This book is the result of the opportunity to PRESENT THE EXHIBITION "NO SITE IS DESERT. TIDAL POOL, LEÇA DA PALMEIRA (1960-2021). Álvaro Siza, curated by Teresa Cunha Ferreira and Luís Martinho Urbano, combined with the exhibition "Beira Central Station, Mozambique (1957-1966)", coordinated by Elisiário Miranda, in the Atrium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Art Library. Both exhibitions are part of the Keeping It Modern initiative, promoted by the Getty Foundation, with the aim of promoting the safeguarding and conservation of Modern Architecture.

Álvaro Siza is one of the most emblematic architects of the 20th century, and one of the names that Portugal is associated with anywhere in the world, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1992. It was in 1991 that Álvaro Siza was invited to design the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, which opened in 1999.

Strongly influenced by the works of architects Adolf Loos, Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto, he soon managed to develop his own language, steeped not only in international modernist references but also in the strong Portuguese building tradition, which resulted in works of great refinement and detail in Portuguese modernism, including the Boa Nova Tea House in Leça da Palmeira. Not unrelated to this is his close relationship with the architect Fernando Távora, his teacher and one of the main references of the Porto School, with whom he collaborated from 1955 to 1958, later developing a strong friendship and creative complicity. He created real landmarks in the history of Portuguese and international architecture, influencing several generations of architects.