- Client
- Metrovacesa
- Location
- Sabadell, Spain
- Category
- Residential
- Moodboard
- In collaboration with Josefina Sierra Guzmán, Espacio 88
Architecture is not just about building from a concept. It also grows from the art of construction, both in relation to use and design, and to poetry and logic of materials. The Swiss architect Andrea Desplazes explains it this way: “Although architecture’s language doesn’t consist of sounds, words or texts, it has a material vocabulary (modules), a constructive grammar (elements) and a structural syntax (structures). They are the fundamental prerequisites, a kind of mechanics of architecture.”
To quote Desplazes, “architectural expression depends on its constructional composition”. Like for syntax and language, there is a logic and established set of rules and regulations behind construction. But these only start to make sense when they are connected to context and culture.
A NEUTRAL DESIGN HIDING A COMPLEX SYSTEM
Can Gambus is a large, white block of living units in Sabadell (Spain), translated into sixty contemporary and lively apartments, made to fit a wide spectrum of living. The building itself is simple and neutral, turning the fundamental element of its design into a collection of fine details. Great care is hidden underneath the walls of this efficient apartment building, installations (or veins), structure (or skeleton), tubes and wires (or blood), and functional system, together create a comfortable space for different kinds of families. The modesty of the building allows the user to make the space come to life.
THE MEANING OF “OFICIO”
Understanding details means understanding the materials we are working with. Before designing, we ordered 25 types of bricks in order to select a material that met both the budget and quality criteria. If each brick is like a word to our language, it is in this case a basic element of grammar. The fragments and the whole complement and influence each other in construction, which is what Desplazes was referring to.
In Spanish, architecture is often referred to as an “oficio”, a difficult word to translate. The idea of the “oficio” denotes something that is made manually, something we learn to do over time by trial and error, accumulating experience, experimenting with different kinds of material, and their process of production. Expertise comes from learning.
