Experimenting with Concrete Models: More Mass Doesn't Mean Less Light

The contact between hands and models should never be lost. Going into this experience provokes silence, forcing us to think about the care that goes into concrete models. Few words are needed, as models often tell us everything we need to know through the beauty and simplicity that goes into their creation and the importance of the manual process in an architect's work. 

Experimenting with Concrete Models: More Mass Doesn't Mean Less Light - More Images+ 43

National Museum_2. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Text by Enrique Llatas:

For my father, who's taught me to work with my hands since I was a child.

Monumental Venice_2. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Native

My father was a military man and, because of this, I had the opportunity to live in different cities throughout Peru. My curiosity was always sparked by the potters going about their work in the streets of Ayacucho, Arequipa, Andahuaylas, and Puno, making their sculptures of mud, stone, plaster, and cement--true art forms that could be found throughout the city streets. 

Yabar┬┤s House_1. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
Yabar┬┤s House_4. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Once in architecture school, I remember finding great, heavy blocks of perforated concrete, almost impossible to transport; however, the closer I got to them, I found myself in one of the most marvelous spaces that I had ever experienced up to that point. 

Primitivo_1. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
Primitivo_3. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Work

Greater mass doesn't mean less light. Upon finishing school, we began to experiment with different materials to be able to express our ideas, working with everything from metallic mesh and fabric, to armed concrete. In that moment, the big question that we asked ourselves was whether or not we could transmit the same method and building environment of an actual project to a smaller model, a mock-up. 

Andenes┬┤s house_3. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
Andenes┬┤s house_5. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Artisan

In his book "The Artisan," Richard Sennett tells us that to do is to think. Practice and experimentation always generate new knowledge and the architect is always on the learning path. From books like Alberto Campo Baeza's "Thinking with the Hands" to Juhani Pallasmaa's "The Hand that Thinks," humans are constantly at work expressing ideas with handmade creations. 

Dramatic Art Center_2. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
Dramatic Art Center_5. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Concrete

You create a framework, you add metallic mesh, you prepare a mixture of cement, sand, ochre, and water, and you begin casting. You blend your mixture so as not to generate bubbles in its interior. You fill the mold, you let it dry, you take it out, you throw water on it, and your work is ready.

PROCESS. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
UTEC university_2. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

Nostalgia

You remember those moments of trying time and time again to build a castle on the beach by mixing sand and water. These memories stay with you, much like when you create your first model.

National Museum_8. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
3N1_9. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

The architect who created this text and models is the founder of LLATAS. Check his work here.

Maquetas. Image Courtesy of LLATAS
Office models. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

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About this author
Cite: Bayona, Delia. "Experimenting with Concrete Models: More Mass Doesn't Mean Less Light" 21 Oct 2018. ArchDaily. (Trans. Johnson, Maggie) Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/904070/experimenting-with-concrete-models-more-mass-doesnt-mean-less-light> ISSN 0719-8884

Dramatic Art Center_1. Image Courtesy of LLATAS

混凝土手工模型制作,“多”并非“重”

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