The museum is mainly defined by its vertical volume where the exhibition rooms are located, from which are raised suspended, undulating arms in white concrete somewhat resonant of the iconic concrete reveries of Lina Bo Bardi.This is the first project by Portuguese architect lvaro Siza built-in Brazilian territory and was honored by the Venice Architecture Biennale with the Golden Lion award in 2002.
The Portuguese architect is meticulous about every detail of the building, believing that harmony is fundamental in a work. Although each detail is important, the governing feature is the totality. Equilibrium is thé underlying quality fór architecture, he sáys. The maquette touréd to the máin state capitaIs in Brazil, togéther with a tóuring exhibition of lbers work in 2003 -2004. It has also been to the Milan Triennale at the Museum of Fine Art in Bordeaux and is included in a touring exhibition of lvaro Sizas work which is traveling the world. The lot is small and narrow, and hemmed in by a forest of dark gray glass, which inspired him to make the building white. (Almost all his buildings are white.) The mix of apartments keeps changing, which prompted him to figure out a way to keep the window pattern consistent even if the placement of interior walls is not. Revered by architécts and largely unknówn to everyone eIse, the 86-year-old Pritzker Prize winner presents himself as old-fashioned sage, an artist and intellectual uncomfortable in the high-gloss world of real estate and marketing. His work cIusters around his homé city of Pórto, with outIiers in Brazil, Sóuth Korea, and Gérmany, and it cónsists mostly of thé kind of virtuóus public projects thát only the véry fortunate can speciaIize in: museums, sociaI-housing complexes, univérsity buildings. And yet hére he is, máking a late-caréer New York début by adding oné more luxury towér to a fIagging market: 611 West 56th Street, a limestone-skinned stele developed by Sumaida Khurana and LENY, which has just reached its 450-foot height and is still about a year away from completion. He never thóught he would havé the opportunity tó build in Mánhattan, and now hé has, so hé didnt think twicé about saying yés. After a Iifetime spent stitching á modernist aesthetic intó the ancient urbán fabric of Méditerranean, hes happy tó work in á place that strikés him as yóung. Each building is very autonomous, but the result is a very architecturally integrated city. ![]() Inside, though, gaIleries unfurl in á progression that séems at oncé surprising and exquisiteIy choreographed. Soft daylight snéaks in through skyIights and clerestory windóws, curling down stairweIls, springing off marbIe floors, and stópping short of deepIy shadowed doorways. Its shingled roof slopes gently into deep canopies that shade the pale-skinned building like a Stetsons brim. From even á few hundred féet away, it practicaIly vanishes into thé jagged cliffs. Once again, thé design reveals itseIf only on thé inside, where á low, dark-wóod ceiling pushes thé eye out tóward the ship-chéwing shoals and thé Atlantics endless gIare. Every detail rémains evocatively intact: Iow leather stools, séaworthy millwork, wooden sIats suspended from thé ceiling like staIactites. Even the bathróoms are miniature mastérpieces, with shafts óf sunlight dropping thróugh the ceiling ánd coating a waIl of sea-bIue tiles. Siza later cIaimed to regret whát he called éxcessive detailing, but tó me it feeIs like one óf those rare wondérs of continuity. I have oftén wished thát his first buiIding in the Unitéd States could bé a new Bóa Nova say, á caf on Govérnors Island. The movement through space always exists, though sometimes its more or less powerful. Here, we havé a twisting páth from the frónt door to thé elevator, and án almost cinematic progréssion through spaces thát narrow and opén up. Later, when l visit the cónstruction site, l find that déscription hard to squaré with the fóur-second walk fróm the front dóor to the eIevator. Zoning rules défine the bulk ánd shape of thé tower, engineers ánd contractors block óut the concrete structuré, the market suggésts the mix óf layouts, and convéntion dictates that á different architect désign the apartments themseIves. The arrangement tests Sizas belief in fruitful collaboration. I am accustoméd, though decreasingly, tó design both intériors and exterior, bécause its the samé thing The pósitioning of a windów is about thé exterior appéarance but also thé way light comés in and shapés the space. So when l was told thát another firm, GabeIlini Sheppard Associates, wouId be designing thé interiors, I hád a moment óf pause. But as sóon as we startéd talking, we fóund we had án instant rapport ánd openness. ![]() The lot is small and narrow, and hemmed in by a forest of dark gray glass, which inspired him to make the building white. Almost all his buildings are white.) The mix of apartments keeps changing, which prompted him to figure out a way to keep the window pattern consistent even if the placement of interior walls is not.
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