Architecture & the Arts - Portugal - page 999

Alvaro Siza: Complete Works 1952-2013 , by Philip Jodidio is an excellent monograph on the great contemporary
architect, and includes a full catalogue of his work produced both in Portugal and abroad.
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed the lean organic monster Gare do Ori-
ente for Expo 98, architecture that is complemented by the work of many renowned con-
temporary artists. The interior is more state-of-the-art spaceship than station. In the same
area lies Lisbon's architectural trailblazer the Parque das Nações, with a bevy of unique
designs, including a riverfront park and Europe's largest aquarium. The longest bridge in
Europe, the Ponte de Vasco da Gama, built in 1998, stalks out across the Tagus river.
Since the turn of the millennium, Portugal has seen a handful of architecturally ambi-
tious projects come to fruition. One of the grander projects is Rem Koolhaas' Casa da
Música in Porto (2005). From a distance, the extremely forward-looking design appears
like a solid white block of carefully cut crystal. Both geometric and defiantly asymmetric-
al, the building mixes elements of tradition (like azulejos hidden in one room) with high
modernism (enormous curtains of corrugated glass flanking the concert stage).
The Sin of Father Amaro is a powerful 19th-century novel by Eça de Queirós. The topic is set in Portugal,
though it was relocated for a popular Mexican film, El Crimen del Padre Amaro (2002).