The imitation of landscape in contemporaneous architectural projects

El paisaje se configura, hoy en día, como una estructura de relaciones que el proyecto de arquitectura reconstruye, definiendo un marco de pertenencia histórico, cultural, ético y estético en el cual se enmarca y adquiere sentido e identidad el propio proyecto. El actual concepto de paisaje no posee la rigidez, estaticidad y perfección de la naturaleza pre-moderna cuando era uno de los modelos de imitación a seguir según el postulado aristotélico Ars imitatio naturae. La tesis de este artículo es que el proyecto arquitectónico es una acción o praxis que adquiere su principal motivación en un deseo de imitación racional, consciente y libre de determinados prototipos o referentes. Uno de ellos es el paisaje. El paisaje se configura en la actualidad como un referente analógico, emocional o figurativo para la arquitectura. En definitiva, es uno de los modelos de imitación utilizados durante el proceso de proyecto contemporáneo.At present, landscapes are configured as an array of relationships reconstructed by the architectural project. A historical, cultural, ethical and aesthetical ownership framework is defined, which frames the project itself, granting it meaning and identity. The current concept of landscape is not as rigid, static and perfected as the pre-modern nature, when it was one of the imitation models to be followed under the Aristotelian tenet: ars imitatio naturae. This work suggests that the architectural project is an action or praxis basically motivated by a rational, conscious, and free imitation desire of certain prototypes or models. One of these models is landscape. Currently, landscape emerges as an analogical, emotional or figurative model for architecture. Ultimately, it is one of the imitation models used during the contemporaneous project process

El paisaje como modelo de la arquitectura: una imitación contemporánea

La acción de proyectar en arquitectura se basa en utilizar modelos elegidos como referencia. Estos modelos pueden venir de la propia arquitectura o de artes como la escultura, la pintura, la música, la literatura, etc. Todas ellas proporcionan materiales para el proyecto de arquitectura. Este planteamiento lleva a una idea de proyecto arquitectónico como construcción de un nuevo orden a partir de elementos, ejemplos o prototipos verificados a lo largo del tiempo por medio de la experiencia. La praxis del proceso de proyecto está referida a una imitación consciente de modelos. La tesis de este trabajo es que el paisaje es uno de estos modelos. El paisaje se puede considerar un referente a imitar por el proyecto arquitectónico porque es un concepto que revela una realidad dinámica, orientada hacia el futuro. Los valores del paisaje, perfectos e imperfectos, producen un deseo racional de emularlo, de parecerse a él. En una renovada relación objeto-sujeto, el paisaje se propone como un tema primordial para el proyecto arquitectónico. Este artículo contextualiza y muestra en qué consiste esta nueva mímesis y por qué el paisaje provoca un deseo incoativo de imitación.The act of designing architecture is based on the use of various models chosen as referents. Such models may come from architecture itself or from the arts like sculpture, painting, music, literature, and so forth. They usually provide the components for architectural design. This stance leads to the notion of architectural design as the construction of a new order derived from elements, examples, or prototypes verified in time by virtue of experience. Thus, the praxis of the design process is mainly referred to as a conscious imitation of models. The thesis of this work is that landscape constitutes one of these models. Landscape should be considered a contemporary model for architectural imitation because it is a concept that reveals a dynamic reality oriented towards the future. The values of landscape produce a wish to emulate it, to assimilate it. In a renewed object–subject relationship, landscape proposes itself as a paramount issue for architectural design. This paper contextualizes and explains what comprises such renewed mimesis and why landscape is a subject that provokes a desire for active emulation in contemporary architecture

A cartography of al-Andalus’ landscape: Mapping settlements of Muslim agricultural colonization in Europe applying GIS techniques

This paper analyses the landscape defined by rural settlements, with Hispanic Muslim remnants built in a rammed-earth technique in a valley located in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. The aim of this work is to describe the different anthropic points of this particular medieval landscape to contextualize them in the historical literature and then to expose, alongside the methodological innovations applied, the main behavioural patterns found in the implantation of these establishments in order to categorize and classify them. This challenge involves using procedures that enable a macrospatial reading of the territory and measurement of the influence of landscape variables. In order to achieve this goal, an original and interdisciplinary method has been designed combining archaeological, historical, and architectural techniques alongside a multicriteria analysis developed in the geographic information systems setting. The findings provide significant knowledge about the ways in which the al-Andalus’ territory was populated, how the system of rural nodes worked, and the relationships between establishments and agricultural colonization, shedding new light on the complex palimpsest of landscape. A video component is available to introduce this landscape, which you can access by clicking on the image below (video 1).Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HAR2014-53866-RMinisterio de Defensa 130-1025