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7/14/2019 monografia
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By analysing seven great works o architecture, we shall
see how the exceptional qualities o enamelled and glazed
ceramics, colour, shine and adaptation to complex shapes,
are enhanced, and how they accompany and ne-tune the architect’s
idea o the project.
Using these properties, we shall directly relate Ceramics and the
Design Decision. We shall understand when, how and why ceramic,
and not another material, enters the design process o some o the most
representative works o architecture.From the Ishtar Gate to Saint Catherine’s market, the examples chosen
will show us that it is essential to make the material work in avour o
the project’s unctional, physical and aesthetic needs, by choosing it
conscientiously. Also, the importance o knowing what has been learned
throughout the centuries with respect to both the tradition o ceramics and
architecture itsel will be highlighted, so that rm steps can be taken, based on
the development o what has already been done, to reinterpret and reprocess
these achievements.
OriginsCeramics go beyond the simple interpretation “made o
clay”, but are to be connected to the history o almost all
the peoples o the world, so much so that ceramics date
sites and name cultures. Ceramics were invented during
the Neolithic revolution, and they were a result o the
settling o civilisations, i.e. o humankind’s bonding to a
Colour, shine and shapein architectural claddingR. Sánchez González Madrid, Spain
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particular land. At the beginning, ceramics were made using the
clay extracted rom the area, creating a bond between the land,
the cratsmen and the community.
Ceramics, as an ancient art, has evolved along with humanity’s
progress. While the clay is oten sourced locally, nowadays the
end product is usually the result o industrial processes which
orm the piece. Ceramic tiles are one o a very small number o
products which retain much o their original integrity, in spite o
the act that they are now generally mass produced by highly
technical processes.
Two o the breakthroughs that led to more aesthetic and plastic
possibilities in the world o ceramics were the enamelling and
glazing processes. Applied to the clay base, these techniques give
the ceramic piece the attributes o colour and shine.
Covering the tile body with a layer o protective enamel or glaze
opened up a spectacular range o possibilities, rstly by making it
waterproo, long-lasting and easy to clean, and by also allowing
the architect to design and combine colour and shine.
Ceramics are also extremely easy to mould. Tiles may be hand
made, extruded or dry pressed. Whichever process is adopted the
nal product is usually easy to cut. The nished product can be
installed with high quality adhesive and grout, to provide a suracethat is highly resistant to abrasion and staining
These eatures, present in other materials but exceptional in
ceramics, are colour, shine and adaptation to shape.
Ceramics, in all their variants, but perhaps especially in the
enamelled and glazed ones, ulls Steen Eiler Rasmussen’s
maxim: “as a general rule, it can be said that materials with
poor textural eects improve with a deep embossment, while
high-quality materials can take a smooth surace and, in act,
they appear more advantageous with no embossment or any
ornament ”.
But while it is interesting to know the qualities o the material
(the ingredients), it is more valuable to try to grasp how the
architect uses those qualities to enhance, accompany and ne-
tune an idea (the recipe).
Why did architects like Jørn Utzon, Enric Miralles and Antoni Gaudi,
among others, rely on ceramics to urnish an image, characterise
spaces and provide a special atmosphere or their buildings? What
makes ceramics special in comparison with other materials and
how and why was tile applied in these works?
In short, it is being able to directly relate Ceramics and the
Design Decision; to understanding when, how and why ceramics
and not another material have entered the design process o some
o the most representative works o architecture.
Deep down, it is a return journey, rom the architectural design
to the identication, classication and evaluation o the qualities
o ceramics as a construction material.
It is dicult to say when non-three-dimensional ceramicsappeared as a material inseparable rom architecture.
A remaining wall precursor is the Ishtar Gate in Babylon, clad
with thousands o enamelled bricks eaturing bulls and dragons.
But there are also others like the small mosaics ashioned rom
coloured clay that decorated walls and columns in the Assyrian city
o Nineveh, possible orerunners o the Greek stone mosaics that
would be treated in the Hellenistic era and reached perection in
the Roman and Byzantine period.
Saint Esteven of ViennaThe rst mosaics were possibly not made o stone, but o clay.
