Narratives of Modern Architecture: learning at the intersection of cross-historical constructions

This paper presents the results of experimental course work in 2015 with secondyear students at IE School of Architecture and Design under the auspices of Culture and Theory in Architecture I. The subject of the course is History of Modern Architecture. Importantly, this is the first contact IE students have with theory and history of architecture. One of the goals was to allow students to understand that history is not a monolithic object that stands before us ready-made, but a set multiple constructions in narrative form, hence necessarily a representation: a collection of stories, instead only one history. To accomplish this goal, the students were instructed to write their own particular narrative of a significative moment (building, design, event) in modern architecture.Este artículo muestra los resultados obtenidos en la docencia del curso de Cultura y Teoria en Arquitectura I durante el año 2015 en IE School of Architecture and Design. Este curso es el primer contacto de los alumnos con la teoría y la historia de la arquitectura, y su contenido principal fue la historia de la arquitectura moderna. Uno de los objetivos del curso ha sido hacer comprender a los aumnos que la historia no es un objecto monolítico que se encuentra ahí delante de nosotros para poder observarlo, sino un conjunto de múltiples construcciones que necesariamente tiene la forma de una narración. Es por tanto una representación. Para conseguir esto, se pidió a los alumnos que escribieran su propia historia de un momento significativo (un edificio, un proyecto, un acontecimiento) de la arquitectura moderna

Monstrous Desires and Disinterested Appreciation: Architecture, Technique and Nature

Parece que en las últimas décadas la arquitectura ha comenzado finalmente a tener en cuenta el impacto que tanto su construcción como su puesta en funcionamiento tienen sobre el medio ambiente. Ello ha llevado a una transformación estética de la arquitectura para hacerla (parecer) más ecológica que se ha resuelto en gran medida mediante el uso extensivo de la técnica, incorporando y exhibiendo una batería de sistemas tecnológicos que buscan la máxima eficiencia, pero que sin embargo no atacan las raíces de la cuestión. Pues lo que en realidad hace falta es replantear en el origen las relaciones entre arquitectura, técnica y naturaleza, en busca de un comienzo alternativo. Este artículo propone en primer lugar un repaso a esta relación original, que de hecho es una relación contaminada desde el principio y condenada a su fracaso, aproximándose a su mito fundacional, el de Dédalo. A partir de ahí, se propondrán dos estrategias generales que la arquitectura puede ensayar para reconstruir, o al menos aliviar, esta difícil relación: una arquitectura de la visibilidad (y por tanto que sea crítica) y una arquitectura de la gratuidad (y que por tanto sea desinteresada). A ello seguirá un desarrollo más pormenorizado de las cuestiones en discusión, como la necesaria negociación hombre/arquitectura y naturaleza, las cuestiones relacionadas con el uso retórico de las tecnologías verdes, las demandas que estas estrategias de visibilidad y gratuidad implican y las relaciones entre physis y techne, para terminar con la cuestión del desinterés desde una óptica kantiana. Las breves conclusiones finales nos devolverán al punto en que se reconsidera, en vez de un origen para la arquitectura que impone una relación técnica (de explotación) con la naturaleza, un posible origen estético que imponga, en cambio, una relación desinteresada con la misma.It seems that in the last decades architecture has finally become aware of the impact the demands of its construction and of its maintenance and operation have on the environment. The demands for architecture of being green or becoming ecological have been answered mostly through an enhanced use of technology, through a technical deployment of a multiplicity of systems and gadgets that try to achieve a better performance, or in other words, a better efficiency, but not by addressing the roots of the question. Henceforth, this increase in the use of technology is covering the fact that what architecture needs to do for being green is not to promote the use of technology, but to rethink its original relation with technique and nature. This paper will propose in the first place a brief survey of this original and tainted relation between architecture, technique and nature, to show how and why this relation was condemned since the beginning. Then, I will propose in the first place two strategies to fight this original misunderstanding: an architecture of visibility, which should be a critical one, and an architecture of gratuity, that should necessarily be a disinterested one. It will follow a review of some of the questions already mentioned with more detail, addressing the question of a necessary negotiation with nature, the issues posed by the rhetorical use of green technology, the demands of transparency and gratuity in architecture, the relations between physis and techne, and the important question of disinterest through the lens of Kantian aesthetics. In a final and short conclusion I will propose, instead of a technical substratum for the relations between architecture and nature, an aesthetical one, that can anticipate a relation between man and nature based in disinterest instead of extraction and domination

