Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute

clorindo testa a centennial tribute Edited by Alejandro Lapunzina Introductions by Pere Fuertes Francisco J . Rodriguez Suarez Texts by Gerardo Caballero Federica Conte Mario Corea Cherubino Gambardella Alejandro Lapunzina Joaquina Testa Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute Title: Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Authors: Alejandro Lapunzina (editor); introductions by Pere Fuertes and Francisco Rodríguez Suárez; texts by Gerardo Caballero, Federica Conte, Mario Corea, Cherubino Gambardella, Alejandro Lapunzina, and Joaquina Testa. Publisher: Barcelona: Iniciativa Digital Politècnica, 2024 Coordination and layout: A.L. Texts: © the authors Images: All images of Clorindo Testa’s work published with permission of Fundación Clorindo Testa (Buenos Aires, Argentina), unless otherwise noted. © Fundación Clorindo Testa. Other images published by courtesy of contributing authors and collaborators. This is a non-for-profit academic publication. This book is not for sale. The publication of this book has been possible thanks to financial support from the Suzanne & William Allen Professorship Endowment Printed in Barcelona (Spain) by Paco Tecnoart December 2024 DL B 22688-2024 ISBN paper: 979-13-87613-00-6 ISBN digital: 979-13-87613-01-3 DOI: 10.5821/ebook-9791387613013 Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute Alejandro Lapunzina (editor) Introductions by Pere Fuertes Francisco Rodríguez Suárez Texts by Gerardo Caballero Federica Conte Mario Corea Cherubino Gambardella Alejandro Lapunzina Joaquina Testa Preliminary words Sometimes good things happen entirely by chance. It is the case of this little book. Its origin can be traced back to a telephone conversation about a completely different subject that I had in May 2023 with Joaquina Testa, Clorindo Testa’s daughter and president of the Fundación Clorindo Testa (Buenos Aires, Argentina). In that conversation we informally explored the possibility that the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program at BarcelonaEl Vallès (the flagship study abroad program of the Illinois School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as the “Barcelona Program”) and its host institution, the Escola Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) jointly organize a modest exhibition of Testa’s architectural legacy to commemorate the centennial of his birth. One and a half years later, that informal conversation materialized with the organization of the exhibition Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute and a round table dedicated to celebrating his work. This book comprises aspects of both; on one hand, it works as a sort of catalogue of the images displayed in the exhibition, while on the other, it includes eight rather personal approximations to the work of Testa by the specially invited guests who participated in the round table held at the exhibit’s opening on December 16, 2024. The main objective of the entire project was to celebrate the work of this extraordinary architect, Preliminary words 5 6 but in parallel, our intention is to disseminate his work, especially to an audience that, because of geographical and generational distances, may not be familiar with the transcendence of his architectural oeuvre. Based on a preliminary selection made by Federica Conte, a young Italian architect and researcher of Testa’s work, the exhibit presents a brief selection of some of the architect’s most significant buildings, from the emblematic and internationally praised Banco de Londres y América del Sur (1956-1959) to some of his late work such as the Auditorio for the Universidad del Salvador (1998-2000). For the most part, this book includes the same documents (preliminary sketches, drawings, photographs) displayed in the exhibition; however, there are a few exceptions in both directions, that is, some images included in the book are not displayed in the exhibit (notably most of the images that illustrate the texts), and vice versa, not all the images shown in the exhibit are included in this volume. In closing, we hope that those who have known Clorindo Testa and his work enjoy this little book as a heartful tribute, and that those who are not familiar with it discover the work of one of the most original and greatest architects of the last seventy years. Alejandro Lapunzina Sant Cugat del Vallès, December 2024 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Pere Fuertes, Director ETSAV Introduction (I): Tracing Testa Books are precious opportunities, and this one is no exception. Its pages aim to amplify the echo of Clorindo Testa’s work within the academic world, celebrating the centenary of his birth from a contemporary perspective. In doing so, both the exhibition and the book also offer an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program at BarcelonaEl Vallès (IASAP-BV) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès (ETSAV), which has hosted the