Invisible Architecture

© Juan Rodríguez

 I've been writing occasionally for the weekend cultural supplement of El País, Spain's leading moderately progressive newspaper. Recently they've appointed a new arts editor and he's asked me to write on a more regular basis. The first article in this new commitment came out on Saturday, March 9th.

A PDF copy of the article can be found here (thanks to (Arquitectura Viva).

It  takes a look at some of the perverse effects of the media, especially the popular media, which promote the most exaggerated effects in architecture, while more considered work is rendered invisible. I develop the argument from two examples, a house in Portugal featuring light courts for the underground bedrooms 3 meters deep and without balustrades or any other protection,
and a social housing project in the northern Basque city of Vitoria, both illustrated here. The first is by Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus, and the second by Manuel de las Casas, with his daughter and son, Iciar and Sergio.

Here's a quote:

"Una tarea básica del crítico es la de examinar su propio papel dentro de su particular especialidad, de mantener una vigilancia crítica sobre el impacto de su propia mirada. Ante la pérdida generalizada de confianza en la manera de hacer arquitectura que sufre España en estos momentos, este papel de autocrítica se hace más relevante que nunca. En un proceso darviniano y de efectos perversos, los medios han llegado a funcionar como un mecanismo de retroalimentación para fomentar las tendencias más extravagantes, mientras condenan a otras a la oscuridad. Y quizás las claves de una renovación de la arquitectura se encuentran precisamente dentro de ese lado oscuro e ignorado."

 An American reader put the argument succinctly in a recent letter:

"It reminds me of a remark of Ken Frampton's last week discussing the state of architecture, with great delight he said he was given to understand that Denmark is now producing some 'boring" buildings.'"

So, here's a toast to boring buildings for a change.

© Fernando Guerra

Cegados por la arquitectura mediática
"Blinded by the Media"
El País, Saturday, March 9, 2012
Babelia cultural supplement, page 15