Koolhaas is, above all, an interviewer. His interviews contribute to his architectural production as a way of working, thinking and speculating. He approaches these formats as archives to expand the notion of the interview as a meaningful form of knowledge. They are oral archives that are part of the oral history of architecture, a discipline very little theorized and with hardly any conceptualization of the architectural interview. Koolhaas' marathon interviewing work is a vehicle for the production of critical thought where he uses his interviews with a practical, theoretical and critical function; and with this he contributes to the understanding of the essayistic, instrumental and speculative value of oral transmission as a projectual strategy in itself. Koolhaas understands the pulse of change through his interviewees and makes a great effort to find out what architecture will be like if the conditions fabricated by neoliberalism make it irrelevant. This question is crucial in the present moment: the mixture of trying to revisit through interviews what has happened by recoding it and what is happening read unprejudiced, intellectualizing it as an epistemological form and as a tool to be able to work with pressing problems that allow us to face the future with a critical position.

Este artículo de investigación estudia el perchero que el arquitecto Miguel Fisac diseñó para el vestíbulo de la casa que construyó, para sí mismo y su familia, en el Cerro del Aire en 1956. El acercamiento al objeto se realizará por escalas: en primer lugar se hablará brevemente de la casa como contexto y contenedor de un elemento especial; el paso siguiente será analizar el vestíbulo y la importancia del perchero en la secuencia de recorrido; el tercer apartado se centrará en el propio perchero, en el ensamblaje de todos sus componentes y en su carácter maquinista, otorgado por el movimiento de las piezas; finalmente, se reflexionará sobre el origen incierto del perchero y sobre su deseada permanencia en la memoria colectiva. Este objeto sensible, al interactuar con los usuarios, provoca una reacción de sorpresa e invita al juego. No hay arquitectura pequeña. Como este perchero demuestra, una pieza singular y poética es capaz de cualificar y transformar el espacio.

En la Triennale di Milano de 1936, el arquitecto Giuseppe Pagano comisarió junto a Werner Daniel la exposición “Architettura rurale nel bacino del Mediterraneo”, en donde realizó un elogio a la arquitectura rural italiana. Pagano desarrolló esta valoración en otros artículos teóricos, fundamentalmente desde la dirección de la revista Casabella, además de en fotografías y proyectos de arquitectura. En todos ellos propuso una mirada hacia la arquitectura rural como obra comunitaria, realizada por unos héroes anónimos, reflejo de la honestidad y la verdad que aporta la tierra. La presentó como un ejercicio estético y racional de primer nivel, conectándola directamente con el funcionalismo de los arquitectos más avanzados del Movimiento Moderno, yendo más allá de las ideas preestablecidas por el régimen de Mussolini. El presente trabajo reconoce las aportaciones más reveladoras de este elogio a lo rural hecho por Pagano, las contrasta con las ideas gubernamentales y las pone en relación con otras valoraciones coetáneas de esta arquitectura, como las desarrolladas por Josep Lluís Sert desde España. Se valora asimismo la continuidad de sus ideas en exposiciones sobre temas similares realizadas posteriormente, como “Architettura spontanea” comisariada por Giancarlo De Carlo y “Architecture without Architects” dirigida por Bernard Rudofsky.

The designed bending is inseparable of the geometry that makes it possible. To establish a clear control over the fold it is necessary to make a projective document, a plan. That is why issues related to geometry and mathematical control of bending patterns have always been fundamental in the construction of this type of design. Here we are approaching to one of the main references and pioneers on the study and development of bending patterns for volumetric purposes, Ron Resch. He is a not very well known American artist and computational scientist whose work is mentioned repeatedly when contemporary architects such as Greg Lynn are mentioned, who have also applied the use of the computer as a tool for control and geometric development. In order to situate the moment, we will look at Josef Albers’ didactic work and his way of opening the eyes through experience with the restricted manipulation of matter. Ron Resch’s work establishes a scientific way of approaching the problem and applying the incipient computational tools at that moment, such as 3d modelling or the use of CNC machines for cutting or marking. The topological systems by Resch are to a large extent the roots of what is now parametric and computer development architecture.

Este ensayo pretende discutir las ideas que inspiraron la vuelta al “dibujo academico” en las Escuelas de Arquitectura espanolas en los anos setenta y ochenta, asi como las contradicciones en las que este proyecto academico incurriria. No se ahondara una vez mas en las distintas teorias del dibujo, la percepcion, la creatividad o el proyecto que tanto abundaron en aquellos anos, ni tampoco se intentara un relato detallado sobre el inicio de los Departamentos de Expresion Grafica y sus protagonistas. Lo que se pretende investigar son la causas, diversas y contradictorias, que impulsaron este protagonismo del dibujo en las Escuelas de Arquitectura espanolas, que pronto se extenderia a la produccion arquitectonica. Para ello, este ensayo se situara mas alla de los aspectos meramente graficos del dibujo, para establecer una reflexion sobre la propia disciplina, la figura profesional, la transmision del conocimiento arquitectonico, asi como sobre el papel protagonista que jugaron las escuelas en el contexto arquitectonico del ultimo cuarto del siglo XX.