program since 2014. Clorindo Testa’s career spans over half a century. It both contributes to and mirrors the complex and often contradictory transformations in architecture since the 1950s. In this sense, the exhibition is a journey guided by an architect who proved to be receptive and sensitive to these changes. It is a panorama of his work and, simultaneously, a selective retrospective of Western architecture during the same period, which we owe to the wonderful support and collaboration of the Fundación Clorindo Testa. Several photographs of Testa in his office reveal a deliberate posture, far from accidental. A hand rests beneath his face, near the mouth, while his reading glasses sit in standby mode on his forehead. The architect gazes at the photographer—and the world—with a profound and personal vision, one that has gifted us works 7 Pere Fuertes | Introduction 8Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute like the Banco de Londres y América del Sur in Buenos Aires. But when the glasses come into action, he approaches his architecture through a lens that brilliantly connects with the architectural culture of his time. Testa’s work reflects this delicate balance between individual creativity and the absorption of contemporary influences. This multifaceted gaze also applies to his remarkable versatility in painting, sculpture, and urbanism. Architecture alone was not enough for Testa, and the national and international recognition of his artistic output demonstrates a genuine artistic pursuit, showcasing his expansive talent. The intellectual breadth that Testa embodies transcends disciplinary boundaries and reveals a deep engagement with the world’s complexity. And still, there are those hands that play with his face, unveiling or concealing his mouth, shifting the balance of his head with a gentle brace. Merleau-Ponty speaks of hands with an active role [1] Four portraits of Clorindo Testa, glasses up, hands resting beneath his face. Alejandro Lapunzina Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute In informal and casual conversations with fellow Argentineans it is not unusual to hear someone referring to Clorindo Testa as “the best” Argentinean architect ever. This is quite significant considering the long list of illustrious architects born or educated in Argentina or whose work has primarily taken place there. Names such as Eduardo Sacriste, Amancio Williams, Wladimiro Acosta, Antonio Bonet, Mario Roberto Alvarez, Justo Solsona, Cesar Pelli, Machado and Silvetti, Rafael Viñoly, and many others come immediately to mind. But engaging in a debate of whether or not he –or anyone else— is the “best” ever, is truly futile and irrelevant because, fortunately, we do not have reliable instruments nor methods to determine who is the best architect. However, what is beyond any doubt is that Clorindo Testa is one of the most important and relevant architects in the history of Argentina’s architecture. As Jorge Francisco Liernur noted, “spanning the entire second half of the twentieth century and (the first part) of the twenty-first century, his work constitutes one of the most significant and universally recognized architectural oeuvres in Argentina.”1 For nearly six decades of intense professional activity, he was one of the dominant figures of Argentina’s and Latin American architectural scene. Further, his work quickly transcended national and regional borders, receiving international recognition 15 Alejandro Lapunzina |Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute 1 Jorge Francisco Liernur, “Clorindo Testa;” dictionary entry in the Diccionario de Arquitectura en la Argentina; Buenos Aires: AGEA, 2004. (pp. 108-114). 16 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute for the quality and audacity of buildings such as the Banco de Londres y América del Sur. If in the early years of his career his buildings and projects revealed the influence of Le Corbusier’s most recent work, especially in India,2 throughout his life he remained open to explore new avenues. The Centro Cívico in Santa Rosa, a governmental complex designed and built over a period of four decades, epitomizes this: the original masterplan and first built buildings –notably the Government Building— have obvious references to Le Corbusier’s work, but as time evolved, so did the masterplan and the new buildings, from the House of Representatives, built during the second stage of construction, to the latter’s free-standing library building, built in the fourth stage. All of them designed by Testa in different periods of his life stand as a testimony to the evolution of his architecture. The constantly changing and evolving nature of his work had been already identified in 1983 by Marina Waisman who asserted that for Testa “each new work is an adventure of the imagination that demands to be discovered, for in each one lurks surprises, unexpected solutions, unconventional ways of solving conventional or new –recently created-- problems, newly invented situations, needs to live special places, and imagining places that might seem ‘unnecessary’ from a merely programmatic point of view.”3 This position and “architectural modus operandi” makes the body of his work truly unclassifiable even if the architectural connoisseur may identify signs of Brutalist architecture in his buildings and projects of the 1950s and 1960s, or of Postmodernism 2 It is worth mentioning that he regarded Le Corbusier as an important influence in his work. 3 Marina Waisman, “La obra de Testa: propuesta para una lectura.” Published in the monographic issue dedicated to Testa’s work of the architectural journal Summa, #183/184, January/February 1983. (p. 26). 