LIGA 03: Jorge Ambrosi (Mex). Addition Substraction
Photography: Ramiro Chaves
Mies stated that the idea of an essential building came to him from the work of Hendrik P. Berlage and that anyone exercising the profession of architecture must assume this as a foundational idea. Because, even though talking about construction is easy, it is not so easy to stay true to its principles. As an intellectual construct, the conceptual basis of construction is the primitive expression of all architecture in its materiality and so provides a careful distance from the arbitrary imagination of an architectural form.
Hence, construction, structure, built architecture; the art of constructing and construction as an art. Construction is a primary action, filling the profession of an architect with strength and meaning. The work of Jorge Ambrosi anchors its expressivity in a thoughtful construction, where structure and rigorously selected materials interact by giving a balanced tectonic presence. His habitable environments speak through their explicit construction processes that fill them with resonances by leaving the imprint of a virtual carving (referring to the way in which they were collected) in their solid tectonic container. Concretes with evocative ligneous matrices, visible masonry, white leveled finishes, volcanic stone, marble, strongly-grained wood in contrast to the transparency of glass or liquid surfaces that join them. They create resonating spaces, inviting us to stay enveloped in their light, darkness, shadows and multiple reflections conjugated jointly in serene and intimate atmospheres.
All of this happens while remembering the impressive force of these buildings in their location. They are essential tectonic bodies: even in this vitreous or ligneous condition, their dense materiality underlines the changing atmosphere in which they, seemingly undisturbed, contemplate the passing of time. Let us challenge the architect and our imagination. Let us consider how time will manifest itself in them, and, how these heavy constructs will age, given the specific weight of their concrete, glass, porphyry, polished metals and hard woods.
[1] Peter Carter interviewing Mies van der Rohe (from Carter, Peter Mies van der Rohe at Work Praeger, New York, 1974).
