@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.
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