Interview

1、您是怎樣開始設計的呢，設計理念通常是怎樣引發出來、產生的呢？

我們開始設計時，首先要確定必須要解決的問題和利用建筑解決這些問題的途徑，這就意味著，我們的工作開始時，需要超越客戶或簡介信息的描述或要求，真正的確定建筑需要解決的問題，如果你沒付出必要的時間和努力找到需要解決的真正問題，那么所提出的方案也將是留于表面、不堪一擊的。我們的工作是為了抓住問題本質，并專注于問題本質，我們相信我們應該做的是回答一個基本問題，而不是很多個次要問題，因為這些次要問題在之后的過程中自然會迎刃而解。之后，我們利用建筑歷史、理論和實踐中獲得的通用工具制定策略，而不是設計概念，我們會制定可適應不同情景的靈活策略，幫助我們找到問題的答案。我們發現這種工作方法與希臘的Techne概念息息相關。

2、您的很多建筑作品并不是規模很大、外形簡單，但是卻對外墻的材料和設計非常講究。您可以與我們的讀者分享一下您處理建筑表皮的方法嗎？

對待任何問題，如果不去考慮解決方法的話，我們是無法解決的，因此結構、材料和施工，及它們與建筑物條件和環境的關系會影響我們做出的每一個決策。在厄瓜多爾，特別是在安第斯山地區和基多，由于天氣相對溫和的原因，我們可以模糊內部和外部的邊界，將我們所擁有的美麗的自然環境融入到我們的建筑中，發揮材料和幾何結構的內在可能性和特質，而不是試圖模仿或復制自然；我們在嘗試通過物質化和幾何結構，來調和建筑和自然、策略和現實之間的關系。

3、在您的設計中，您是怎樣一直保持創新性和創造性的呢？

這不是我們努力的目標，而是我們利用一定工作方法后產生的結果，我們可應用類似的策略去解決不同問題，比如天井或庭院，但是其必須要符合的條件往往會影響并改變最后形成的建筑。對同一個通用原則或策略來說，材料和施工中的變化將會產生非常不同的結果，我們將天井從x房屋到科塔卡奇房屋、到擴散邊界RI房屋項目的應用表明了我們工作中的這種變化發展。

4、厄瓜多爾保持了傳統的城市風格，并擁有很多歷史建筑。您認為城市環境會影響貴公司的風格或理念嗎？

當然會，城市和自然環境是我們建筑發揮作用的必要條件和場所；我們將我們所有的工作視為對一個已存在環境的介入，同樣地，我們必須努力改善現有的環境。在城市環境下，介入范圍總是更復雜的，涉及到很多不同方面和程度的影響，所以能夠確定我們的建筑在城市品質改善方面可發揮的作用，在定義所需解決問題方面是非常關鍵的，我們的方案必須對個人用戶和集體有效，可將兩者融合在一起，在這個項目中，便是對私人和公眾之間的界線再次進行模糊，以重拾我們城市集體生活的悠久歷史。

ICONO：可滲透生活（公寓和辦公室） Icono: Permeable Living (Apartments and offices)

5、您表達空間的方式非常豐富多樣，那么您的思想基礎是什么？

我們不會讓工作受到程序或形式的限制，同樣也不會讓我們建筑中的出發點或主要考量因素受到其限制；我們嘗試去確認建筑中的基本問題時，就希望結果可以是本質層面上的，與僅處理表面問題相比，能夠與用戶在不同、更深和更多的層面上產生共鳴。

6、您已經成功完成許多重要項目，包括厄瓜多爾安巴托的法院建筑，您是怎樣處理新建筑、老建筑和城市之間的關系的呢？

如果我們將我們所有的建筑都視為一種介入，關系便會成為主要關注焦點，特別是建筑物和城市之間的關系，怎樣在其邊界或空間內進行工作，才可在規模和特色方面，形成與公共和私人或個人和集體邊界一樣的第三空間。法院大樓項目涉及到一系列位于不同城市和環境中的項目，我們將需要解決的主要問題定義到法院大樓應該為這座城市提供的公共空間上，這一公共空間在規模和特性上應該擁有較少市政和壓迫因素，多些個人和吸引人的因素，形成一系列可緩解和分散人們在這類建筑中通常體會到的緊迫感的空間。為實現這一目的，我們利用了城市門廊或門廳及綠色廣場原則，通過規模、材料和幾何結構的調整，讓其融入每一個建筑環境。

