lack of imagination. Because despite what we have and know, we are not capable of imagining processes that can become instruments to satisfy the protective needs of a humanity that continues to grow exponentially. That said, one of the characteristics of the industrialization process has been the specificity of each of the parts to achieve high yields. We design thinking that everything we build must be made with the latest technology, the best training, and with protocols made from a hyper-specificity. This means that whoever does not have this training cannot build. In other words, Paraguayan masons who are incredibly handsome -as we say-, talented, do not have the opportunity to build in Santiago, Chile, or the financial district of Asuncion, Paraguay. Because we design to despise those skills, and we make it impossible for those people to contribute and build a different environment. Q R This situation could be considered Latin American, right? SB R In South America or Paris, there are huge poverty belts where all these ultra-sophisticated bearers, capable of doing impressive things, have no chance to develop their talents because they are despised. The decline of their skills goes through a process of elimination or forgetting the potential they have to do things. Trying to complete... what would happen if we, the designers, start changing our way of planning so that they are included? What would happen if, in addition, we used machines to do what man cannot? We empower human abilities to use material in order to defend the possibility of our existence as a society in the world. Q R Continuing along these lines... Faced with a saturated world and the expanded field of architecture open to multiple areas of development, we could say that one issue is technology that can push towards industri- alization, but another is working on saving resources... This comes from the 1960s, or earlier when there was training to promote super-regulated self-construction... Do you see an opportunity in that today, in the face of the existing deficit and demand? SB R We, more than ever, have transmission capabilities that allow us to take people to the moments when limits are exceeded and new fields of action are created. Thus, when you manage to do that, you are completing the social opportunity. It does not mean that these people do not need some kind of training, but the interesting thing is to understand that these limits are only there to be overcome. I have been very insistent on failing systematically, and making the possibilities of error and failure an engine for overcoming difficulties. I have limited the number of resources on which I observe reality and intend to transform it, just to reach a certain ability to communicate with those skills. It is in our hands not to give up but, on the contrary, to find a way to solve things. Q R The idea of always discarding one to move forward with the other is striking. SB R I don't think so, because I think we have to complete ourselves. There is no need to be a Darwinist in that sense. It is interesting to consider the use of technology in terms of relevance. Sometimes it is convenient to use one, other times it may be convenient to use anoth- er, instead of always choosing the latest technological fad or the most expensive resource. Having a more thoughtful use of technology. Then of course, one could eventually mix bricks with a robot and it wouldn't be a problem; to some extent to clear one's head, to be unprejudiced. Q R A few minutes ago you said something like 'We designers don't resort to the despised'. Should we also resort to technologies that have been despised? SB R Let's see, I will try to explain the following in this way. Two or three years ago, I made a structure inside the Cartier Foundation, in the Jean Nouvel Building, in Paris. It was a wall made with prefabricated panels on the ground, made with rubble and other demolition debris. These
INTERNATIONAL INTERVIEW
SOLANO BENÍTEZ
By: Yves Besançon + Soledad Miranda + Francisca Pulido + Sebastián Rozas
The prominent Paraguayan architect argues that our society's global crisis can be solved with imagination. In a conversation with AOA Maga- zine, he addressed the imperatives facing architecture as a discipline and proposed that universities teach less marketing and more philosophy because, he says, they need to focus less on the architectural object and more on training professionals capable of creating a better society. At the same time, Solano Benítez emphasizes that the greatest urgency today is to "reduce the amount of material used to protect us" and to return to the trades and technologies that have been rejected. Q R The recent Viña del Mar summer fires have significantly increased the lack of housing in Chile. Within this context, we wanted to invite you to this conversation because we are interested in your vision of an architecture that, although it addresses social issues, does so from a different perspective. SB R First of all, it is a pleasure to try to complete the options that our society has. We are so used to a Darwinian view, that this species replaces that one, that our observation always starts from a certain culture. Over the last three hundred years, we have justified our presence in the world to the extent that we produced. However, that time is coming to an end because producing in the way we do has caused us to question the very possibility of our existence. Of course, within that, housing appears as a central issue. We are biological beings and we need our nest. However, the best thing we have done as a society has left more than 60% of the world's population at the poverty level, and, of that, 50% live in squalor. Their problems are not being addressed from any aspect of our disci- pline's state of the art. Q R Does your criticism point directly to architecture management? SB R It is not that we have to demonize how we have tried to do archi- tecture, but we must be able to understand that the crisis we face is not a crisis caused by a lack of knowledge or resources, it is a crisis from a He represented his country, Paraguay, in the Venice, Sao Paulo, and Lisbon Architecture Biennials. He has taught at universities in the Americas and Spain and is internationally recognized for his use of brick and saving and maximizing materials.
154 ←
AOA / n°50
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker