The Material of the Built is a namesake collection of monographic books, promoted by Saint-Gobain, which was launched in 2015 with the aim of showcasing Argentine architecture. After traveling 13,000 km and holding more than 20 presentations at universities across the South American country, it now arrives in our territory as part of a traveling exhibition that includes 12 Catalan architecture studios. Its purpose is to understand the design process and the constructive development of an architectural work as an inseparable part of the creative process.
Two of these studios, Carles Enrich (Barcelona) and Un parell d’arquitectes (Olot), will present their own perspective. Another Future proposes a series of specific interventions in existing spaces that call for a new life. Residual, abandoned, or underused spaces that require a critical approach to propose temporary or emergency solutions with a clear intention of permanence. These are specific programs, yet conceived to be reused in the future, where the response always goes beyond the initial question. In this way, the environmental and urban conditions of the site are reactivated through the material management of what already exists and the insertion of small structures that, on one hand, facilitate the transformation of these fragile spaces, and on the other, are projected as future preexistences. Spaces where time is the true material of the built.
Time as a design strategy—from the urgency of action to the planning of the useful life of all elements. Time as an opportunity to intervene reversibly on the preexistent, understanding the insertions as a new layer that enables a sequential reading. Time as a condenser of history, recovering and learning from the past to build another future.
The collection, published by Bisman Ediciones (Buenos Aires) and Qut Ediciones (Barcelona), was initiated by Mariano Bó, CEO of Saint-Gobain and a leader in the industrial mortars manufacturing sector for construction.
