A system in perfect balance The presence of core-form and art-form in the project A Gandareira, by Carlos Pita and Abraham Castro

Abstract

The project A Gandareira, by Carlos Pita Abad (A Coruña, 1964 - ) and Abraham Castro Neira (Silleda, 1986 - ), is a clear example of an architecture that was born from the idea of structure and the construction process itself. The project consists of a large roof generated from a set of large prefabricated concrete beams, simply resting on each other, which exposes a structural system in perfect balance that takes advantage of the force of gravity. There are no tricks: what we see is a pure structure, what we experience is the space built by it. This research paper deepens the study of this project from its conception to its materialization and seeks to establish a relationship with the concepts of core-form and art-form proposed by Karl Bötticher (Nordhausen, 1806 - Berlin, 1889) and debated by Gottfried Semper (Hamburg, 1803 - Rome, 1879) in the late nineteenth century. These concepts were revisited almost a century later by Kenneth Frampton (Woking, 1930 - ) on several occasions, particularly in his book "Studies in tectonic culture" (1995). The article aims to analyse this project from a structural point of view in order to identify not only the presence of these concepts, which have traditionally been thought of separately, but also their physical and conceptual overlapping in a single entity that we might call essential-form.