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Centro
das Artes | Casa das Mudas, by Paulo David
and Fernando Guerra.
A fitting companion to this
week's dose is this self-published book by photographer
Fernando Guerra, of Paulo David's Center of the Arts in
Calheta, Madeira. As Guerra admits in one of the introductory
essays, "the book tells the story of a day spent...from
daybreak to nightfall." This concept is apparent even
if one focuses only on the pictures and ignores the words,
though doing this, of course, would deprive one of the insights
Guerra, the client, and other architects offer. The concept
is a fitting one, as much of the power of the design, derived
from its site, is its relationship to the sun, particularly
as it rises and sets. The way the sun illuminates the surfaces
-- vertical and horizontal -- illustrates that the architect's
considerations of material and texture are not arbitrary;
they are grounded in the building's location.
A wonderful quote by Daniel
Carrapa captures the cycle the book presents:
In leafing through the pages of this small book,
one discovers a quality so often absent, that is, the aspect
of time in architecture: the eastern façade flooded
by the morning’s clarity, the awakening surroundings,
the rhythm of its existence. One witnesses the light’s
path and colour changes in the basalt, in the sky, at daybreak.
The interior enkindles warm tones contrasting with the more
dramatic clouds outside, culminating in a theatrics filled
finale provided by nocturnal lighting at day’s end.
Architectural drawings and essays by architects José
Mateus (ARX Portugal) and Ana Vaz Milheiro close the book,
the last giving their unique insights into the building's
inner pulse and the humanization of the island landscape,
respectively. The photographs, drawings, and essays give the
reader a deep understanding of the building and its place,
all the while small enough to fit in one's pocket, a great
precedent for presenting architecture to a wider audience. |
