Construir para habitar. Naturaleza y técnica en la arquitectura de Alejandro de la Sota

Abstract

Alike José Ortega y Gasset´s definition of Technique as 'the effort to save effort', Alejandro de la Sota's sense of Technique in architecture consists in that effort before action that allows to overcome incoming circumstance difficulties and obstacles. Considering Nature as a ‘circumstance’ (climate, orography, etc.), Technique turns out to be the mediating tool between human being and a Nature that does not favor inhabiting. Since the second half of the 1950s, his architecture shows its will to emerge from the interpretation and modification of a reality imposed by Nature, taking advantage of the Technique possibilities. The review of three projects made between 1957 and 1984, shows the author´s tenacity and intellectual coherence, and his will to achieve beauty from the constructive truth in various ways: ground modifying and work organization in the case of the Children's Residence in Miraflores de la Sierra; using precast concrete panels solving at once, both the structure and the enclosure of Varela House, or accepting the panel formats determined by the manufacturer of the panels Sheet metal 'sandwich' in the Alcudia houses.

Keywords

• alejandro de la sota
• nature
• technique
• possibility
• truth
• inhabit