Álvaro Siza Promenade

A 500 m path laid out by the Portuguese architect crosses the public part of a furniture company’s campus, linking its showroom building to the fire station at the far end. It is an asphalt road lined by hornbeam hedges two metres high, which at times run straight beside it and at times pull back to open onto lawns.

Hedges were chosen to show the passing seasons, set against hard materials that do not change: Dutch brick and granite, the same palette as the factory hall he built on the campus in 1994. Along the way come episodes such as an S-shaped resting place framed by hedges and a space enclosed on three sides by a tall wall.

A narrow, portal-like opening leads to a space framed by two granite corner walls and on to the last stretch, which widens from three to ten metres between bands of granite. The path begins and ends in small asphalt squares edged with granite blocks that serve as benches, and lamps designed by the architect light it at night.