Richard Neutra : un lugar para el orden

La tesis trata de investigar la obra de Richard Neutra desde una perspectiva cultural amplia, que incluya fundamentalmente filosofía y antropología. Se estudia una aquitectura cradora y desveladora de orden. Los capítulos en que se divide la tesis sonlos siguientes. Introducción un lugar para el orden Cap.I El hombre en el mundo Cap.II Angulo recto y forma natural Cap. III máquina en el jardín Cap. IV transiciones y umbrales Cap. V de la casa y el lugar Cap. VI acerca de la percepción, lo concreto y la -- Cap. VII estructura o el orden construido Además un apéndice gráfico y una bibliografia

Un jardín rocoso. Cinco estampas de Ryōan-ji

[EN] Five (woodblock) prints of Ryōan-ji presents five approaches to the famous dry garden located in the homonymous temple in Kyoto. The aim has been to explore through them different peculiarities of this garden, and by extension, of Japanese dry gardens of Zen inspiration. The fields explored include narrative (Kawabata), music (Cage and Takemitsu), cinema (Ozu, Iimura) and architecture (Isozaki and Mies, in passing). The main intention has not been to give a unitary vison of Ryōan-ji. Instead, like the dazzle at the end of a haiku, I tried to build a mechanism of partial enlightenments, to show, at least partially, its complex essence. A mechanism which, simultaneously, sheds light on the narrative, the music and the architecture presented. The real protagonist of the text is the particular spatiality that this garden brings to life and the temporality that goes along with it; but also the constant correspondences of the play of traces and possible meanings disseminated across the different media.[ES] Cinco estampas de Ryōan-ji son cinco aproximaciones al famoso jardín seco emplazado en el templo del mismo nombre en Kioto. Se ha buscado a través de ellas explorar distintas particularidades de este jardín y, por extensión, de los jardines secos japoneses de inspiración Zen desde distintos medios: la narrativa (Kawabata), la música (Cage y Takemitsu), el cine (Ozu, Iimura), la arquitectura (Isozaki y Mies, tangencialmente). No se ha pretendido ofrecer una visión unitaria de Ryōan-ji, antes bien, como el deslumbramiento en el verso final de un haiku, se ha querido construir un mecanismo de iluminaciones parciales que muestre, al menos, parte de su compleja esencia; pero que también ilumine simultáneamente la narrativa, las músicas o la arquitectura que se presenta. El protagonista real del texto es la muy particular espacialidad que pone en marcha este jardín (y la temporalidad que lo acompaña), así como el constante reenvío en el juego de huellas de sus (posibles) significados, que se diseminan en los distintos medios.Vela Castillo, J. (2020). A Rocky garden. Five (Woodblock) Prints of Ryōan-ji. VLC arquitectura. Research Journal. 7(1):33-63. https://doi.org/10.4995/vlc.2020.10901OJS336371Burt, Peter. The Music of Toru Takemitsu. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511518331Cage, John. "Ryoanji." http://johncage.org/pp/John-Cage-Work-Detail.cfm?work_ID=165, retrieved August 20th, 2017.Charles, Daniel. "Bringing The Ryōan-ji To The Screen." http://www.takaiimura.com/review/DC.html, retrieved August 20th, 2017.Coaldrake, William H. Architecture and Authority in Japan. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.Derrida, Jacques. On Grammatology. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press, 1974.Derrida, Jacques. De la gramatología. