The First Siza

Directed by: Sara Nunes
Portugal | 2025 | 60 minutes

The Architect Before the Icon

What happens to a building, and the people who live in it, over 60 years?

Step inside the story of Álvaro Siza’s Four Houses in Matosinhos, the architect’s first built project, designed while he was still a student. Six decades after the houses were completed, filmmaker Sara Nunes brings Siza back to the place where his career began to meet his first client, Fernando Neto, and revisit the homes they created together.

Through conversations with Siza, the residents and architecture critic Francesco Dal Co, alongside contemporary and archival footage, The First Siza reveals a deeply human story about architecture, memory and the passage of time.

The film looks beyond architecture as a finished object, asking what happens when buildings are lived in, loved, adapted and remembered. The Four Houses become a record of everyday life, of families, relationships, memories and experiences, and a reminder that the story of architecture continues long after the architect leaves the site.

Come and see architecture through the eyes of the people who live in it, and discover how one of Siza’s earliest works became the beginning of a remarkable career and a lasting part of the lives of those who call it home.

Screening: Thurs 12 Nov, time needed (bookings required)