O PRIMEIRO SIZA. Presentation of the Documentary
The collaboration between two institutions, COAG and CGAC, makes it possible to present in Santiago de Compostela O primeiro Siza, a documentary that looks back at the beginnings of one of the most important careers in contemporary Portuguese architecture and reveals the Four Houses of Matosinhos, Álvaro Siza’s first built work, designed while he was still a student.
Based on the reunion between the architect and Fernando Neto—his first client and the owner of one of the houses—sixty years after their construction, the film offers a sensitive journey through time and memory, showing how architecture can quietly transform people’s lives. Combining archival footage with contemporary images, it includes interviews with Siza, the residents of the houses, and Italian critic Francesco Dal Co.
The film shows how the houses become living witnesses to the stories of those who inhabit them. Every element—from the staircase to the gate—carries a personal story: births, romances, games, concerts, and also death. ‘Architecture is not just walls and roofs, but spaces that transform and shape life experiences,’ says director Sara Nunes. At a time when the housing crisis dominates public debate, O primeiro Siza invites us to rethink the role of architecture in our lives. More than building houses, it urges reflection on the lives built within them: a film that listens and observes, in which people—with their memories, gestures, and ways of inhabiting—are the true protagonists.
The documentary has enjoyed significant international recognition. After its pre-premiere at Serralves, with the presence of Álvaro Siza, O primeiro Siza was selected for festivals in Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Sweden, and received the Best Film Award at the Cinema Urbana International Architecture Film Festival in Brasília.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Title: O primeiro Siza
Direction: Sara Nunes
Original idea: João Rapagão and Sara Nunes
Production: Building Pictures
Music: Bruno Ferreira
Running Time: 60 minutes
Year: 2025
Production period: 2019-2025 (6 years)
SARA NUNES (Lisbon, 1985) earned her Master’s degree in Architecture in 2009 from the Escola Superior Artística do Porto and the Universität Kassel (Germany). Between 2011 and 2012, she worked for the Madrid-based architecture studio Ensemble Studio. In Madrid she developed a passion for cinema, and in 2013 she returned to Portugal, where she founded the architecture film production company Building Pictures, which produced more than three hundred shorts by 2021.
In 2022 she premiered the documentary WoodStories, which received international awards and selections, and the following year she presented Back to the City, about the rehabilitation of the Mercado do Bolhão, also screened at festivals outside Portugal. In May 2024 she received the Innovation in Architecture Award at the Forma Awards held at the Serralves Museum Auditorium.
Sara Nunes continues to work on major film projects, including In the Age of Cities, a documentary offering insight into the future of cities, featuring architects, artists, and designers such as Ana Aragão, Gilles Retsin, Guta Moura Guedes, Iñaqui Carnicero, Mario Cucinella, and OODA. She is also working on O fotógrafo voador, about architectural photographer Fernando Guerra, and has recently begun developing a documentary on Eduardo Souto de Moura.