It is also possible that the rst slabs or plates or roos in Central
Europe were neither made o slate or ceramics, but o wood. There
are multiple inter-connections, oten return journeys, which bring
back improvements.
In France, Germany, Austria and other Central European countries
with heavy rains, it was the custom to cover roos with steep
slopes with wooden tiles supported on a grid o wooden strips. The
typical appearance is the one with a sh-scale structure due to the
wide overlaps that were built to prevent water rom entering. One
o the best surviving groups is in Troyes, France. It is a material that
has aged nobly with a very pleasant texture, but since it is a wood
that is exposed to the exterior, it cannot be given colour. Something
similar happens with the slate, with a strong appearance but with
a monotonous nish. While acades, doors, windows and interiors
were becoming more and more complex, the highly visible roos
with steep slopes had to be kept like uniorm drapes, in a certain
way monotonously, merely used or their unction o protectingagainst the elements.
When it was built, Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna became
the largest structure in the city. Its high, wide roos would be visible
within a radius o kilometres. Virtue arose rom necessity, since the
wide gable, ar rom imposing itsel and weighing down on the
city’s huddling houses, became its giant symbol. Its 250,000 tiles
drew the city’s coat o arms in a mosaic and gave it a colour that it
lacked. Far rom imposing a continuous solid mass on the square,
it was a light, clear decoration against which the pointed Gothic
sections were silhouetted.
On this building, ceramics acquired a type o construction that
came rom wood and slate, but which was totally in its avour.
The decision to use ceramics was rather experimental. It could
be thought that the chromatic quality o the material allowed
architects to convert what was initially a problem into a virtue:
it is possible that, when imagining the eect o the thousands
o tiles laid out in mosaic, they gave the roo an even more
A al: TheIshtar Gate, one o theeight gates to the city o Babylon, eatured ceramic cladding – built by Nebuchadnezzar II (604– 562BC). This reconstructioneatures in the PergamonMuseum, Berlin. Photo:Spanner Dan.
L: Imam Mosque,Isahan, Iran. istockphoto.com
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pronounced slope than necessary or it to become the maineature o the square.
The same problem occurred, with the same solution, in the city
o Beaune in Burgundy, France, the most representative case being
the Hospices, a teenth century almshouse.
This desire to incorporate colour into architecture will oten be
the motive or introducing ceramics.
In the quest to distinguish public buildings rom the rest o a city’s
huddle o houses, the size or height o a tower is oten sucient,
but sometimes the grey monotony o a climate or the brownish-
grey tone o a city built entirely o the same material requires a
touch o colour, a sparkle, something that breaks the rule.
The possibilities o enamelling or through-body colouring allow
an indelible pigmentation on a product that is also waterproo.
It is true that colour can be incorporated into other materials in
the orm o paint, but this is temporary, since it requently does
not withstand inclement weather. One only needs to think o the
Greek temples, which used to be richly coloured.
Esfahan, The Blue CityThis is the case o Esahan in Iran, a symbol o the golden age o
Persian civilisation. It was designed to amaze the world, with wide
avenues and squares.
The use o tiles on walls and foors was already common in the
Middle East beore the Hellenistic period and it was revived by the
Sassanids. The Islamic use o the tile really began in the Abbasid
period, but it reached its maximum splendour in Iran ater the
18th century. In the rst stages, glazed ceramics had hexagonal
and star shapes, but then the mosaic technique, with small pieces
o cut tiles that were joined together to orm rich and complicated
drawings, was developed.
In Esahan, the large public buildings, due to their size but alsobecause o their colour, had to stand out rom the rest o the
buildings, which were structures which display the land’s natural
colours and were an integral part o the landscape.
In Esahan, at two ends o the axes o the immense Imam Square
(previously the Shah’s Square), the mosques o the Shah and
Sheikh Lot Allah stand out rom the double row o superimposed
arcades because o their intense blue colour, rather than their
size. Thus, the so-called blue city has been given its second name
rom the colour o the millions o tiles that cover the mosques’
doors, acades and domes. The dome o the Sheikh Lot Allah
mosque, with warmer tones, changes colour depending on the
sunlight, and goes rom cream to pink, taking ull advantage o the
characteristics o the textures and colours o the ceramics.
