Angela Garcia de Paredes; Ignacio G. Pedrosa
These architects have responded to the theme of FREESPACE by focusing on the section – the architectural tool which explores the spatial form, the height and depth of the volume to be created, which in their words is “to be occupied by light, by time or by sound, key design tools in our daily practice”.
The exhibits appear like instruments used to determine the measure, the scale, the surface quality of the spaces to come. There is a sense of sculpting, of manipulating space, and in their projects the architects seek to use freespace as the void that links rather than separates. “FREESPACE is dominated by the material of the horizontal plane [we presume they are referring to the floor] and by the spiritual of the vertical dimension”.
This approach to work reminds us of the statement by Alejandro de la Sota, “architects should make as much nothing as possible”. We understand this idea of “nothing” as being the in-between spaces, the spaces not determined by need, the spaces which act as the cartilage that holds everything together, what Alison and Peter Smithson describe as “the charged void”. The sophisticated body of work produced by these architects is a testament to their exemplary skill as space makers.
YF+SMcN