L’ombra come processo sottrattivo

The essay examines the relationship between shadow
as an expressive process and its connection to time.
It highlights the reflections of Ensamble Studio
on shadow and gravity, focusing on the notions of
weight and mass. The discussion shifts away from
the modernist materials that previously informed the
themes of gravity and light in a dialectical relationship
between the internal and external. Instead, it
emphasizes a physical action executed through the
weight of masses, which creates a significant material
tension with space. This tension enables the observer
to experience the physical and tactile weight of the architecture,
through spatial excavation that is oriented
toward individuals and the community: the Music
Studies Center and the SGAE Headquarters in Santiago
de Compostela, Spain. Designing with shadow
means engaging with the weight of millennial history,
through the excavation of space, focused on the human
being and the collective.