“We dedicate this architecture week to Master Siza, the master of us all. My generation, those in their 60s with 40 years in the architecture world, learned from Álvaro Siza, as a professor, architect, and social fabric remodeler in many Spanish and Portuguese cities where he intervened,” stated Sigfrido Herráez, Dean of the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) and President of the COAM Architecture Foundation, at a press conference in the Spanish capital.
Siza Vieira’s work, “one of the most important figures in the history of architecture,” according to Sigfrido Herráez, is the centerpiece of the main exhibition at the XXII International Architecture Week in Madrid, alongside debates and conferences in the program introduced today.
Portugal is the guest country of this Architecture Week in Madrid, with a program that includes initiatives focused on contemporary Portuguese architecture, “new emerging talents,” and figures like Eduardo Souto de Moura and Nuno Portas.
The exhibition on Siza Vieira’s work, titled “Siza,” will be hosted at the COAM building, located in central Madrid, from October 3 to January 9, 2026, resulting from a collaboration with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
This retrospective of the Portuguese architect, a Pritzker Prize laureate in 1992 (the highest honor in architecture), brings to Madrid part of the exhibition with the same name that was held in Lisbon at the Gulbenkian last year, curated by Carlos Quintans.
The Madrid exhibition, like the one in Lisbon, is “focused on the role of drawing in Siza Vieira’s work” and is once again curated by Carlos Quintans, according to COAM.
The XXII International Architecture Week in Madrid features two more exhibitions dedicated to Portugal: “Alvalade” and “What Is Needed. 50 Years of Portuguese Architecture in Democracy.”
The first, taking place in the COAM building’s garden from October 3 to 12, is a photographic exhibition by artist Federico Clavarino about the Alvalade neighborhood in Lisbon.
The second is organized by the Casa da Arquitetura – Centro Português de Arquitetura, in the context of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the April 25 Revolution, and will be displayed in the COAM gallery from October 3 to 31.
Alongside the exhibitions, the program for the XXII International Architecture Week in Madrid includes the colloquium “The Obsession with Drawing: Álvaro Siza’s Architecture,” a tribute to architect Nuno Portas, and a session dedicated to three “young Portuguese studios” (BRANCOFELRI, MASSLAB, and OODA) under the title “Portugal, Adaptive Architecture. Transforming the Built Space and Territory.”
There will also be a conference featuring Portuguese architects Eduardo Souto de Moura and Camilo Rebelo on “Attentive Perspectives from Proximity” and a “Porto – Madrid Dialogue” with the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, discussing ongoing “major urban planning” in both cities.
The International Architecture Week in Madrid is an annual initiative by COAM, the foundation of the same name, and the Madrid City Council, with this year’s edition resulting from collaboration with the Embassy of Portugal in Spain, among other entities.
The official residence of the Portuguese ambassador in Madrid, the former palace of the Dukes of Híjar, built in the early 20th century, is among 60 buildings in the city open for guided tours with architects during the architecture week.
The XXII International Architecture Week in Madrid encompasses a cultural agenda with 320 activities, including exhibitions, conferences, concerts, and guided tours. Alongside Siza Vieira, it also honors Spanish architect Luis Gutiérrez on the 125th anniversary of his birth.