17 Alejandro Lapunzina |Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute in the seventies and eighties, and even of the architecture of fragmentation that characterized many works of the last decade of the 20th century. The truth may be that the only way to classify his work is as Clorindo’s architecture, an “architect of his time, with memory but free of historicist nostalgia,”4 someone who wore many masks (he had a wonderful collection of them) and constantly nurtured his imagination with an open, free –yet not uncritical— spirit. At sixty-four years old I still do not know why I decided to study architecture. My upbringing in the outskirts of Buenos Aires had nothing to do with architecture (my parents were medical doctors) nor I really knew anything about it beyond a conventional and mundane understanding of the discipline. I did have, however, an interest in the arts in general (literature and music) and a certain intuitive curiosity for 20th century painting and 4 Marina Waisman, “La obra…” (p. 29) [1] Portrait of Clorindo Testa with a paper mask. (photograph courtesy of © Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Berlin). 18 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute sculpture (the paintings of Paul Klee and the mobile sculptures of Alexander Calder always fascinated me) even if I had only seen them in photographs. My knowledge of modern architecture was very limited, and that about Argentinean architecture was even poorer. But, already in the early years of my education at the Universidad de Buenos Aires Clorindo Testa and his famous Banco de Londres were usual references in studio courses. I was probably 19 years old and in the second or third year of my architectural studies when, having not seen the building not even in photographs, I found myself at the heart of Buenos Aires’ financial district (I area I do not recall frequenting) and therefore decided to find the building. I was certainly enthused with the prospect of seeing such a famous building in person. [2] Interior of the Banco de Londres. (photograph courtesy of © Daniela MacAdden, Buenos Aires) 19 Alejandro Lapunzina |Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute My surprise and amazement began as I approached it from a certain distance: I had no certainty that this was the building I was looking for, but who could have doubted it? Architecture –a modern architecture that I completely ignored– poured through every centimeter of the building I had in front of me. Pretending to be a client I got inside; my initial surprise and amazement multiplied exponentially. I had never been in a space like that. So –I thought– this is what modern architecture is all about. The dynamism of the space, the openness and transparency (unusual for a bank), the beauty of the exposed concrete structure, and quality of details, all left an indelible impression on me. Those were different days, and I had neither a sketchbook nor a camera with me, but –surely much better— those images are forever imprinted on my retina. Forty-five years later I can now say that it was one of the “highest” architectural experiences I have had. Since that moment, the work of Clorindo Testa became a reference for me. It is perhaps for this reason that in 1986, when I decided to leave my home in Buenos Aires to pursue advanced architectural studies in the United States, the 1993 monographic issue of the architectural journal Summa dedicated to Clorindo Testa’s work that I owned was one of the few books that I made sure to carry along with me in that journey, and one that I always kept handy, still today. In all these years of living, working and teaching in the United States and Europe (I eventually did not return to live in Buenos Aires), the work of Clorindo Testa has come up in numerous conversations with colleagues who are familiar, sometimes 20 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute vaguely, with his oeuvre. Often, the conclusion is that, despite having been widely published worldwide, perhaps if he had worked in a different geographical context (Europe, the United States) his work would be much better known, especially by younger generations. In fact, whereas there are numerous publications about his work, a comprehensive and thorough critical study of his architectural production is long