Álvaro Siza: an award-winning architect

Born in Portugal in 1933, Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira is known for his "poetic modernist" architectural style, being awarded (among others) the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture (1988), the Praemium Imperiale (1988), the coveted Pritzker Prize (1992), Portugal's National Prize of Architecture (1993) and the Wolf Prize in Arts (2001). Siza has been awarded two Golden Lions at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002 and 2012. He was conferred the title of Honoris Causa Doctor by over a dozen European universities, and is an Honorary Fellow at some of the world's most prestigious academies.

Siza's most famous constructions, many located in or near his home town of Porto, include the Boa Nova Tea House, the Faculty of Architecture and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. More recently, Siza has been working with Granada-based Juan Domingo Santos to create a new visitors' center for the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.

"Sacro" at the MAXXI

Curated in collaboration with the architect himself, "Sacro" examines Siza's relationship with the sacred: whether in projects with an overtly religious nature or less direct constructions. Drawings, projects and objects from Siza's vast wealth of work will be exhibited in the museum's 2bis Gallery alongside photographs taken by a team of international photographers in an atmosphere intended to recreate the spiritual calm found in places of worship.

The Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo

Designed by the Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid and inaugurated in 2010 after 10 years of development, the MAXXI is located in Rome's Flaminio district on the site of an old military compound. It received the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in its debut year, and has since exhibited works by modern international artists and architects such as Carlo Scarpa, Aldo Rossi, Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter and Kiki Smith.

The exhibition "Álvaro Siza, Sacro" will run from November, 9 2016 - March 26, 2017.