Posts

Conscious living.

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The Vitruvian triad, “firmitas, utilitas, venustas”. It is incredible how these ancient principles can define the architecture of all times. It is the responsibility of architects to accomplish this triad, this must be guaranteed. Having a space to build is more complicated and scarcer , especially for those who need it most. The right to DECENT HOUSING , written like this, seems easy, but there is a lot behind it. Luckily, I am not a politician and the truth is that I would burn everything down if I were (figuratively speaking). What is also the responsibility of architects is the adjective DIGNIFIED . What is decent housing? If we get specific, we can explain what the CTE says, which is of course based on logical and functional concepts. I repeat the question to myself and will try to answer it from my perspective. Light, the act of letting light into spaces makes us human, confirms that we have a thinking brain. Thanks to Edison we can have artificial light, but it is an artifice, ...

The art of doing NOTHING.

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  It is more difficult to be silent than to speak. It's harder to empty than to fill. It is more difficult not to be than to be. In architecture we have a desire to do and when we are entrusted with a project, we instinctively want to do something. Running to show how valuable we are and how much we know. What to do when it is better to do nothing? When we got the project for the intervention of an emblematic restaurant in Barcelona, the conflict was served. By chance we got “Il Giardinetto” and as a reference a house by “Lacatón & Vasal”. The doing, nothing. The project idea was to implement a feature of L&V's “Latapie House” in “Il Giardinetto”. A house for the chefs above the restaurant seemed great to us. What did we do with the restaurant? Deconstruct and do or do nothing? Let's go to Bordeaux in 1996 where L&V was commissioned to remodel a square (plaza), do you know what the architects did? After talking with the neighbors and analyzing how the square wor...

The structuring vacuum.

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In art, as well as in life, we need " vacuums " that can be times of reflection, analysis or assimilation. We can imagine, for example, “Toccata and Fugue” by J. S. Bach, we will immediately realize the importance of silences. Between silences and notes the piece is structured; between empty and full, architecture and city are created, in fact, we inhabit the contained vacuum. What happens when this in architecture is not considered? I take the license to criticize those architects who have their checklist and forget about beauty. They simplify architecture to a harshly technical discipline like an automaton artificial intelligence program would. Where is all that feeling that the architect must put to their work? Artificial intelligence may write poetry, in the future, who knows, but for the moment let us design those four facades with a bit of art and humanity. Let us give that interior space a certain dignity. For that architect who complies only with the square meters and...

Mathematics in the arts.

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Intelligence is propelled by the engines of creativity, originality and imagination. It is the ability to imagine, recreate fictions, beautify paradises or hells. Necessity and creativity are the main sources for the development of the brain and the tools that have accompanied us for this century. The greatness of the human is shown through the concatenation of ideas and concepts in the world of imagination and then their materialization by current means. Intelligence is propelled by the engines of creativity, originality and imagination. It is the ability to imagine, recreate fictions, beautify paradises or hells. Necessity and creativity are the main sources for the development of the brain and the tools that have accompanied us for this century. The greatness of the human is shown through the concatenation of ideas and concepts in the world of imagination and then their materialization by current means. Let's look back a bit, in the field of graphic arts and looking for a histor...

Reinforced concrete

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Gravel, sand, cement, water and corrugated steel bars, is roughly what is contained in reinforced concrete. It withstands compression, traction and bending forces, is resistant, exceptionally durable and with sober character. [Sounds like great qualities for a boyfriend] The gardener, Charles Monnier, used wire mesh for his pots in 1868 and then in the field of architecture in the 1890s Ernest L. Ransome and François Hennebique used this novel material. Thanks to this material it was possible for architecture to take a leap towards modernity. Continuing in time, the house built by Perret at 25 Rue Frnaklin is another example of how with the use of this material it is possible to leave the plant flexible in addition to creating an innovative-looking facade. Auguste Perret found inspiration in reinforced concrete. These earlier uses of concrete gave Le Corbusier an impetus for his work. Yes, we must talk a little about Le Corbusier. The architecture of the promenade, movement, rotati...

Parametric design

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Fiction or reality? Fiction must be a credible lie. When creativity and knowledge come together, these fictional realities can be created. In nature there are thousands of references that seem idyllic and unreal. Technology brings us closer to nature. How could this have happened? Parametric design: the creation of shapes through parameters that determine different characteristics of said shape. They can be easily modified thanks to computer programs. Thus, obtaining incredible creations often associated with nature. Explain: let's imagine the repeat shape of a honeycomb. It is an hexagon, inscribed or circumscribed in a circle. One parameter would be the radius, as the radius varies, the size varies in the plane. Now let's add the parameter "z" let's say it is the height and add the thickness. These three parameters modify the shape of the hexagon. If you have mentally been able to enlarge the hexagon as in a fairground mirror (scale in all its parameters) I ...

School-ing. Corona Renderer

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A few years ago, I used 3d Max , at first, with the Mental Ray render engine and then about 7 years ago I started working in an infographics office and met Corona Renderer. What seduced me about this CPU rendering engine were: how fast it was to configure and how easy or intuitively it works. Until now, like almost everyone in this world, I had seen the tutorials of AdánMartín or those of Corona's own YouTube . Back then, seeing some of these Adán tutorials, I realized that this great human encyclopaedia on visualization programs and render engines has a School!! It is called “School-ing” and within their courses they have “Project Development with Corona Renderer”. That course is taught by another great, Pedro Jesús Caballero . The school is in Madrid for the most extensive face-to-face courses, but there are many online options. What attracted me most about this course is the quality of the “Black Bone” project, since I am trying my luck alone creating my own business re...