ARCHITECTURE: Álvaro Siza Vieira _______________________________________________ ADDRESS: Polo do IPS, Setúbal _______________________________________________ CITY: Setúbal _______________________________________________ DATE: 1986-1995 _______________________________________________ VISIT: Inside - Outside _______________________________________________ MORE DETAILS: The U formation searches to integrate itself in the natural landscape, a grove of centenary oak-trees. You can see that the majestic existing oak in the middle of the central courtyard structured the design of the courtyard and the building itself. I believe that it may result from a very personal experience but, as I pursued the galleries along the central courtyard, I recall it generated a vibration very close to that produced by, for example, the cloisters of some convents, that affects our senses – managing to fill our intimate with emotion. However, the downcasted and deformed entrance signed by those two pillars that set from a single base arising slanted, provokes some perplexity, as does the oval plan stair case and the great entrance space whose roof possesses a clipped and irregular skylight. The richness of architectural solutions and the spacial experiences forces you to visit this work slowly and lastingly, to be able to interiorize all of its “poetic strength”. _______________________________________________
