Marcus Donaghy, Will Dimond
Here is a study of the exoskeletal field of the roof as a trope in the work of Vilanova Artigas, collaborating here with Carlos Cascaldi: a catchment, a perforate datum draining, sheltering, shading, and modulating light above, while the free-flowing topography of inhabited ground, activities and landscape is played out beneath. Vilanova Artigas creates a grove under and into which accommodation wanders in section. The plan is a counterpoint to the serial structure whose order filters elements and enmeshes gardens to liberate a FREESPACE within its span and backspan. Vilanova Artigas conceived social infrastructure from Paulista and communist perspectives, drawing upon his initial training in engineering and early practice in architecture. These strands are evident in the nature of space made through structure in relation to a communal idea of society.
The process of study is material, testing the equation of weight and its distribution, matter and its myriad qualities in relation to light and air, through which space is charged. Vilanova Artigas stands out as an architect who embraced raw material qualities, whose presence in articulate structures creates FREESPACE in concert with the ground on which they bear.
The exhibit is an étude, seeking to echo and make manifest those qualities to which the architect gave concrete expression in his work.
Donaghy + Dimond Architects