The acades sometimes give the impression o merging with the
sky thanks to the colour o the cobalt, a shade o blue that puts
an end to a return journey. Chinese ceramics, a possible precursor
o this art, which would have spread rom east to west until it
Pictured Left with detAiL: Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna. Volume o fsh scaletiles silhouetting the Gothic stone sections. iStockphoto.com Above with detAiL: Roos o the Beaune Hospice, Burgundy, France. iStockphoto.com
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reached the Mediterranean, going through Mesopotamia and the
north o Arica, would be enriched centuries later by a colour which
had been unknown to them until that moment.
As it is perectly visible on the acades and domes o Esahan’s
mosques, another o the most beautiul eatures or experimental
possibilities o ceramics can be especially appreciated: the shine.
The double-curvature suraces strengthen this eect, which is even
more obvious when the base o the dome is built o unglazed clay.
The small sizes into which the tiles are cut, but above all the
studied geometry with which they are put together again, allow the
ceramic cladding to be adapted to the dicult shapes o the domes.
The possibility o enamelling or glazing the tile body allows us an
extremely wide variety o tones, which depends on the oxides we
use, but it also allows us to introduce shine or gloss, a very dicult
eect to obtain in other materials. Although wood can be polishedor varnished, that nish will not stand up well to the elements. In
stone materials, polishing is the process that allows us to shine
their suraces, but we also nd ourselves with limitations, since not
all stones take it and the weight and necessary thickness o the
stone pieces make it impossible or them to be applied on many
roos. Metal can have a high gloss, but in time it may rust, making
it lose its power o refection. Glass, which perorms well in terms
o cost and durability, does not adapt well to sinuous shapes.
Gaudi, Jujol and trencadisIn 1904, Antonio Gaudi designed a ceramic cladding with a gradient
o blue tones in the patio o the “Casa Batlló”, with which it blends
the light that trickles down its walls.
But it is with so-called trencadis that the Catalan architect uses
all the possibilities o ceramics, as well as colour. This technique
consists o a type o mosaic made with ragments o ceramic scrap
or with white china cups and plates joined together with mortar.
A: Iman Square. In the background, the Shah’s Mosque. L: Dome o the Sheik Lot Allah Mosque. bl : Detail o the doorway o the Shah’s Mosque. iStockphoto.ocm.
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Good examples o this technique are the chimneys in the Mila and
Batllo houses and the dragon in Parc Güell, but the work in which
it is best used is perhaps the undulating white that crowns the
garden’s cornice.
Both the trencadis cladding o the bench and the ceiling o the
hypostyle hall are works o Josep Maria Jujol i Gubert, a leading
gure in the Catalan modernism movement.
The bench is made up o a series o concave and convex modules.
The base is made o white trencadis and it is crowned with a ceramicdecoration with motis that are generally abstract, but also with some
gurative elements like stars, fowers, sh, crabs, etc. This trencadis
was built with scraps, tiles, bottles and pieces o dishware. The sinuous
shapes o the bench could undoubtedly have been made o reinorced
ace concrete, but they would never refect the light o dusk in the
way the pink, blue, yellow and green ragments do.
Trencadis uses ceramics in-situ, but not in the normal sense o
“rst I know the place where it’s going to be placed, and then I
make the piece”, but in the uller, and at the same time, more
intense sense. It is not a case o new pieces to be made in situ,
but o old pieces in situ which have already been made the most
o, laid out on a drawing, which is careully designed but also
undetermined, a drawing that does not recompose the original
piece, but that, along with the extreme possibilities o colour and
shine o ceramics, makes the waves o the cornice in Parc Güell
vibrate under the changing sunlight. The shine highlights the
objective nature o the buildings and the space it covers.
As well as the aesthetic value itsel o enamelled ceramics,
architects highlight their expressive power through contrast.
The white trencadis cladding, with the largest expanse, acts as a
neutral background that validates the coloured background.
