WHERE TO LOOK

One of the main challenges that the architect faces in the design process is to translate initial sketches into reality. Paulo Mendes da Rocha, a Brazilian architect, used to say that the architect must have enough skills to move from an idea to a thing; that attempt should not succumb to the constraints of structure and construction.
This ability is anchored firstly in the capacity to define a form, and simultaneously, already within the lines of the sketch, in defining how the form will be built. In order for the architect to be able to control the construction (and not the other way around), she or he should master the building process, anticipating all the thickness, the material layers and assembling systems so that the exact way in which thousands of pieces connect will lead to a calm, clear, and precise result. When that happens, a work of architecture is moving. However, the construction industry seems to support mediocrity and advocate for the bare minimum (the law of intellectual and professional effort), launching more and more products aiming to solve the unexpected in the construction site and cover up mistakes.
The work of Cecilia Puga has achieved extraordinary heights of beauty and calmness, while working with materials and building techniques that are highly dangerous, in the sense that they leave no room for error. When the structure is finished you can not hide the mistakes that have arisen through a lack of foresight or planning (which is what a project is by definition). There is something unique in her work that consists in achieving a certain timelessness in the forms, despite having opted for high adrenaline in the construction methods. She is an example of one (if not the only one) of the core skills an architect should have, which is actually very scarce: loyalty from the first sketch to the final constructed reality, integrating the complexity of the built form without losing the focal point. By doing so, her works are able to humbly become mere background, allowing life to become the protagonist. At the same time, her architecture is strong enough to deal with careful scrutiny. Such is the double condition for any quality construction.