#BEING

Beyond the city wall, designed so as not to interfere with Évora's architectonic profile, but still keeping a close proximity to the historic centre and weaving permanent links with it, Bairro da Malagueira, built on a 27-hectare former farm with 1200 residencies, is one of 1992 Pritzker Prize winner Álvaro Siza Vieira's most emblematic works and a master reference of the city of Évora.

It is the result of Évora Municipality's invitation to architect Álvaro Siza Vieira, shortly after the 25th April Revolution, to devise and design a set of affordable housing units capable of meeting the needs of a city that was then, as it is now, undergoing transformation.

Malagueira is the ultimate expression of participatory architecture: a project that emerges from the people, from a thorough and active listening to future residents, who not only contributed their ideas, concerns and enthusiasm to the project, but also helped build it, thanks to the cooperative, at the very beginning of the construction.

From the patio-house to the idea of city, from the vernacular to the avant-garde, Bairro da Malagueira, which will be 50 years old in 2027, is above all the community and its living experiences, the people and the ties that are forged. And throughout its history, Malagueira has been the witness to a living, changing city.

As part of #SENDO mini-documentary cycle, "Bairro da Malagueira" is the first of two short films about this project, about architect Siza Vieira's relationship with Évora and his architectural experience.

#SENDO is a cycle of mini-documentaries in which we listen to the voices of those who shape and transform this territory. People who work in teams, in the community, and who bring us their history, their practice and their legacy, adding their experience and vision to Évora's candidacy to be European Capital of Culture in 2027.

Authoring and interviews
Évora 2027 Mission Team

With Álvaro Siza Vieira

Director,  image and editor
David Mira

Production
Teorema

Interview image and sound
Carolina Lecoq

Original music «O Céu do Pastor» («The Sheperd’s Sky»), by António Bexiga [Tó-Zé Bexiga], António Pinto de Sousa, Mestre André and DJ Sims. With the collaboration of Vozes do Imaginário, directed by Luís Pereira. Recorded in Estúdios 48 and Sistema Intravenoso. Mixing and Mastering by Luís Lucena.

Translation
Paula Seixas

Archive photos
Arquivo Municipal de Évora

A production by Évora 2027 – Candidate City European Capital of Culture