On the other hand, the repetition o the sinuous shapes made
with stone materials, which are heavier, in the rest o the park
brings to mind an empathy with the land, which, by comparison,
make the waves o the cornice made in trencadis much lighter.
In spite o using a new technique with great skill, Gaudi and Jujol
did not leap into the void. O course, they knew the stone mosaicswhich are so widespread in Rome and Byzantium, but, due to
their interests in Eastern and Mudejar architecture, stages through
which they went in their proessional career, perhaps they were
even more aware o the North Arican mosques clad in glazed
ceramic mosaic, which are much more expressive in colour than
their stone counterparts. This way o practising architecture, which
is captivated by what has been done previously, ar rom being o
little creativity, oten leads to the building o structures that better
withstand the passing o time.
Oscar Niemeyer: the Luso-Brazilian experienceOther geographically ar o experiences, but near in spirit, are
the ceramic claddings used by Brazilian architects. A particularly
outstanding case is the Oscar Niemeyer designed church o Saint
Francis o Assisi in Pampulha district o Belo Horizonte
Along with Jorn Utzon who designed the Sydney Opera House, the
Brazilian architect is one o the ew who has managed to invent
fa a: Undulating white ceiling above the ‘market place’ o the Güell Park, Barcelona. A: Flooring in the palace patio, Sale, Rabat, Morocco.L: Natural stone vaulted walkway as comparison, Güell Park, Barcelona. Comparison. Antoni Gaudi.bl: Undulating cornice o the Güell Park, Barcelona.Example o the trencadis. Antoni Gaudi and Josep Maria Jujol.
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iconic shapes and convert them into the symbolic expression o a
country or a city beyond their unction. Thus, the curved prole o
the two domes and the double tower o the National Congress will
always be associated with the image o Brasilia. The curved shape
will be the general tonic in his architecture and reinorced concrete
will be his great ally.
Ceramics appear in his work when he wants to make the
shapes lighter, or highlight the small scale. One o the examples
is the Church o Saint Francis o Assisi, where he uses ceramics
to mellow the building’s character, making it less brutal. The
church, which is located in the Pampulha complex, provides
an example o Niemeyers experimentation with concrete
skins. This is also where ceramics appear as a comprehensive
cladding material. It is the test o the antastic pairing ormed
by the concrete skins and ceramics, whether the latter is lost
ramework as in the case o Guastavino, or as a cladding, in the
case o the Brazilian architect.
Niemeyer is interested in tile, partly used as a reminder o the
Luso-Brazilian tradition, or design. It is used in other buildings in
the Pampulha complex like the yacht club and the casino, but it is
in the Church o Saint Francis o Assisi where the use o ceramics
is more intentional, precise and elegant. As always occurs inarchitecture, this renement is preceded by previous experiences.
In the project, which was infuenced by Le Corbusier and designed
by a team o young Brazilian architects led by Lucio Costa, and the
Ministry o Health and Education in Rio de Janeiro, the basics o
architecture o the modern Brazil are provided. Although it ollows
the Corbuserian precepts, like the raised foor on pilotis, the garden
terrace and the water tanks on the roo, the local architects adapt
the Swiss’ ideas to Brazilian reality. Niemeyer proposes increasing
the height o the ground foor, much in line with the graceul
architecture he will establish in the uture. The space between
pilotis must create the eeling that
the square runs beneath the 14-foor
block. For the inevitable nucleus o
vertical communication not to blur
that eeling o lightness, it is clad
with tiles decorated with curvilinear
strokes. Although the idea was taken
rom Le Corbusier, here it inherits
colours and plasticities rom the Luso
tile tradition, allowing the virtual
disappearance o the heavy opaque
nucleus o lits and stairways, thanks
to its pattern.
In Pampulha, Niemeyer is already
applying his ormal exuberance. The
church, a controversial building that
took 16 years to be consecrated,consists o 4 vaults that intersect
among each other and which
seem to only lean on the two
vaults installed at the ends. These
vaults already have the architect’s
imprints: sinuous
lines built and
sustained thanks
to the qualities o
the reinorced concrete. In this work, in contrast to others, there
is the diculty o having a surace which, while it begins in a
vertical position, gradually bends to reach the horizontal position,
and returns again to verticality. Thereore, there was a problem
o sealing and another o maintenance and cleaning. It would be
dicult or concrete to solve these aspects.
