The RSA Metzstein Architecture Discourse

Published by the Royal Scottish Academy, this volume examines the work of  Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, and was produced to accompany the Metzstein Discourse 2014. Comprising an extensive interview with Alvaro Siza, conducted by Neil Gillespie, OBE  RSA, this publication offers an in-depth look at the thought processes behind Alvaro Siza's substantial body of work. Including over 30 photographs of existing work, sketches and future plans, the Alvaro Siza publication  is an addition to previous RSA publications of Glen Murcutt, Peter Zumthor, Sir David Chipperfield and Grafton Architects.

The Royal Scottish Academy Metzstein Discourse was founded in 2014 in memory of Isi Metzstein (1928-2012), partner of the Glasgow architectural practice of Gillespie Kidd and Coia, Professor of Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, influential tutor at The Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, and Treasurer of the RSA. The idea has been to bring the very best architects and architectural thinkers in the world to Scotland, and to invite them to give a discourse. Isi Metzstein had very clear ideas about what architecture was, and could expound on it and other related subjects with profound insight, as well as with rabbinical rigour and wit. He was greatly loved by his friends and students, and he enjoyed informal debates with them in which he was highly entertaining. We hope that these discourses given in his memory will serve to continue and raise the level of architectural debate in Scotland.