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2008.Gras Balaguer, Menene, ed. El jardín japonés. Qué es y no es entre la espacialidad y la temporalidad del paisaje. Madrid: Tecnos, 2015.Gye, Henry. "Analysis of Takemitsu's, A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden." https://rhagye.com/2013/11/03/analysis-of-takemitsus-a-flock-descends-into-the-pentagonal-garden/, retrieved August 20th, 2017.Iimura, Takahiko, "MA: Space/Time in the Garden of Ryoan-Ji," film 16 mm, 1989.Iimura, Takahiko. "A Note for 'MA: Space/Time in the Garden of Ryōan-ji.'" http://www.takaiimura.com/review/noteforma.html, retrieved August 26th, 2017.Iliescu, Mihu. "Glissandi and Traces. A Study of the Relationship Between Musical and Extra-Musical Fields." In Definitive Proceedings of the "International Symposium Iannis Xenakis," edited by Makis Solomos, Anastasia Georgaki and Giorgos Zervos. Athens, 2005. https://www.iannis-xenakis.org/Articles/Iliescu.pdf, retrieved August 26th, 2017.Isozaki, Arata. Ma, Space-Time in Japan. New York: Cooper-Hewitt Museum, 1979.Isozaki, Arata. Japan-ness in Architecture. Cambridge, Mass and London: MIT Press, 2006.Kawabata, Yasunari. Beauty and Sadness. London: Penguin, 2011.Keene, Donald. Five Modern Japanese Novelists. New York and Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2003.Komparu, Kunio. The Nō Theatre: Principles and Perspectives. Tokyo and New York: Weatherhill/Tankosha, 1983.Martínez García-Posada, Ángel. "Entre piedras y lugares. Traslaciones, cartografías, figuraciones y abstracciones." REIA, no. 9 (2017): 65-81.Mostow, Joshua S., ed. The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. New York and Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2003. https://doi.org/10.7312/most11314Nitschke, Gunther. From Shinto to Ando. Studies in Architectural Anthropology in Japan. London: Academy Editons, 1993.Nitschke, Gunther. Japanese Gardens. Cologne: Taschen, 1993.Papapetros, Spiros. "'In tangent with the structure of plant growth.' The resilient margins of the Barcelona Pavilion." In Mies Van der Rohe. Barcelona 1929, edited by Joana Teixidor and Llorenç Bonet, 125-159. Barcelona: Tenov, 2017.Pilgrim, Richard B. "Intervals ("Ma") in Space and Time: Foundations for a Religio-Aesthetic Paradigm in Japan." History of Religions 25, no. 3 (February 1986): 255-277. https://doi.org/10.1086/463043Takemitsu, Toru. Confronting Silence. Selected Writings. Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1995.Vela Castillo, José. "Escribir la arquitectura - Kawabata Yasunari." REIA, no. 10 (2018): 105-212.Washburn, Dennis. Translating Mount Fuji. Modern Japanese Fiction and the Ethics of Identity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.Zapperi, Giovanna. "Marcel Duchamp's 'Tonsure': Towards an Alternate Masculinity." Oxford Art Journal 30, no. 2 (June 2007): 289-303. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/kcm009Zwerin, Charlotte. Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu (DVD). West Long Branch, N.J: 1994

There is no Outside of Subjectivization, or Architecture in the Act of Becoming

Reseña 4: reseña libro. * Simone Brott, Architecture for a Free Subjectivity: Deleuze and Guattari at the Horizon of the Real (Ashgate, 2011) There Is No Outside of Subjectivization, or Architecture in the Act of BecomingPeer Reviewe

Ruminations on place: the rule and the model (in Eduardo Chillida). Igeldotik Zabalagara

