1934. Ingresa a la Facultad de Arquitectura de la Universidad Católica de Chile. 1950. Formulación de “Observación Arquitectónica”, conjunción de dibujos y textos tomados directamente del acontecer de la ciudad. 1952. Conformación de un lugar para la relación Poesía–Arquitectura. Se traslada a la Universidad Católica de Valparaíso para formar el Instituto de Arquitectura, junto al poeta Godofredo Iommi, el escultor Claudio Girola y los arquitectos Miguel Eyquem, Francisco Méndez, Jaime Bellalta, José Vial, Fabio Cruz y Arturo Baeza. El Instituto se caracteriza por su apertura a la universalidad de los saberes y como espacio de reflexión e investigación para la creación arquitectónica: la observación “del acto y la forma”. 1960. Concepción grupal de “Amereida”: el poema de la destinación del ser americano. 1965. Realización de la primera travesía de Amereida, viaje por el continente americano que tuvo como fin concebir una ética propia, integrando en dicho discurrir a poetas, filósofos, pintores y escultores chilenos, argentinos y europeos. 1970. Concreción de la travesía de Amereida en la fundación de la Ciudad Abierta- Amereida, ubicada en Ritoque, Valparaíso. En ella se postula la igualdad de los oficios en la unidad de Vida, Trabajo y Estudio. 1967. Propicia un movimiento para la reorganización universitaria, a partir del cual, entre otras consecuencias, se funda en Instituto de Arte de la Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. 1975. Recibe el Premio Nacional de Arquitectura, otorgado por el Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile. 1984. Formulación de los “Originales” de América, textos de los distintos quehaceres que abren nuevas elaboraciones de la tradición creativa. El primero de ellos es Amereida y la realización de las “Obras de Travesías” como parte del plan de estudios de los talleres de la Escuela de Arquitectura. También el estudio de los “algoritmos” matemáticos, la “Santidad de la Obra” (el fin de la obra como ofrenda a Dios) y los “Diálogos” de Platón. 2000. Recapitulación de su pensamiento arquitectónico en el libro “Don – Arquitectura”. 2004. Libro “Amereida - Palladio, Carta a los Arquitectos Europeos”, en colaboración con Bruno Barla. 2010. Libro “El Acto Arquitectónico”, estudio referido a la observación en la arquitectura. 1934. Starts studies at the College of Architecture at the Catholic University of Chile. 1950. Formulation of “Architectural Observation”, a combination of drawings and writings taken directly from happenings in the city. 1952. Formation of a place for the relationship Poetry-Architecture. He moved to the Catholic University of Valparaíso to form the Institute of Architecture, together with the poet Godofredo Iommi, the sculptor Claudio Girola and architects Miguel Eyquem, Francisco Méndez, Jaime Bellalta, José Vial, Fabio Cruz and Arturo Baeza. The Institute is characterized by its openness to the universality of knowledge, and as being a space for reflection and research of architectural design: the observation “of the act and the form”. 1960. Group conception of “Amereida”: the poem of the destination of the American being. 1965. Realization of the first Amereida journey, travels on the American continent that was aimed at designing its own ethics, integrating into the discourse Chilean, Argentine and European poets, philosophers, painters and sculptors. 1970. Completion of the crossing of Amereida in the foundation of the Amereida Open City, located in Ritoque, Valparaiso. It postulates the equality of the trades in the unity of Life, Work and Study. 1967. Causes a movement to reorganize the university from which, amongst other consequences, is based the Art Institute of the Catholic University of Valparaiso. 1975. Receives the National Architecture Prize, granted by the Institute of Architects of Chile. 1984. Formulation of the “Originals” of America, texts of the various tasks that open new preparations of the creative tradition. The first one is Amereida and the realization of the “Works of Crossings” as part of the study curriculum of the studios of the College of Architecture. Also the study of mathematic “algorithms“, the “Sanctity of Work“ (the end of the work as an offering to God) and “Dialogues“ of Plato. 2000. Summary of his architectural thought in the book “Don - Arquitectura”. 2004. Book “Amereida - Palladio, Letter to the European Architects”, in collaboration with Bruno Barla. 2010. Book “The Architectural Act”, study referring to the observation in architecture.
INTRODUCTION
By Tomás Browne Covarrubias
The language of manifest is common to the artistic vanguards of the 20 th century. To site some: “It is necessary to be completely modern” by the poet A. Rimbaud, “All past and present paintings, before the suprematism (sculpture, verbal art, music), have been enslaved by the form of nature and hopes for its liberation in order to speak in its own language and not to depend on reason, sense, logic, philosophy, psychology, different causality laws and technical changes of life”, from de K. Malevvitch (in from Cubism to Suprematism, published in 1915); or “architecture must be considered as a plastic unit constituted by all the arts, by industry and by the technique that gives origin to the appearance of a new balance”, of the neo-plastic manifesto; and, finally, “architecture is the wise, correct and magnificent game of the volumes under the light”, of Le Corbusier, amongst several definitions. Alberto Cruz Covarrubias’ quote referring to architecture as “oriented extension that accommodates” proposes another reality in terms of sense and content than that which is expressed in the texts of the cited manifests. Its strength is not in the statement of a transforming “equation” of doing in the world, but in the power to open an inclusive field to interpret every time in each work. In this sense, “extension” is the mode of determining and conceiving architectural space from the idea of “size”. Space is not a neutral operations field with no dimension; on the contrary, it’s a set of relations that arise from the observation of men’s living. This is what the architect points out: - “When our own body, in the dark, between asleep and awake, with a strong snore –those that escape from us from birth– we hear a rooster that makes us soon hear another one, then more, and others more tenuous, until conforming a type of compact fund of inaudible roosters, the space is only posture, extension without sizes still . - Then, once more, we find ourselves with those light smiles of some inhabitants of Valparaíso that there in the viewing points remain before the sunset. And when the clouds disappear they foresee that the soul of the landscape or the soul of nature coincide with their own. Thus the smiles. The space is now mood states. There are sizes, but they are variable . - We are very aware of an explanation that someone writes on the blackboard, but we remain on the side and we show it conforming to a violent foreshortening. However, we have the letters as if we saw them rounded and even so, its internal spaces are not reduced. Sizes are deformable . - We go to the seaside; a star descends; we are absolutely bored. One starts to talk about this and that, and that the stars have five points to flag at the shields together with animals, feathers, garlands or on the prows of boats, the chimneys of ships. It is the combination. The combination of a woman and a fish: a mermaid. The combination suspends –to combine sizes. Sizes suspended from the flowers separated from its plants to be intermediaries between landscape, city, house and our body, between us –let us say– and the world. Combined and intermediate: size suspension . - Just like in the mirror of a bus a space that decreases becomes possible, it would be said geometrically and inverted in right-left. And since we are in the kingdom of the possible maybe this or another case comes to make possible the possibility of an anti-size . And thus we leave the sizes. Its limit. However, the act of habiting is according to these five size modes. We inhabit according to these simultaneous five modes. We can say that they constitute the space. The important thing is that these modes of sizes are irreducible to one another. Therefore, space would come to designate the set of these five irreducibles. This in turn means that the word space would appoint both overall and at each of its irreducibles”. (2)
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