Ricardo L. Castro studio
Current design practices often focus, with a total lack of a critical attitude, on virtual representation. Architects responsible for place-making seem to have lost touch with one of the most important ingredients of their practice, material substance, which has been replaced by representations that when translated into space and form acquire the most banal overtones. Re-thinking the idea of a materiality that engages with our sentient body seems to be an urgent priority in contemporary architectural practice. By the same token, although active in everyday language, history as a living entity, both individually and socially, has increasingly been displaced from the critical sources that help shaping a design, whether a building, a landscape, a topography… We have forgotten to remember collectively, we have forgotten history. Yet the importance of memory cannot be overstated. Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce’s dictum that “all history is contemporary history” is more pressing now than ever before. Finally, the ideas of impermanence, humility, asymmetry, and imperfection, which the Japanese call “wabi-sabi” as it were, underscore the notion of evanescence. In Japan, this concept has informed and guided artists, designers, architects, writers, musicians, craftsmen, and philosophers since immemorial times. Wabi-sabi is an elusive idea but an important one in our present historical condition. It transcends frontiers and has full validity in contemporary design practice. Materiality, Memory, and Evanescence will be the three guiding principles of our design explorations this term.
No comments:
Post a Comment