Interview with architect Alberto Veiga of Estudio Barozzi Veiga

@SARP Szczecin, 25.10.2013

Tomasz Sachanowicz:

Why did you become an architect? What was the reason?

Alberto Veiga:

It’s really difficult question.  I started to study architecture not because it was a vocation for me. I’m not a vocational architect. I have learned about architecture during my studies I do not feel it’s a vocation. I was not so good in being engineer and I was not so good to study letters. I didn’t draw so bad, so I decided to study architecture.

Alberto Veiga, fot. T.Sachanowicz / AwS

 

Where did you study?

I studied in Pamplona in the north of Spain.  

Who was your most inspiring teacher?

Well I, really don’t have a master or somebody who inspired me really the most or more than other people. I have a lot of architects, that I respect their work, because I love different architectures. My partner Fabrizio too… I mean we have a lot of different influences from Alvaro Siza to Sejima, or to Peter Behrens… we have a lot of influences, I can not tell you one name.

Which of the architects you have learned the most from?   

Telling you the truth? From my partner. We have been working together just about 10 years already, and I have to tell you I have learned a lot from his being very intuitive. Because I always need logical explanation for everything I do, and he is quite different. Generally I have learned from architects I work with.

Is he older than you?

No, he is younger than me.

Which of the living architects you admire the most?

Alvaro Siza. His personal language, I mean his way of understanding what architecture means, how to transmit his ideas, how to adapt his solutions always. He can transmit complex things and simple things. He is the architect that I admire the most.

Which great architecture does not impress you? By which great architect you are not impressed?

I can’t tell you names. I know it takes a lot of work to be great because it’s very difficult to realize something in your life, It’s very difficult to be architect. And it’s very difficult to convince everybody to be convinced about your ideas. So, I respect a lot… most of well known architects and I can’t tell you “this architect is bad”.

Which of your unrealized projects you regret the most?

We have done a lot of projects that I now perhaps don’t like. Because it’s a process where you are continuously learning. And now if I check my first projects, for example, there are ideas or solutions, which I regret of course.

But which projects that were not realized you regret?

From our production? I don’t know. I can’t tell you which project.

Which part of design process you like the most? Which is your favorite part?

To do the competition. It’s the part of this profession where you can feel more close to the idea that you have about being an architect when you study. It’s the part I enjoy the most. It’s the part when I suffer the most. It’s the part that I try to do always at the office.

What is your Achilles’ Heel?

(laughs) Perhaps the works on site. To manage how to work with the company, with the contractor. How to manage workers. That’s my weak point.

Which of the famous houses you would like to live in the most?

Any house from Alvar Aalto. His own house, with a small studio, in front of the lake.

Experimental House?

Yes, Experimental House – this would be a great house to live in.  

Which of the cities is your favorite?  

Avoiding Barcelona, of course. Rome. Because it’s the starting point of everything.

Which building you would like to see demolished? If there is any.

There are a lot of buildings I would have demolished, all around Europe. (laugh)

But have you got one which you just hate for example, and would like it to be demolished?

One? I don’t know... In Spain, of course, I would demolish the whole Mediterranean  coast. (laugh)

You can work in any city in the world, in any time in the history you want. Which city and when you would choose to work?

I love the present. I am the kind of man who don’t use to imagine the future in the next ten years or don’t try to tell that the past was better than now. What I’m going to try in the next month, next year is try to pick another opportunity anywhere really. I didn’t imagine to work in Szczecin ten years ago. When we won the competition I was very scary about work here and now I love to work here. So you never know what would be the best place to work. And you never know when would be the best period to work. Because I like Rome It should be fantastic to do the Pantheon for example. But the architect always has to find compromise with the time and the place where he works. For me now the best moment is this moment and the best place is the next one.

Would you like to do another building in Poland? Are you going to do another competition here?

Oh, I would love to do another building in Poland. Because now we have got experience of working in Poland. I don’t know if now there is any interesting competition, but for sure we will try.

Which relation is the most important in your professional life?

Well, with my partner. We have continuous discussions about everything. It’s like your wife, It’s like your husband. But then the most important thing in your work is to transmit to the people you work with, why your ideas are important for you, why you want to develop something in some way, and how…For me it’s the most difficult thing and it’s the biggest challenge that I have. To explain to the people things that we like and why we like those things, and why this things are important. So this relationship with the people you work, with the workers on site, with the client is the most important relationship that you have to take care of.

How big is your office?

Now we are around 15. It depends, you know 15 – 12. It depends on work of course.

Who is your favorite client?

Well we always have had the public clients. We haven’t had occasion to do private projects, so I don’t have experience with them. The public client used to be a good client finally.        

What is the commission of your dreams? Is there anything like that?

Well, I don’t have a commission of my dreams, really … I would like to do a church.

What is your favorite book about architecture?

“Architecture without architects”.

What is your favorite book?

“Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann.

Which is your favorite movie?

I don’t know the English title, I know the Spanish title, it’s “El Manantial”. [“Fountainhead”].

Which is your favorite music? Have you got a favorite band?

Oh, I love a lot of different music, from Radiohead to John Coltrane and Bach’s compositions. My favorite contemporary band for example is Radiohead and Arcade Fire or…the last one - The XX, for example, I love that kind of music. And the same I love jazz and classical music too. Well, I usually work with music, always, and I put a lot of different music.    

What does your family think about your work?

Now only my father is alive and my brother. Well, I think that they thought that I was a little bit crazy or they thought that I was innocent always as a student. And now I think they have a lot of respect for my work and I think they are proud of the things that I do.

Which profession you see yourself in if you were not an architect?

I would like to be a teacher. A simple teacher at the school.   

Which is your favorite building or place in Szczecin?

The park that I have at the background of my building. 

What is your advice for someone who wants to be an architect?

Well … to resist, because it’s a profession where you have to resist all the difficulties, all the prejudice… To be optimistic always – ‘because you can do it!’ And to be patient. Because it’s a profession where the time means something completely different than the time for your normal life. So you have to be patient. And you don’t need to do something in one, two or three years, you are going to be architect for the rest of your life. So, you have to be patient.

What inspires you?

Well, I don’t feel like an artist so, I’m not looking for inspiration. I just go to work everyday, as much as I can. Sharing my professional life with my personal life, of course. So I don’t feel inspired by anything. I just go to work, and when you try to work there are these moments when you discover something.   

What is the role of the architect in society?

Well, it is an important role. We are responsible, the most important thing, for the people; their homes, their streets, their cities. Most of the people around the world will be living in the cities in the next ten - twenty years, so the role is very important. The big influence in the lives of people are their homes and their streets, so the role is very, very important. We are responsible for the quality of life for a lot of people.

How would you describe your design process?

It’s a long discussion during a lot of time. Filtering ideas, feelings, problems, reflections, images. It’s a process of filtering things and a long discussion. It’s a very Socratic process. A continuous dialog. Not just between Fabrizio and me, but between us, people who work with us, the client, because you can only do a good building with a good client, the people who are going to build it. So it’s a very Socratic thing. A continuous dialog.

What is architecture?

Well,  I don’t have a clear definition about architecture. But architecture is, really a way to transform the idea of life for a lot of people, continuous question how to change life, how to transform life… You can create spaces and tools which people can use and enjoy and, which sometimes can change their lives.