The installation "Urban Guerrilla" arises from a collaboration network between Spain / Mexico / UK and China facing the inherent challenge in which Digital Architecture was born: to be able to be built. During most of the 1990s, the field of avant-garde digital / electronic architecture was separated from the material / mechanical realm, even being understood as different eras, as a before and after.
However, it is crucial to understand that the digital / electronic era was born to understand the material / mechanical world, in other words, digital was created to analyze and control the complexity of the world in which we live.
The installation is located on the façade of the Territorial College of Architects of Valencia, in one of the busiest streets of downtown Valencia, and is part of the exhibition "Return to Nature" that presents digital and sustainable architecture and its material process of production. The greatest singularity of the site is the corner generated by the facade of the building.
The installation rehabilitates this space by regenerating it for the use of citizens. The geometry seems almost flying between the elements that form the facade, creating a tension between the adjacent buildings and their surroundings and their fluid form. The tiling and brightness of the surface generates lighting effects that make the corner lighter and softer, changing the scale of the building, making it more human.
The Valencian Community has a long and lasting tradition in the manufacture of ceramics. In this installation we have worked closely with "Decorativa-Cumella" one of the leading companies in Spain in the application of ceramics in architecture. From the beginning we created a workflow where we contributed analysis and digital control of the complex geometry, while "Decorativa-Cumella" contributed its knowledge and experience to create a custom-made and unique ceramic, this collaboration allowed the development of ceramic pieces that adapt to the characteristics of the project, where flat pieces and high-firing stoneware curves coexist with gilded metallic enamel, developed by a complex process of extrusion and molding.
Currently, mechanical + electronic control offers us a great opportunity to develop and reinvent traditional materials in the search for innovation.
