Ceramics and Architecture

IN CONSTRUCTION. Ceramics and architecture conceptually departs to the temporary exhibition Brick by Brick: Ceramics Applied to Architecture, which was shown at the Museu del Disseny de Barcelonam 16.09.2016 to 29.01.2017.

Curated by the architect Pedro Azara.

It is an exhibition devoted to the uses, functions, symbolism and aesthetics of this type of ceramic, to highlight the importance and the continuing use of ceramic in architecture, as well as focusing on both long-standing traditions and innovation in this field over the course of the millennia.

Of the architecture of ancient cultures, we wouldn’t know what the buildings were like if some objects in tombs, similar to architecture models placed as offerings, hadn’t been preserved: these were miniature buildings.

Today, many ceramicists make works that evoke architectural models or...

...small-scale buildings offering a critical look at both the virtues and limitations of contemporary constructions, or perhaps...

... they are more a nostalgic look back at the home we have lost.

Clay is a basic construction material; it is resistant and adaptable and has been employed by countless Mediterranean cultures since the Neolithic to nowadays.

Several structural elements of buildings are now based on ceramic.

From foundations to roofing, all building elements may be made in adobe or terracotta: drains, pipes, channelling...

...paving, walls and columns, tiles...

...transpirable panels and layers and so on.

In ancient times, buildings were living organisms and despite the solidity of the structures, the buildings were at the mercy of spirits, and protection from them could not fall to a mere collection of solid bricks.

Resorting to magic was as fundamental as employing the appropriate technique and materials in the construction.

Elements such as sculptures, acroteria, elaborate antefixes or gargoyles, which today seem merely decorative once had a magical, protective function.

Vitrified ceramics brings physical and mental comfort to those who live with them: it attracts the senses and the imagination.

It imbues interiors with sensory qualities that are pleasant to touch and see, and allows us to recreate brilliant worlds that are either visible or invisible, real or imaginary by means of painted or moulded panels that ensure the inhabitants feel a sense of well-being in their new paradise.

These smooth, shiny surfaces composed panels that resembled windows framing paradisiacal scenes.

The geometric motifs and the orthogonal frames ordered the space and religious inscriptions, and heavenly figures protected the interior that became images of Eden.

In addition, the ambient, light and visual comfort depicted also evoked the lands of our origins or heaven.