overdue. This is obviously not the purpose of this publication. Instead, in producing a small exhibition of his work, and publishing this little book, the Illinois Barcelona Program along with its mother and host institutions, the School of Architecture of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Valles respectively, seek to pay tribute to Clorindo Testa and his architectural legacy at the time in which we commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. [3] Cover of the journal Summa #183/184, January/ February 1983. Federica Conte In search of the Argentine Language: Clorindo Testa and the covered squares of Buenos Aires In the cultural fervor that has taken place in South America since the early 1920s, Clorindo Testa should be considered as a pioneer, not only in his constructive method approach to architectural projects but also in his broader vision of innovation behind the construction of the contemporary city. This brief essay sheds light on the idea of constructing a new vision of the city through two projects located in Buenos Aires.1 These projects have been already widely discussed and published as architectural works in themselves, but the intent here is to use them for elucidating the idea underlying Testa’s city design as a space that the entire Argentine population—not just porteños2 — could identify with. The grid structure established by the Laws of the Indies in the mid-16th century, a clear definition of a radially expanding “free and undefined” scheme, became the perfect worktable for this South American architect. Clorindo Testa adhered to the legacy of Spanish ordinances in a context where the city he envisioned could conform to a melting pot of cultures, capable of connecting, through “bridges and walls”, both imaginary and built, the entirety of Argentina and even extending to the coast of Uruguay. [1] In my doctoral dissertation, the hypothesis I advance is that all of Testa’s projects share a 21 Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language 1 The origin of this text can be traced back to my doctoral dissertation at the Università La Sapienza, Roma. Federica Conte, Clorindo Testa. El juego de las manzanas, PHD thesis, Rome, July 2023. Tutor: Prof. Arc. Dina Nencini 2 Porteños means “people of the port”. It is mainly used to refer to residents of Buenos Aires.v 22 dimension in which Argentina is conceived as an island, part of a large South American archipelago. “Testa´s world” is a place where imagination exists tangibly, and art and architecture become perpetual projects for reflecting on the history of humanity, linked to the history of the city’s construction and its artifacts. He manages to connect a particular History to a universal one through an operation of abstraction, making it applicable to all of his designs. It is no coincidence that the title of this essay refers to the “squares of Buenos Aires” rather than to specific project titles.3 Among the hundreds of references Testa draws from, the echoes of classical culture resonate strongly, from the concept of the Greek stoa to the organization of spaces of the forum and classical orders. It may seem daring to claim that Clorindo Testa, in the creation of a language seemingly distant from the canons of the Greek and Roman world, is, in my opinion, classical. Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 3 As in my doctoral thesis, El Juego de las manzanas, I decided to introduce the topic through a general theme for specifying how Clorindo’s architecture always interacts with the city and its structure: in this case the focus is on creating new squares in specific districts of Buenos Aires: Recoleta and Microcentro. [1] Two sketches on the expansion of Buenos Aires. a. El subconsciente de la ciudad de Buenos (1995) and b. Limits to the expansion of the city (undated).(courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 23 To demonstrate these aspects of his long architectural career, I have selected two themes: the construction of the city through the breaking of the rule and the consequent relationship with the classical in the urban context. The ex-Banco de Londres and the Mariano Moreno National Library provide examples through which these themes can be briefly explored. I emphasize that both are architectural works unafraid to ride the wave of internationalization, as their goal is to enrich and give voice to a community in search of not only a cultural but also a spatial identity. The artist-architect has developed a stylized mimesis of his actual practice as an architect, emphasizing structural elements in their relationship with the environment: the visual elaboration of space thus becomes an icon of his professional activity. “Something like a Platonic reminiscence works obscurely within him. He is in search of what he once imagined, perhaps in another dimension of his existence, always dissatisfied with what comes from his mind and hands.”4 These two buildings generate “dangerous architectures” in the context of Buenos Aires, occupying a crucial space between art and architecture, where the city becomes the theater of fiction. For many architects, art serves architecture, whereas “in my view, it must be a choice made by the architect: it should not be considered an embellishment but an enrichment in the broadest sense. It is not just an ornament; it is something Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language 4 “ Clorindo Testa, Architettura e tempo,” in Gabriele Cappellato, Clorindo Testa e Juan Navarro Baldeweg. Esperienze di architettura: generazioni a confronto. I quaderni dell’Accademia di Mendrisio. Skira editore: Mendrisio, 1996. 