Évora 2027: European Capital of Culture with Álvaro Siza's SAAL architecture in the spotlight
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Maastricht didn't make it, but — quite surprisingly — Leeuwarden did. The battle for the title of Dutch European Capital of Culture 2018 was decided in favor of the latter, mainly because of its so-called underdog program. This program placed a strong emphasis on bottom-up initiatives, broad participation of the local population, and creating connections.
Cultural event on the Vrijthof in Maastricht, in an attempt to win the title of European Capital of Culture
According to certain commentators, Maastricht's program, on the other hand, came across as ‘arrogant’. The loss of the Belgian industrial city of Liège — a cultural partner of Maastricht — in the allocation of EXPO 2017, on the other hand, had a more basic cause. According to rumors, the choice of the Kazakh capital Astana was partly due to the ‘warm feelings’ that the Kazakh oligarchs managed to evoke in the jury of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) during their presentation on a boat on the Seine. The success was said to be mainly due to the presence of a large number of prostitutes hired by them during this champagne-fuelled gathering.
Évora has been designated European Capital of Culture for 2027. After a nomination of four Portuguese cities — Aveiro, Braga, Ponta Delgada, and Évora — Évora convinced the jury in the final round with a program proposal based on the theme of Vagar, a concept that represents a slow and reflective approach to time and space. With its rich historical and cultural heritage, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Évora wants to use this title to strengthen cultural participation, tourism, and urban development.
A consolation prize was created for the three other nominees: the designation as national cultural capital. Aveiro kicked things off in 2024, followed by Braga in 2025, and this year it is Ponta Delgada's turn.
No prize for Faro
Unfortunately, there was not even a consolation prize for Faro, even though the city had been working hard to win the title of European Capital of Culture 2027. With great enthusiasm and conviction, Faro presented a program that linked creativity and participation to a clear strategic narrative. Historical and modernist architecture played a special role in this narrative.
Map of the ‘Urban Ensemble’ connecting the municipal market with the Lyceum of Faro
Within modernist architecture, Manuel Gomes da Costa (1921–2016) played a special role as one of the most influential modernist architects in the Algarve, with more than three hundred buildings in Faro to his name. His work combines international modernist principles with local climatic and cultural characteristics, forming the core of what Faro likes to present as its modernist identity.
Houses and apartments within the Urban Ensemble
But it was not only the work of Gomes da Costa that was featured; that of architects such as Jorge de Oliveira, the state architect, and Joel Santana was also highlighted. Special attention was paid to the ‘Urban Ensemble’ that connects the municipal market with the lyceum of Faro, which includes the Gago Rosa House, one of the masterpieces of architect Gomes da Costa. This ensemble is a striking example of the urban planning vision mentioned above, which originated from João António de Aguiar's General Urban Plan for Faro (1945). The complex was built between 1940 and 1960.
This urban ensemble was classified as a site of municipal importance in August 2020. It includes buildings by architects Manuel Gomes da Costa and Jorge de Oliveira, as well as contributions from various engineers, including Humberto Carrapato and Joaquim Belchior.
Teatro das Figuras (2005) by architect Gonçalo Byrne
Unfortunately, Faro did not win any awards. This may have been due to the program, or to the fact that Faro had only been Portugal's National Cultural Capital in 2005. In any case, the city retained the magnificent Teatro das Figuras, designed by none other than architect Gonçalo Byrne.
Évora and Álvaro Siza
Évora's program consists of a mix of cultural performances and art projects by local, Portuguese, and international creators, with a special focus on performing arts, music, dance, and multimedia art, integrated into the landscape of the Alentejo. In addition to various participation projects for schools and local communities, there is room for debates, workshops, and conferences on the theme of Vagar, in combination with European cultural values. These activities take place throughout the city of Évora and at other locations in the region.
The theme of architecture is also included. This is reflected in a somewhat older project that has been designated as a cultural-historical and thematic source of inspiration within the 2027 celebrations: the SAAL project by architect Álvaro Siza. SAAL (Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local) was a state-run social housing program set up throughout Portugal in the 1970s, in the aftermath of the 1974 Portuguese Revolution.
In this context, Álvaro Siza Vieira designed the Quinta da Malagueira residential neighborhood just outside Évora: an ensemble of approximately 1,200 homes that combines social, urban planning, and architectural principles. The plan is closely intertwined with the surrounding landscape, the local community, and the cultural context. A procedure is currently underway to have the neighborhood officially recognized and protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The SAAL neighborhood of Quinta da Malagueira with floor plans and sketches by architect Álvaro Siza
The plan is to organize a series of activities, exhibitions, and reflections around this anniversary commemoration of Malagueira, with themes such as the right to the city and social housing, community building and participation, collective memory and architectural heritage, and interdisciplinary research and art projects on housing culture. Siza's Malagueira serves as a cultural starting point for programs that explore what living means—both in a historical and contemporary context—within a European cultural framework. These include exhibitions, walks, debates, community art projects, and publications that highlight architecture as cultural heritage and as social practice.
The SAAL projects, which were primarily participatory housing programs in which future residents collaborated to build their homes, are known for the fact that the collaboration between architects and residents did not always run smoothly. Women often took on a prominent and decisive role in this process. There are examples of architects who had difficulty with the fact that residents adapted strictly designed homes. According to them, the addition of traditional elements, such as traditional chimneys and decorations, changed them into what they considered a ‘fairground’.
Architects also sometimes struggled to explain non-traditional shapes and colors—often stemming from their modernist training—to residents of slums, who were organized into local communities. Álvaro Siza dealt with this in a unique way in another SAAL project: he explained the unusual shape and color of a block of houses as a tribute to the German architect Bruno Taut. When officials criticized this, the residents fiercely defended the design, arguing that it was a homage to Bruno Taut.
Siza repeatedly pointed out that the strength and significance of SAAL lay precisely in the fact that residents were given the right to participate in decisions about the redevelopment of their living environment. He emphasized that design and dialogue had to proceed simultaneously and that discussions between architects and residents were essential. For him, serving as an architect primarily meant engaging in participatory discussions with future residents to discover together what comfort and a good home meant to them. He therefore did not see designing within SAAL as fundamentally different from designing an individual home: in both cases, human and social dialogue is central.
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