Three
buildings of typology and different applications share a material:
the copper.
Hi,
to think that the experiences do not change our way of life is
something that, pardon me, doesn't make much sense, my cousin
Frenchwoman would say "au contraire", the experiences
always lead us to a different world. The dimension of the change that
we experience is a refreshing and dialectical discussion, it is also
the preferred theme when we are faced (my cousin and me), she is the
main protagonist in this article, she and the copper, clear.
I
don't know as Sigmund Freud think, one of those doctors who has
played a crucial role in the current methods of the Psychiatry (there
are who calls him the father of the psychoanalysis),
but I do not think that knowing it could change my point of view.
With the permission of my cousin, you know, French and model of
success (almost a cliché), I transcribe here an e-mail that he sent
me recently, also she love my articles and she could not help looking
with new eyes the constructions that she visited in her professional
career. But I leave, that she described how he came to appreciate a
very particular metal: the copper.
Dear
Rodolfo: I discovered the triangle of the copper
As
you read it, Rodolfo, I discovered the copper triangle and yes, I
know that you say that it is impossible to find such triangle unless,
of course, that we forge the metal, but let me explain. I followed
the advice that you gave me the last time we saw us, do you remember?
The of "when you have a break between sessions of photos, enjoy
of the architecture of the place". As well, ending January I was
in Tokyo (capital of Japan) and I went to Fujitsubo a beauty salon.
It's
a rectangular building that occupies only 108,31 square meters and
has two main features: three large skylights in the roof, right at
the top of the three pyramids with offset axis and an envelope (you
the flames so) of concrete covered with a layer of copper.
The copper, according to users of the salon, I was told that it
change over time, because the rust of the outer layer will change its
colour. The architects are the team formed by Yoshihiro Hirotani and
Yusaku Archivision
Ishida and believe me when I tell you that they are quite proud of
his work, whose impact is very strong if we compare it with the small
area in which acted.
Later,
in February, we were in Chile (also for work) and I accompanied my
friend to visit her father in the complex Andrónico Luksic Abaroa.
This complex was inaugurated the last year and houses the Department
of engineering of the mining of the Pontifical University Catholic of
Chile. It occupies an area of 3,500 square meters with underground
facilities and also has 1,200 square metres of green areas (or
gardens). The architect responsible for (Enrique
Browne)
was based in the form of a mining crack for the design of the
complex.
As
you like the numbers, I will tell you that the building cost 4.6
billion pesos (about seven million euros), has an auditorium,
offices, a Faculty Club with casino rooms (funny isn't it?), gym and
living rooms.
A museum protrudes towards the surface where it is exposed the
history of the school of engineering, a space dedicated to the
founder (Andronico Luksic) and a large rock in the Centre (10 tons),
which was the first stone that came out of the mine, chosen by the
Lord Andronikos personally. The Museum impressed me much with its
cylindrical shape lined of copper foils.
But
my trip did not end in Chile, ended in the city of Zory where the
team of architects OVO
Grabczewscy Architekci
have designed (and built) another building whose base is the copper.
In this occasion I discovered the construction when I went to do a
story on the outside (you'll see it, soon, not you impatient) in the
month of March. Called the building the "Museum of the fire"
because the place, Zory, means fire since it was built where a forest
that had burned down.
The
construction have an area of 642 square meters and consists of three
walls coated with copper panels. The
irregular arrangement of these panels and the asymmetrical outline of
them makes that the light reflected in them dance in a very unique
way, almost as if you look flames, obviously, this is the main idea
of the designers. It
should be noted that, for than copper not be oxidized with the
passage of the time, using a very special varnish, so that the 'fire'
effect is always present in the building.
It
was there, in Poland, where I discovered the copper triangle that
form the three buildings with their three studies in architecture, in
three places in the world, with three distinct geometric shapes,
three different functional uses and whose common denominator is the
fantastic copper, we must not disregard the use of three different
languages and that I discovered in three consecutive months...
kisses!
What
my cousin obvious in his story are the fantastic qualities of copper
as a building material. The copper is a metal that can be found in
nature, this and the high ductility and malleability (property of the
material that makes it can be cutting in thin layers and unless it
breaks) is used by the humanity since (at least) the year 7000 b.c.,
in addition, is recycled in its entirety. It has many possible uses
as you can imagine: ornaments in the form of figures, kitchen
utensils, work tools, conducting electrical, mechanical elements
(thanks to its thermal conductivity), water pipes, etc.
If
you look to you around, it will be likely that you see some element
of this material, and if you don't see it, is that you're not in the
right place. Bye bye.