Despite its scale and restrained budget, Villa Dall’Ava, conceived and built between 1984 and 1991, constitutes a melting pot of experiences and explorations, not only related to the domestic space, but also to other notions that will be integrated into larger scale projects such as “territory”, “landscape” or “structure”. According to its position in the ground floor level, the kitchen appears to be an isolated, segregated element. However, once activated through daily domestic rituals, we become aware of its hyper-connectivity. It is both a place to rest and to go through. This double condition, static and dynamic, acquires real value when we are able to check that this same status is reproduced in other houses, despite a completely different formal definition. This article works with two tools. The first one, the original documentation of the project belonging to the O.M.A. archive in Rotterdam. The second one, drawing, leaving words aside, minimizing its presence. We want to propose a reflection that, beyond the specific theme, tries to develop mechanisms for researching, understanding and discussing inside our discipline, allowing us to take full advantage of our intrinsic training as designer architects.

The etymological origin of the word inhabit comes from the Latin habitare, frequentative of habere, “to have or possess repeatedly” and its meaning indicates the “habit” of staying in a place. From the beginning of the first industrial revolutions, technology increased the movements of individuals, reducing the permanence in space. These new circumstances have affected interpersonal relationships and the concept of home. In this new era, the ubiquity afforded by the digitization of belongings and processes, allows previously unimaginable activities to be carried out from the home, the purchase of all kinds of products, telecommuting, providing or receiving teaching, and also the possibility of doing so from anywhere else in the world. As a result of this, new domestic spaces emerge, the collaborative models Cohousing and Coliving, which appear to respond to new social profiles, such as the inhabitant and the digital nomad. The global mobility limitation, produced by the COVID-19, has evidenced the true sustainability of these new collaborative models. Given this reality, it is necessary to review it in support of the quality of life of its users, which is linked to reconnection with the environment and the consolidation of its community.

Devastations of architectural ensemble had often taken place in Rio de Janeiro’s Historic Center until the end of the 1970s. These traumatic transformations of the built environment erased urban memory, which undermined social groups’ resistance against unwanted projects. Cities are often the subject of photography, which is a powerful instrument to remember the past. Despite that, photographic books are rarely picked as sources of knowledge about cities and means to recover erased urban memories. In this sense, this work has studied the case of Claudio Bruni Sakraischik’s Rio que desaparece (1993) (“Vanishing Rio”) book to highlight this bibliographic genre potential. Its main goal is to verify whether the book could contribute to the urban memory erasure’s resistance. Sakraischik registered the transformation process by which Rio de Janeiro had been through in the 1970s as the City Hall implemented the subway system. The publication was analyzed beyond its photographs’ iconographic planes, articulating texts about the urban memory erasure, with other texts on the city history and the author’s writings and biography. It was verified that this photographic book provides starting points from which it is possible to access and reinforce memories regarding the built environment and its demolished architectural examples.

Cartographies, understood as a graphic interpretation of the territory, are one of the main tools to comprehend places and one of the starting points in the architectural project. Traditionally an element that gathered literal data as well as subjective data, since the late of the 20th century a split appeared between maps that brought out great amounts of geographic information, and the landscape depictions with a much more abstract interpretation. In contrast to raw cartography, both art and architecture have looked for creative processes that could recover the worths that can be drawn from the territory, to produce more substantial and more profound speeches. These displays were full of subjectivity and elements that talked about personal aspects of the artists and architects, which were relevant in their landscape reading. This article shows a journey through diverse ways of understanding and pictures the territory, where the works and projects are a reflection of the ability to read a place in different ways, depending on the perception, the culture, or even the personal experiences.

Fernand Léger’s painting coincided together intermittently with aspects of modern architecture such as the harmonious relationship between volumes, lines and colors. His choosing of the mural as opposed to easel painting allowed him to include factors like weight, contrast or chromatic balance in his work. He was of the opinion that all of these aspects, coupled with others of a more social nature, such as utility, should govern future artistic value, without forgetting to make the most of the successful experiences of the past. This article will analyze the evolution of his most synergetic creations in architecture, addressing both his thoughts as a prolific writer and the bringing to life of these thoughts in his painting. This double reading makes it easier, from a spatial approach, to identify elements of innovative architectural experimentation, such as the flexible wall, the elastic wall or the color associated with both constructive and vital characteristics, on relating them with their sensory and psychological effects. The aim will be to demonstrate, from a critical point of view if the understanding between the tripartite Wall-Architect-Painter, which he dedicated himself to, along with others, achieved the longed for integration of art or if, on the contrary, this symbiosis adversely affected the architecture that housed his work and pictorial creations in certain cases.