Together with other architecture students, Siza receives a grant that allows him to travel to Finland, the home country of the great architect and designer Alvar Aalto. After visiting the outside of the studio, the students try their luck and knock on the door of the Finnish architect, who welcomes them into his office. This encounter would mark Álvaro Siza: his work is full of more or less obvious references to Alvar Aalto and other important architects such as Adolf Loos, Le Corbusier, Frank LloydmWright, Pieter Oud, Hans Scharoun, Erich Mendelsohn, Bruno Taut and Luis Barragán.

The Siza exhibition, until 26 August at the Gulbenkian Foundation, brings together original material from his archives, as well as a series of reference works for his work.