In an interview with Goma Oficina, David Barragán shares insights into the practice of Al Borde, an architecture firm based in Quito, Ecuador, which he leads alongside Pascual Gangotena, Marialuisa Borja, and Esteban Benavides.
The firm's work directly addresses the divide between manual and intellectual labor in architectural practice. Although this division is the product of historical and social construction, it is still treated today almost as an "indisputable scientific fact," given the prevailing silence surrounding the issue.
In a sense, internationally acclaimed projects like the Nueva Esperanza School disrupt this silence, exposing the contradictions inherent in architecture while forcefully demonstrating alternative paths for the profession. Presenting this project, the architect illustrates how it serves as a powerful example of how the technical expertise essential to architectural practice transcends the boundaries of formal knowledge, to be assimilated and reinterpreted through empirical, collective experiences.
