When the air settles in the architecture

Project experimentation around the void

Abstract

The consideration of air is not only evident in the metaphor of lightness or immateriality, it also emerges in stereotomic architecture, that which highlights gravity. The air here is of interest from its occlusal condition, that contained in solid building masses. The stereotomy expresses the idea of occluded air, the opposite of the open air of the modern movement, of continuous space resolved with transparent planes and thin envelopes. This writing exposes project strategies around the configuration of the architectural space and from the materialization of air as a resource that shapes the void. The possibility of inverting the volume of matter that surrounds the air allows us to understand the shape of the vacuum, analyze it and design it. Alternative mechanisms to traditional design practices are tested and exploration in direct contact with materials is prioritized to produce analogical representations. The article derives from the experience of teaching architectural morphology developed in the second level of the Architecture career, at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. At the same time, the communication is aimed at students as the main receivers and in the form of didactic material to guide new experiences.