Articles by Begoña Uribe

Photographer Gregori Civera worked in collaboration with Pablo Bofill to photograph the magnificent work of his father Ricardo Bofill. The Red Wall, La Muralla Roja is a housing project located within the La Manzanera development in Spain‘s Calpe. The building makes clear references to the popular architecture of the Arab Mediterranean Area, a result of the architects’ inspiration by the Mediterranean tradition of the casbah. 

The concept of heritage is often associated with something that has had value in its past and, for that reason, deserves to be preserved. In the case of architecture, we want our built environment to tell our history and to remain untouched in time, often without considering the real use and meaning of the building in the present. We ask ourselves: Does a building still have value if its use is obsolete?

Despite the fascination that we have with ruins, sometimes conversion or rehabilitation is a better, more contemporary alternative to conservation. By doing so, it is possible to introduce new innovative materials, which, rather than take away from the original structure, can actually add even more value to architectural works. It is also possible to convert spaces that were originally designed to accommodate certain functions into spaces that admit new uses relevant to the present.

To conserve a building without updating it or rethinking its functions can lead to wear and tear, freezing it in time and preventing it from adapting to an ever-changing society.

To illustrate this theme, we searched our archives and selected someof the best architectural interventions in historic buildings. Check them out below.

The perspective section is an increasingly popular form of architectural representation, one that is most commonly used in architectural competitions since it allows a technical drawing to be mixed with an image, a section which allows one to easily express the qualities of the space designed in a two-dimensional drawing. Below, we have put together a selection of impressive perspective sections ranging from a realistic aesthetic to a line drawing by hand.