Oscar Niemeyer, in collaboration with the Brazilian painter, Paulo
Werneck, devised the cladding o the concrete vaults with a mosaic
o square ceramic tessarae in sky blue tones. This has the eect o
creating bluish white waves on the base o each end vault, which
bring to mind the mountains located opposite, whilst also providing
lightness, shine and persistence to concrete structures that would
otherwise appear heavy, dull and dirty. Ceramics also served to
solve the sealing, since they quickly defect the rain thanks to their
smooth nish; maintenance, since it is a rather non-porous and
clean material; adaptation to the shape, thanks to the small-sized
tessarae; and the subtle colouring which provides lightness that is
dicult to achieve with reinorced concrete.
This group o vaults is nished at the ront with an oset wall
clad with tiles in bluish tones, arranged in a 45 degree grid. This
mosaic, designed by Candido Portinari, which reminds us o the
one built in the Ministry o Rio de Janeiro, depicts religious scenes,and is in some way, the response o a tropical structure to the wide
glass windows o Northern and Central Europe. Here, the need to
introduce light, which led the architects o Gothic cathedrals to
devise a new way to build, becomes the need to oer protection
rom the sun. The windows are transormed into ceramic mosaics,
and both share the nature o being receptacles o religious
imagery. The virtual lightening o the sides o the vaults makes
them seem lighter.
It is said that Brazilian architectures nd an ally in their tastes in
reinorced concrete. This is equally true o ceramic mosaic, which
has proven to be an excellent support
material in the sinuous architecture
o the Brazilian curved line.
Jørn Utzon: the sails of SydneyHarbourThe other iconic architect par excel-
lence, the Dane, Jørn Utzon, designed
the Sydney Opera House, starting in
1955. The original sketches depicted
some sail-shaped roos which clearly
reer to the boats that populate the
harbour. The Danish architect is at-
tracted by the curved and pointed
shapes o the nautical sails and
their refections under the sun. We
already know the problems whichUtzon and the engineers, Ove Arup,
aced when trying to construct the
graceul vaults in a rational and eco-
nomically adjusted way. In the end,
they managed to settle it by taking
the geometry o
the sail segments
rom a sphere, al-
lowing the entire
surace to have
the same curva-
ture. The preab-
ricated structures
made on-site
made it possible
to raise the sails,
but there still
tp: General view o the Saint Francis o Assisi Church, Pampulha, Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer.
Ml: “La Ricarda” House, El Prat de LLobregat, Antonio Bonet Castellana.
bm l: Mosaic o the gable end. Gymnasiumo the Department o Popular Housing, Brazil,
Aonso Eduardo Reidy.bm g: Detail o the same mosaic. Aonso
Eduardo Reidy.
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remained the problem o their
appearance, in relation to the
original idea o a bright white
tense “abric”, and the adapta-
tion to the spherical shape itsel.
Many years were spent devising,
calculating and raising the struc-
ture, yet the entire eect could be
ruined by choosing an inappropri-
ate cladding.
His concern is refected in the
article “Sydney Opera House: The
roo tiles”, which he originally
wrote or “Architecture in
Australia” in 1965.
“It is essential or me to fnd a
material with such a quality that it
could match the simple and pow-
erul geometry and, this way, emphasise the vigorous shapes” . On
the other hand, he also attached prime importance to the physical
properties o the material: “Durability and resistance to the climate
were the main actors. The
roo must also keep its
character throughout the
years in harmony with the
other materials, granite and
glass. Finally, the extreme
changes in temperature o
the Australian climate com-
bined with the problems o
roos o a similar magni-
tude were decisive actors
to be kept in mind”.
The list o materials was,
thereore, very limited, and
in order to avoid surprises,
perormance needed to
be proven. “The material
needed to have been seen
on the buildings o the old world, and have remained undeteriorated
or many years, but it should have aged well and acquired a lovely
patina, and the only material I’ve ound that meets such demands
is the ceramic tile” . In this article, Jørn Utzon just about denes ina simple and direct way some o the aspects that it is sought to
highlight in this paper: the extreme durability o ceramic material, in
which the qualities o colour and shine remain.