7、據我們所知，您會強調建筑的個性。您是如何在獲得用戶認同的情況下，對建筑特色進行創造的呢？

我們發現工作中利用抽象作為一種工具去理解本質問題，也用它來創作基本建筑，可以讓我們超出表面期待或流行話語，與客戶以更深的方式建立聯系。同時，我們努力建造的建筑，可為用戶和用戶的需要提供支持，具有適應性和可調整性，同時具備足夠的特性和目的因素，可讓建筑作為用戶思想的促成者和強化者，而不僅僅是一個基礎設施。

8、您的建筑中使用的材料和部件之間的聯系都是經過精心設計的，您是怎樣對這些細節進行控制的呢？

這就是我們極力強調Techne原則的地方，通過應用通用原理獲得知識的積累。在厄瓜多爾我們必須要面對建筑技術的實際局限性和經濟限制，這迫使我們必須采用、重建現有的且已證實的通用技術，而不是依賴標準技術。通過研發這些細節和技術，我們的建筑在材料和施工基礎上成型、變化，所以我們從不發明或從零開始，我們是在與制造者或建造者一起不斷地發展和適應中，從通用到具體，從策略到現實。定義和完工是這個過程中的步驟，而不是開始和結束，繪圖和施工是一體的、相互依賴的，所以我們堅持獲取本質這一原則，將這些細節和整體施工過程視為一套邏輯上可被理解和完成的規則和原則。

9、在您的作品中，您常常使用抽象集合體和大面積透明玻璃幕墻，你可以談談您對這種形式的看法嗎？

利用抽象作為工具和工作方法不一定會形成抽象幾何結構和形式，但是我們一直試圖解釋它是一種結果，而不一定是意圖，透明度和環境聯系也是如此。在這個意義上，我們會說我們更喜歡依靠鬼斧神工的地形和安第斯山脈的美景，或者四季常青的茂密植被和變幻不定、美不勝收的天空，而不是依靠建筑的客觀特性；這不是說我們在模仿或隱藏，或在極簡化和讓其充滿趣味。我們不認為建筑應該是關于形式或意象的美，而是我們致力于讓美超越其本身的意象和形式限制，同時保持其工藝和與現實的聯系。

10、您對中國建筑的印象是什么？如果有機會的話，您想在中國留下什么樣的作品呢？

很多年以來，我們一直在關注中國建筑的發展，最近幾年越來越感興趣。我們發現當前中國建筑師開發的作品范圍和質量堪稱典范，特別是在較小和中等規模的作品和環境中。我們看到當代建筑方案中體現了與當地施工、歷史和環境更密切的聯系，這些方案雖被重新打磨，但是卻非常有效。在這些建筑中，我們觀察到中國和拉丁美洲間的關系比兩者中任意一方與歐洲的關系都要密切，我們認為，這具有很大發展潛力。

我們很樂意在中國工作，進一步加深對建筑問題共同原則和方法的了解，同時將我們的觀點和工作方法帶到中國，以在這個邊緣領域探索出第三種選擇建筑，拓展亞洲文化和拉丁美洲文化之間這塊鮮有涉足的廣闊區域。

1. How do you start a design, and how do design concepts often trigger and generate?

We start by determining the problem we have to solve and how it can be solved through architecture, meaning that our work always begins by going beyond what the client or brief can describe or ask for, to actually determine a problem that can be solved with architecture, if you don’t spend the necessary time and effort establishing the actual problem you are being asked to solve, then your solution will be superficial and weak. We work towards the essential in the nature of the problem and focus on that, we believe we should be answering one fundamental question, not many secondary ones, those tend to answer themselves later in the process. We then rely on universal tools that architectural history, theory and practice provide us, to develop strategies rather than design concepts, flexible strategies that can adapt to different circumstances and allow us room to work out the answers we need. We find this working method relates to the Greek concept of Techne.

2. Many of your architectural works are not big in size and simple in shape, but they are quite concerned about the materials and design of the facade. Could you share with our readers how you deal with the building skin?

We cannot approach any problem without considering how to solve it, thus structure, material and construction and how they relate to the conditions and context of the building inform every decision we make. In Ecuador, particularly in the Andes region and Quito, thanks to the relatively mild weather we can blur the boundaries between inside and out and incorporate the amazing natural environment we have into our architecture, working with the intrinsic possibilities and qualities of material and geometry rather than trying to emulate or copy nature; we try to approach materiality and geometry as a way to mediate between architecture and nature, between strategy and reality.

