Using Nearby Resources, Natural and Human Materials.
TEd’A
TEd’A Arquitectes built this house from old walls made of characteristic local sandstone. All the walls were dismantled in order to reuse them. The pieces were handled one by one, trying to take advantage of the maximum number, whether they were whole or not.
“TEd’A Arquitectes has revisited and evaluated places and buildings, customs and memories, manufacturers, traders and individuals involved in the local construction sector. Precise knowledge of this physical and lived heritage has become the conceptual lens through which they focus their own thinking, their conduct and their analysis of phenomena worthy of being redirected. […] Their aim is the symbiotic relationship between life and architecture, not architecture in itself”.
“TEd’A Arquitectes transform what is vernacular and local. […] These transformed references, these homages and reinterpretations are the architects’ hallmark: evolution rather than revolution. […] The strength of their imagination is focused on adapting these precedents just for the task at hand. This adaptation is a conscious form of transformation”.
- Web: tedaarquitectes.com/
- Photographs: José Taltavull
“Álvaro Siza is right when he argues that “architects do not invent anything, they only transform reality”. The question is: in which direction is this transformation taking place? The work of TEd’A Arquitectes suggests that reality can be transformed from building to building, emphasising authenticity rather than originality, by paradigms rather than icons”.
Wang, Wilfried. «Transformations and Paradigms: On the Built Work of TEd’A Arquitectes»
El Croquis. Núm. 196 (II). TEd’A Arquitectes 2010-2018
Perejaume, in his book Paraules locals, wrote: “We are where we are. Behind the sense that, as a starting point, the phrase plays demonically with being/being and being/existing […]. No place can repeat itself and, therefore, any corner of the world is worthy of reverence”.
Value the specific small place where the work is located. Understand the regional peculiarities of this small part of the world. Be part of the local tradition. Use the wisdom accumulated over the centuries that tradition has given us. Make use of the nearby material, natural and human resources: What do we have and what can we do with what we have? Continue with the cultural and physical logic of the environment where the work is developed. Intentionally rooting and gravitating in that precise place. In this sense, we are where we are or, more specifically, the work is where it is.