26 DIGS.NET
| 2.10.23
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P R O F I L E | Á LVA R O S I Z A A N D C A R L O S C A S TA N H E I R A
IN
the beauty of this project." One of three
planned structures for Saya Park—a
chapel and an observatory round out
the program—Art Pavilion was initially
modeled after another Siza structure that
never got off the ground, a gallery meant
to house two pieces by Spanish master
Pablo Picasso, Guernica and Pregnant
Women, for the 1992 European Capital
Culture in Madrid. Though smaller than
initially designed, the pavilion is a magnum
opus all its own, buttressed by a vision of
enormous heft and ambition.
Partially sunk into the ground, the fork-
shaped structure is over 14,000 square
feet and features two volumes—a large
rectangular wing housing major exhibits
and, branching off from that building, a
curved form for additional art shows. The
whole remarkable mass crowns one of
the loftier hills in the landscape to which
THE PROVINCE of Gyeongsang-
buk-do, South Korea, Saya
Park Art Pavilion represents
a remarkable meeting of the
minds between Portugal's
Pritzker Prize laureate Álvaro Siza and his
compatriot Carlos Castanheira. This is not
the first of their architectural feats—the
duo's designs include an array of interest-
ing and assertive architecture across the
Far East. Art Pavilion is, however, among
their most spectacular works as collabo-
rators, a coexistence of art, architecture,
and nature that is all of a piece, and more
broadly, of a place.
As Castanheira describes it, "There are
projects that are born both out of their site
and for it. There are projects that create
the site for themselves. The Art Pavilion
modified the hill site and also adapted itself
to it. And we all also adapted ourselves to