Este texto busca aproximarse a la obra escultórica de Eduardo Chillida desde un doble presupuesto. De una parte, se afirma que la escultura de Chillida construye lugares, lo que se argumenta explorando el significado de la palabra lugar y confrontándolo al más genérico de la palabra espacio. De otra, se propone que existe una íntima relación entre los conceptos de regla, modelo y paradigma y la propia escultura como construcción singular. La conclusión viene a ser que cada escultura de Chillida, especialmente aquellas en lugares abiertos como el Peine del viento o las que se encuentran en Chillida-Leku (pero no solo), se proponen como un cierto paradigma que, en cada caso, da lugar al lugar.The present text approaches the work of sculptor Eduardo Chillida from a two folded point of view. On one hand, it states that the sculpture of Chillida builds places, which is argued through the exploration of the meaning of words place and space. On the other hand, it points to the close relationship that can be found between the concepts of rule, model and paradigm and the singular work of sculpture. Both threads lead to the final conclusion: the sculptures of Chillida, especially the ones in open spaces like the Peine del viento or those in Chillida-Leku, propose themselves as a paradigm that, in each particular situation, give place to the place

Example gives the rule: figures of sense in the design studio teaching

Lógica doble de la ejemplaridad: un ejemplo es siempre, y a la vez, un ejemplo, único y singular, un ejemplar, y un ejemplo a imitar, repetible y múltiple, ejemplar. Una regla que se da en la singularidad de lo particular pero que no obstante se da a su vez como regla a otras ingularidades. Fruto de una investigación en marcha comenzada hace tiempo sobre las figuras de sentido en la docencia de proyectos arquitectónicos, se presenta aquí una reflexión sobre la cuestión del modelo o paradigma como proyecto de arquitectura. Una serie de figuras ejemplares extraídas de la docencia, articularán esta investigación en su parte más pragmática. Estas figuras, a su vez, funcionan como ejemplos de una lógica paradigmática que busca iluminar, en las articulaciones entre regla y modelo, no solo un panorama docente, proyectual y arquitectónico sino lo que Giorgio Agamben llama “un contexto histórico-problemático más vasto”.Two folded logic of exemplarity: an example, being precisely an example, is always singular and unique: exemplar; and at the same time an example is always an example to imitate, repeatable and multiple, many examples to follow: exemplary. This paper presents some partial results of an ongoing investigation undertaken by the author that tries to uncover the figures of sense forged in the design studio teaching. The paper will propose some examples of this logic that stems from the design studio workshop. Of course, those examples, in turn, exemplify the paradigmatical logic that they try to illuminate, a logic in between the subtle articulations that link both rule and model, a logic that ultimately throws light into what Giorgio Agamben calls “a broader historical-problematic context”

El módulo y el sistema: celosías funcionales en el complejo de la Hidrola en Escombreras

This paper presents a detailed analysis of a building as unique as it is unknown or forgotten: the thermal power station built by Hidroeléctrica Española in Escombreras, Cartagena, in the mid-1950s, designed by the architect Fernando Urrutia and the engineer Carlos Jaureguizar. And it does so from a double point of view: on the one hand, by contextualising the building within the industrial and architectural context of the time, to which it responds with a perfect modernity that is at the same time pragmatic and monumental. On the other hand, by focusing on a meticulous constructive, geometric and aesthetic analysis of perhaps its most unique element, the very ingenious functional grid (as the architect calls it) that defines its facades with a prefabricated modular skin that gives it a unique personality and a disturbing contemporaneity.Este artículo presenta un detallado análisis de un edificio tan singular como prematuramente olvidado: la Central térmica que Hidroeléctrica Española construye en Escombreras, Cartagena, a mediados de los años cincuenta, bajo proyecto del arquitecto Fernando Urrutia y el ingeniero Carlos Jaureguizar. Y lo hace desde un doble punto de vista: de una parte, contextualiza el edificio en el marco industrial y arquitectónico del momento, al que ofrece una respuesta de una perfecta modernidad, a la vez pragmática y monumental, que debe ser puesta en valor. De otra, centrándose en un meticuloso análisis constructivo, geométrico y estético de, quizás, su elemento más singular, la muy ingeniosa celosía funcional (así la denomina el arquitecto) que construye sus fachadas mediante una piel modular prefabricada y que la dota de una personalidad única y de una contemporaneidad inquietante

Genomic, serologic, and clinical case-control study of Chlamydia pneumoniae and peripheral artery occlusive disease

