Exercise Two Colin Dorgan

Zaida Building

Housing, Office and Shopping Complex

Álvaro Siza and Juan Domingo Santos



The Zaida building is at the southern end of a 19th century city block in the spannish city of granada, facing the plaza puerta real. The new building takes its name from the old Zaida building that once existed on the same lot. The project was built on three adjacent lots. One of the plots had an existing courtyard house which was kept and slightly altered. The Architect Siza explained that as the site was located in such a prominent plaza in the city centre he had to give the facade a more commanding appearance.

Materials are limited to local calcereous gray stone up to the top of the third floor with white panted stucco above that. The lower stone base was designed to emphasise the smaller scale vertical dimension and to visually compensate for the different building sizes. The Zaida building is at the southern end of a 19th century city block in the spannish city of granada, facing the plaza puerta real. The new building takes its name from the old Zaida building that once existed on the same lot. The project was built on three adjacent lots.

Colin Dorgan