In 1992 Alvaro Siza was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for an architectural achievement spanning almost 40 years. Alvaro Siza's career began with a series of residential buildings in his home region, followed by a long list of projects in Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. His building for the Architecture Department of the University of Oporto in 1992 has more than just one meaning for him: it was there that Siza began as a student of Fernando Tavora, there that he taught, there that the architectural circle known as the Oporto School was born.