The response to all these requirements would be an extruded tile,
more resistant and rather non-porous, with a size o 12.5 x 12.5
cm, arranged at 45 degrees. The geometry and laying patterns,
even though it is much more technied, allows the ceramic
cladding to adapt to the double curvature o spheres and domes,
just like in Esahan. In order to be able to control its nish and
installation, a decision was made to lay the tiles on preabricated
reinorced concrete pieces.
The nish is obtained using two tonalities on the tiles, a bright
white employed on whole tiles, and a matt white-cream colour on
trapezoidal pieces that allow them to adapt to the shapes o the
sail segments. Their small size and their shine make the sails o
the Sydney Opera House have a uniorm, light appearance, viewed
rom a distance, without the spectator having any idea o the
heavy structure underpinning the shells.
Jørn Utzon, as Gaudi did previously with trencadis, shows us
the possibilities that tile possesses or cladding suraces that are
not fat. The small size and the easy moulding o dierent pieces,
limited weight and easy cutting allow exceptional adaptation to
almost any surace.
But he is radically dierent rom the Spanish architect in the way
he puts the ceramics into place. The trencadis technique, studied as
a whole and at a distance, but spontaneous in close up detail shows
the hand o the architect, and the mason. In the Sydney Opera House,ceramics, rationalised and technied, with two types o nish, are
installed on preabricated panels using automatic procedures that
prevent the slight movement stemming rom manual installation
rom ruining the overall eect o sails tensed by the wind.
The visual sensation is o extreme lightness. The smoothness
and brightness o the sails contrast with the matt, darker colour,
which is more typical o the earth o the platorm that makes up
the peninsula. This eect was partly inspired by the enamelled
ceramic domes and minarets built in Islamic cities like Yazd and
Esahan. The houses and the skirting boards o the mosques rise
rom the earth without any solution o continuity. This emphasises
the lightness o the domes by contrast.
Miralles and Tagliabue: Saint Catherine’s MarketIn the restoration and covering o Saint Catherine’s market by Enric
Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, the possibilities o colour and
adaptation to the shape o the enamelled and glazed ceramics are
L: Detail o the tiles,Sydney, Australia, JørnUtzon.bm l: General view o the Sydney Opera House,Australia, Jørn Utzon.bm g: Clipper onthe Aegean Sea.
The material needed to have
been seen on the buildings of the old
world, and have remained undeteriorated
for many years, but it should have aged
well and acquired a lovely patina, and
the only material I’ve found that
meets such demands
is the ceramic tile.
“
”Architect, Jorn Utzon
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also explored. The design o the building, located in the old city
quarters o Barcelona, was envisaged rom the outset as a place
that was open to the neighbourhood, where it was not so easy to
distinguish the old rom the new, between restoration and new
construction. Thus, it was decided to leave the walls o the old
market and build a new roo or the complex.
Although the volume o the market is considerable, it is stuck
to the ground, and the residential blocks that surround it rise
above it. This is why the architects considered an undulating roo
as a main operation, designed to be seen rom above. Enric and
Benedetta designed three waves clad in ceramics, which bring
back memories o the three vaults o the old market. However, the
new vaults are fooded with the colours o the ood produce that is
sold below. The roo is inspired by the produce it covers.
The same requisites o cleanliness and durability that motivated
Niemeyer or Utzon led Miralles and Tagliabue to choose ceramics
as the cladding material or their vaults.
The ceramics involved are preabricated hexagonal pieces, xed
to a plastic mesh that adapts to the sinuous shape o the vaults.
Each piece consists o 37 small hexagonal tiles o the same colour,
which represent the ragment o a vegetable still lie. Sixty-sevencolours and 325,000 small tiles are counted on the roo, a hexagonal
geometry possibly infuenced by breakdowns o Muslim architecture,
as in the fooring o the Maghreb.
