement after the Second World War. Later, during the capital’s transformation process, Lisbon architects also contributed to the diffusion of modernism in Portugal, mainly influenced by the work of Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.
As a response to the modern movement, the portuguese state promoted the “Inquérito à Arquitectura Popular Portuguesa” (Popular Portuguese Architecture Survey), between 1955 and 1960. This survey was promoted by the Portuguese Architects Association, and culminated in the publication of the reference work “Arquitectura Popular Portuguesa” (Portuguese Popular Architecture). Siza Vieira, who had recently finished the Boa Nova Tea House, describing the portuguese architecture spirit of the time, mentioned “not to be a regionalist, nor to ignore our roots”.*
Portuguese architects of younger generations keep this tendency and their work combines modernity and continuity, with local traditions and history. These characteristics, influenced by their geographical and economic situation, are completely distinct from Japanese architecture tendencies, and also from the rest of the world, confirming Portugal’s unique condition. This attitude doesn’t seek innovation as an opposition to tradition, and suggests a more subtle approach, summarized in Siza Vieira’s words: “Tradition is a challenge to innovation”.**
* Álvaro Siza Vieira, Imaginare l'evidenza, Laterza, 1998.
** Álvaro Siza, Kenneth Frampton, Professione Poetica, Electa, 1986.
Point of View (Gonçalo Baptista + Yutaka Shiki)
Gonçalo Baptista: Born in Lisbon in 1981. He studied at Lusíada University of Lisbon and the Polytechnic of Milan. After graduating in architecture he worked at the practice of João Luís Carrilho da Graça since 2004 and is currently working at the practice of Sir David Chipperfield since 2011.
Yutaka Shiki: Born in Fukuoka in 1979. He studied at the University of Tokyo, the Technical University of Lisbon and Sint-Lucas School of Architecture in Ghent. He graduated in architecture and is currently working at the practice of João Luís Carrilho da Graça since 2005.
Gonçalo Baptista and Yutaka Shiki created Point of View in 2010 and started the interview project to Portuguese architects to reflect and observe contemporary society, assuming architecture as a Viewpoint.