Objectives: Chlamydia pneumoniae has been related to atherosclerotic disease in both seroepidemiologic and genomic studies. We performed a case-control study to determine seropositivity and DNA detection in arteries of patients with peripheral artery occlusive disease and of healthy subjects. Methods: The study included 64 patients with peripheral artery occlusive disease, and 50 control subjects who underwent varicose vein surgery, matched to the patient group for age, sex, and tobacco use. The fibrinogen level in all study subjects was measured as a marker of inflammation. Blood samples were taken from all subjects for determination of immuno- globulin (Ig) G elementary bodies (EB) against C pneumoniae with microimmunofluorescence (MIF) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and of IgA EB with ELISA. The cutoff titers were 1:32 for MIF and 1.1 for ELISA. Biopsy specimens of arterial atheromatous plaque were obtained from patients, and of pudendal artery and saphenous vein from control subjects, and were studied with hemi-nested polymerase chain reaction. Results: There were no differences in fibrinogen level between patients and controls. The prevalence of IgG anti-EB with MIF was 78% in patients and 24% in control subjects (P .0001; odds ratio [OR], 11.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.7-27.2). Prevalence of IgG anti-EB with ELISA was 75% in patients and 16% in control subjects (P .0001; OR, 15.7; 95% CI, 6.1-40). There were no differences in IgA anti-EB titers. Bacterial DNA was detected in 67% of atheromatous plaques versus 12% of pudendal arteries (P .0001) and 4% of saphenous veins. A weak correlation was found between seropositivity and the presence of intravascular DNA. Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that C pneumoniae is related to the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic peripheral artery occlusive diseas

Torymus sinensis Kamijo, a biocontrol agent against the invasive chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu in Spain: its natural dispersal from France and first data on establishment after experimental releases

Aim of study: The globally invasive gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 (Cynipidae: Cynipini), reached Spain seven years ago and is already regarded as an important pest of chestnuts (Castanea spp.) in this country as well as worldwide. In this paper, we present comprehensive data on the establishment in Spain of Torymus sinensis Kamijo, 1982 (Chalcidoidea: Torymidae), an effective non-native natural enemy of this pest, as a result of both natural dispersal and settlement after controlled releases since 2015. Area of study: Sites of the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Basque Country, Catalonia, Andalusia and Madrid where D. kuriphilus is present. Material and methods: To study the natural dispersal of T. sinensis from France, we selected two sampling sites in Catalonia, six in the Basque Country and two in Navarra known for their heavy Asian chestnut gall wasp (ACGW) infestation; to study T. sinensis establishment after authorized controlled releases by the concerned authorities, the field samplings were done mainly in Galicia (35 sites) and Andalusia (8 sites). Additionally an experimental release study was made in Madrid. Main Results: Our results showed that T. sinensis has spread throughout Spain by natural dispersal across the French border and now occurs in Catalonia (two sites), the Basque Country (three sites) and Navarra (one site) but not in the neighbouring region of Cantabria. The percentage of parasitism by T. sinensis on D. kuriphilus is higher in the Basque Country sites, which are close to the French border, thus indicating that its establishment in these localities is not recent. After controlled releases, T. sinensis has been successfully established in five release sites in Andalusia (Valle del Genal and Sierra Blanca, Málaga Province) and one release site in Madrid. However, in the region of Galicia (NW Spain), where the number of authorized releases has been higher, the establishment of T. sinensis still appears to be very low. Research highlights: Established populations of T. sinensis may exert a positive buffer against D. kuriphilus-driven chestnut infestation in Spain, similar to what is observed in other invaded European countries.This study was financed by an Encomienda de Gestión from MAPAMA to Agencia Estatal CSIC, 16MNES003 awarded to JLNA, DGT, MJL and CP, and by project AGL2016-76262-R (AEI/FEDER, UE) awarded to MJL and JLNA. JRB, JMV, MEW and OG were supported by project PP.PEI.IDF201601.4 de Demanda Institucional from CMAOT to the public research Institution IFAPA. CP was funded by a post-doctoral contract from the Universidad de Castilla-La ManchaS