GRAS Arquitectos, Installation view at Palazzo Bembo, 2016.

A Journey through time, space and existence with a material trinity of stone, steel and future.
Time Space Existence. 3 concepts for 3 GRAS projects and their approach through materialisation.
A random house in a suburban area. A historic abandoned old quarry. A hilltop with views. 3 situations for 3 projects. 3 different times and contexts. 3 different materializations.
Each context has a different journey thanks to materialization within time, space, and existence. The material approach to each project permits different angles to the same subject. Each time has its own material, and every material has its own time; they generate spaces and become existences.
An abandoned stone quarry. Time has emptied the space and generated an absence. The traces of the old stones are a façade of an invisible building, a void. The Absence, the invisible building is reborn: a new building in the middle of nature, a new rock in the landscape. The old traces travel to a new existence: an old void generates a new architecture. The materialization of the building maximizes the rock effect and echoes the local quarries of sand stone: the beauty of the natural stone cut is reflected in the façade. The stone does not cover just the facade, but also the roof, making no distinction between them; therefore the roof is part of the facade and the facade is part of the roof. Stone in the landscape, the memory of an old existence in a XXI century building.
A random house in a suburban area. A home not befitting the style of its surroundings to be extended. The original design is not architecture from its time: a pastiche of traditional architecture made in the 90´s. Wrong Time. How to extend such architecture with no architectural values? The answer is through an exercise of extreme contrast. A radical new material, a new architecture, embraces the old, generating an innovative combination between the existing building and the new “boxes” of steel. This combination enhances both architectures: the framing of the new volumes highlights the old, of little value, and the new stands out in contrast to the former. The material determines the new architecture, not just as an aesthetic, but also as a process where the new existence only exists due to the context of the old. A radical new material is the link between the old and the new: it improves its own existence.
A hilltop; an empty natural space. A fabulous view. Sea and Sky. No memory. No history. No existence? Let us try a different existence, a new concept of space, a house in connection to the sky. Ethereal architecture for a new time thanks to technology. An opportunity for new materials and construction systems. The house wants to fly and leave the hill, cutting out its natural connection to the ground.
GRAS arquitectos, Venice 2016, a Journey through time, space, and existence with a material trinity of stone, steel and, future.