3. How do you maintain continuous innovation and creativity in your design?

That is something we don’t strive for as a goal but rather is a result of our working method, we can apply a similar strategy to different problems, for instance the patio or courtyard, but the conditions it has to respond to will inform and change the resulting architecture. A change in material and construction will have a very different result for the same universal principle or strategy, the way we have applied the patio from the x house to Cotacachi house, to the diffuse borders RI house project shows this development in our work.

4. Ecuador keeps a traditional city style and has many historical buildings. Do you think the urban environment has an impact on the style or philosophy of your firm?

Absolutely, urban and natural environment conform the reality that our architecture has to work with and within; we consider all our work as an intervention in an existing context, and as such we have to strive to always improve that pre existing environment. Within urban contexts the scope of the intervention is always more complex and deals with many aspects and scales of influence, so being able to determine the degree in which our architecture will improve the quality of the city is fundamental in defining the problem to be solved, our solutions have to work for the individual user and for the collective, always trying to bring the two together, again to blur the boundaries, in this case between private and public, to regain that rich history of collective living in our cities.

5. The way you express space is rich and diverse,what is your basis for the idea?

We never work within the limits of program or form, neither are starting points or the main considerations in our architecture; as we try to identify the essential problems within architecture then we hope the results will be as essential, and as such resonate with the users at different, more profound and rich levels than you can achieve when you work, literally, with the superficial.

6. You have completed a number of important projects, including the court in Ambato, Ecuador,how do you deal with the relationships between new buildings, old buildings and the city?

If we consider all our work as an intervention, that relationship is always present as a main concern, particularly the relationship between building and city, and how to work in the boundary or space in between, to generate a third space that works in scale and character as that place in the border of public and private, or personal and collective space. In the Court House projects, as a system of projects to be located in different cities and contexts, we defined the main problem to solve as precisely that public space the court building should always give to the city, but with a scale and character less civic and imposing and more personal and inviting, a sequence of spaces to relieve and distract from the tension the user always experiences in these buildings. We used the principle of the urban porch or portal and a green plaza to achieve this, varying the scale, material and geometry to adapt to each context.

7. We know that you emphasize the individuality of the building. How do you create the building features, while winning the user's identity or approval?

We have found that working with abstraction as a tool to understand the essential and also to produce essential architecture, we can go beyond superficial expectations or fashionable statements to connect with the client in more profound ways. Also, we try to produce architecture that works as a support for the users and their needs, always adaptable and modifiable but with enough character and intention to be able to act as enabler and intensifier of the user’s ideas and not just as mere infrastructure.

8. The use of materials in your buildings and the connection of components are carefully designed, how could you control these details?

This is where we relate strongly to the principle of Techne, procuring an accumulation of knowledge through applied universal principles. The actual limited scope of building technology and economic restrictions we have to work with in Ecuador allows/forces us to always have to adapt and redevelop existing and proven universal techniques, rather than rely on standard technology. Our architecture is shaped and informed by material and construction through the development of these details and techniques, so we never invent or start from scratch, we work in constant development and adaptation, always with the fabricators or constructors, always from the universal to the specific and always from strategy to realization. Definition and completion are steps in this process, not beginning and end,drawing and construction are integral and interdependent, so we apply the same principle of procuring the essential,so as to treat these details and the whole construction process as a set of rules and principles that can be logically understood and carried out.

9. In your work, you often use abstract geometric volume and large area of transparent glass curtain wall, could you talk about your views of the form?

Using abstraction as a tool and working method not necessarily results in abstract geometry and form, but as we have tried to explain it is rather a consequence and not necessarily an intention, the same with transparency and connection with the environment. In this sense we can say that we prefer to rely on the beauty of the amazing geography and landscape of the Andes, or the lush year-round greenery and the constantly changing skies, rather than rely on the objectual quality of our buildings; that is not to say we try to mimic or hide, or try to be minimal and intriguing, we don’t consider architecture should be about the beauty of form or image, but aim to reach beauty beyond its own image and formal limits, as well as within its craft and connection with reality.

10. What is your impression of Chinese architecture? What kind of work would you like to leave in China if you have the opportunity?

We have been following the development of Chinese architecture for many years, and with much more interest in the last couple of years. We find the scope and quality of the work being developed currently by Chinese architects exemplary, particularly in the smaller and intermediate scales and contexts. We see now a much closer connection with local construction, history and context informing contemporary solutions that are retrained but highly potent. In these architectures we see a much closer relationship between China and Latin America than between either and Europe, and that has an enormous potential for development in our view.

We would love to work in China precisely to further understand these common principles and approaches to architectural problems, while bringing our outlook and working methods, in order to develop a third option,architecture produced within that fringe, diffuse expanse between Asian and Latin American culture that has been little explored.