Between a World of Ideas and the Material / DOSA Studio

Text by Raúl Medina and Paola Monreal.

The eternal task of architecture is to create embodied and lived existential metaphors that concrete and structure our being-in-the-world. Architecture reflects, materializes, and eternalizes ideas and images of real life. Buildings and cities allow us to structure, understand, and remember who we are. ¹ —J. Pallasmaa

We understand architecture as a series of processes directly linked to two phases. The first involves the birth of ideas, and the constant emergence and creation of questions, affirmations, and negations. It is a back-and-forth between affirmation and self-questioning, between narrative and utopia, arising from our architectural proposals. However, we chose to dedicate this documentary to the second phase: the materialization of that flow of ideas.

In this phase, ideas leave the realm of imagination and become part of memory—spatial memory, the memory of a city, and the memory of its people.

Additionally, it implies embedding memory between the working team and the materialization of ideas, between the hand and the tool—the tool itself acting as an extension of the hand ²—and between the physical body and its intimate relationship with space.

According to M. Heidegger, every action of the hand is rooted in thought. Pallasmaa asserts that the hand is not merely a faithful and passive executor of the brain's intentions, but possesses its own intentionality and skills. We dedicate this collection of documented images to those hands that make the materialization of our ideas possible, reflecting a symbiosis between our thoughts as architects, our imagination, our utopias, and the language of master craftsmen. This language, based on praxis and techne ³, is often a heritage of knowledge passed down from generation to generation. We are referring to master builders, carpenters, blacksmiths, plumbers, and electricians.

We refer to the extensive team involved in the architectural process, responsible for shaping and grounding our ideas in the tangible, palpable, and perceptible world.

We conceive of architecture within the tangible realm, where materialized ideas (space) can be appreciated and lived through our senses, which in turn becomes a series of multisensory experiences. We view architecture as being responsible for constantly stimulating our senses.

Architecture is the meeting point between these two sides. Some architectures do not need interpretation, directly referencing Nature and coexisting with circumstantial conditions. Others reveal the trace of human intervention, either through a functional, instrumental process or as a means to record and convey meaning.

Want to learn about the process behind Casa Palmas? Don't miss this video showing glimpses of the work hours dedicated to this project by DOSA Studio.

See the full project here.

1. Pallasmaa, Juhani, Los ojos de la piel, la arquitectura y sentidos, Spain, Gustavo Gili, 2014, p. 82.
2. Pallasmaa, Juhani, La mano que piensa, Spain, Gustavo Gili, 2012, p. 52.
3. Greek word translated as “Art or science” and which—through many adaptations and phonetic changes over time—we know today as technique.