Visions of Architecture

Spanish architect, member of the MGM Arquitectos architects office. She starts the conference by explaining how she perceives architecture: “Architecture must be designed as a space for exchange, a space that evolves over time, over the years, days and hours.”

To illustrate her view of architecture, she starts by presenting two projects that share the theme “Destination vs type”. The first project presented is the Head Office for the Foundation of Contemporary Architecture in Cordoba, a project still in the competition phase, and for which MGM Arquitectos won the first international prize in the ideas stage. To create a link with its environment, the building's entrance also serves as an entrance to the wooded park behind. Designed on three levels, each floor represents the past, present and future respectively.

The second project is a French project, a residence for researchers and artists. The difficulty posed by this project was to integrate the openings in the South façade without the noise of the town causing a disturbance: “the vacuum structures the architectural space and allows light to be captured throughout the day”.

These latter were designed as spaces opening out onto their environment, and Sara De Giles Dubois explains that what was important was to create a relationship, a link, a connection with the space outside each building.

In the second part of her presentation, Sara De Giles Dubois spoke of how the architecture connects with the town. She illustrates her words with the design of the hospital of Seville, which she characterises as an “urban vestibule”. She explains that “for a space to work today, it must serve a purpose and, in particular, it must be connected and crossed by people to demonstrate its utility”.