Basically the same method, but technied and hexagonally
modulated, as the one used by Antoni Gaudí, although with
one curious note: when the curvilinear geometry o the roo o
Miralles and Tagliabue encounters the straighter geometry o
the gutters, it resorts to the versatility and adaptation o the
Gaudinian trencadis.
The result is a wrinkled “blanket”, with the produce displayed on
it, which goes beyond the limits o the walls o the old market and
which, thanks to the lightness o the materials chosen, wood and
steel or the structure and ceramics or the cladding, seems to foat
on these. In this work, just like Utzon, the architects manage to give
an almost textile eect to the ceramics, white and tense due to the
action o the wind in the case o the Danish architect, and o a hal-
spread table cloth ull o vegetables in the Barcelona team’s work.
Design of architecture clad with ceramicsMany centuries have gone by rom the Ishtar Gate to Saint
Catherine’s market, and the ways o building have evolved with
them. In order to show the qualities o ceramics, projects and
architects with a marked ormality have been chosen (though
they in turn leaned on tried and tested architectures) in which
the material was taken to the limit. It is at this point where the
qualities o enamelled and glazed ceramics are more readily seen.
In the oregoing projects, ceramics have proved to be the best
option, given the unctional and technical premises and the
aesthetic-visual sensation that the architect wanted to achieve.
However, in no case is this simply unqualied praise or ceramics.
Each material has its optimum eld o expression, and that
eld is never univocal or clear, and it broadens as construction
techniques progress.
For the design architect’s work, knowing the weak and strong
points o the material, i.e. its possibilities, is o vital importance not
just to build, wall up, cover or protect a space, but to strengthen an
idea, a sensation, an atmosphere, a scale, a proportion, a weight,
by appropriate use. Ceramic tile is a construction material which
participates in the virtues, but also the vices, o Architecture.For this, it is vitally important both in the world o ceramics and
in great architecture to know what has been learned throughout
the centuries, to appreciate what has been proved, to re-interpret
and to reproduce. Based on the maturity o what has already been
done, rm steps may be taken. Think, or example, o the relation
between Utzon’s Opera House and the Iran mosques. Great experts
like Le Corbusier, Aalto, Kahn, Utzon and Niemeyer were not
characterised so much by “creating” or “inventing” architectures,
but by being keen observers o what had already been done, even
thousands o years beore. Their contribution oten consisted o
small steps which updated the usual ideas. Small (and not so small)
steps, but on rm ground. Rather than inventing, rediscovering.
This article was presented at Qualicer, 2010. Tile Today sponsor
that event. This article is available as an archived article which
can be downloaded orm the advice section o www.inotile.com.
All reerences are available there.
Roo o Saint Catherine’smarket, Barcelona.
7/14/2019 monografia
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/monografia-56327b712c97c 9/900 TILEToDAY #68 i f til / bli ti
REFERENCES[1] RASMUSSEN, STEEN EILER: Experiencia de la arquitectura. Biblioteca UniversitariaLabor, Barcelona , 1974.[2] MICHELL, GEORGE: La Arquitectura del Mundo Islámico. Alianza Editorial, S.A.Madrid 1985.[3] LAHUERTA, JUÁN JOSÉ: Antoni Gaudí. Sociedad Editorial Electa España S.A., Madrid,1999.[4] MARTÍNEZ LAPEÑA, JOSÉ ANTONIO: Park Gell. Editorial Gustavo Pili S.A.,Barcelona.[5] MARC-HENRI WAJNBERG (CD): Oscar Niemeyer, un arquitecto comprometidoArquia/documental. Bélgica, 2000.[6] AV MONOGRAFÍAS: Oscar Niemeyer. Arquitectura Viva S.L. Madrid, 2007.[7] INSTITUTO LINA BO e P.M. BARDI. Affonso Eduardo Reidy. Editorial Blau. Lisboa,2000.[8] RICHARD WESTON. Utzon. Editorial Blondal. Hellerup, Dinamarca, 2002.[9] AV MONOGRAFÍAS: España 2005. Arquitectura Viva S.L. Madrid, 2005.[10] EDUARDO DE MIGUEL ARBONÉS y otros. Arquitecturas cerámicas. Catedra