24 that actively participates in Architecture. I therefore believe that the artist should collaborate with the architect, as both can contribute significantly to society, to the city.”5 Both projects represent, in terms of city construction, two major meeting points, two covered squares that interpret the built environment through different strategies. The bank In January 1960, a private competition was called for the construction of the new headquarters of the Bank of London and South America in Buenos Aires. The renowned Buenos Airesbased architectural office SEPRA (Sanchez Elias, Peralta Ramos & Agostini), was one of the teams invited to participate in the competition. One of SEPRA´s partners, Alfredo Agostini, invited a young Clorindo Testa to join the team. The result of this collaboration was an architectural masterpiece, the Banco de Londres y América del Sur, located at the intersection of Reconquista and Bartolomé Mitre streets at the heart of Buenos Aires’ financial center. The competition brief detailed not only the functional program and the quantity/quality of spaces but, above all, what would define the architectural development, emphasizing the importance of the symbolic value the building was to represent, with a composition of spaces that were completely flexible and reversible. The competition jury considered that the project by Clorindo Testa and SEPRA not only best solved the functional and tectonic aspects of the bases but also transcended the realm of form, successfully achieving the symbolic dimension called for in the brief: Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 5 Ibidem 31 Each of the adjacent blocks contributes to the composition of the structure as a fragment of the city’s system: the two streets running along the east and west sides, streets Agüero and Austria respectively, take on the character of an urban corridor, where the former acts as a barrier and the latter appears as a green horizontal connector towards the grand Avenida Libertador. Similarly, Avenida Las Heras to the south does not visually close the block but merely defines its boundary. The proposed project, despite its modifications over time, as Clorindo himself wrote, has always sought to establish a relationship with the surroundings, whether they were part of the natural or built landscapes. The form-function dichotomy (where form is not only that of the building but also of the land and nature) certainly represented a limit that the architects had to overcome, especially because the competition organizers aimed for an innovative aesthetic result without destroying the site’s landscape and urban characteristics. [4] Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language [4] Sketch by Clorindo Testa of the Library’s covered square. Date unknown. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 32 “The author was primarily guided by the criterion of respecting the existing characteristics of the site and its surroundings, utilizing an impeccable layout for the building, which occupies space without touching the ground. [...] The external space maintains its role as the protagonist of the composition: it flows freely through the building and is always present in all the main areas, offering broad views that dominate the surrounding landscape.”13 As for the plan, the architects proposed elevating the main body of the building, freeing the ground from visual obstacles, allowing for the capture of all the images that the theater of the city/nature offers to the surroundings. [5] The layout is based on a dominant longitudinal axis, though the architectural object is not symmetrically positioned along it. The artificial hill can be accessed by four different entrances, which I believe is a tribute to the silent references Testa carries with him: the west side is an homage to the Acropolis, where a staircase punctuated by vertical Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute [5] Covered square. Photograph of the author. Buenos Aires, December 2021. (courtesy © Federica Conte) 33 concrete elements simulates the Propylaea; on the east side there is a ramp inspired in Le Corbusier’s style, which is reprised with a variation on the main front, towards Avenida del Libertador; the northern end also features a staircase, this time enclosed in a playful cylindrical volume, presenting itself more as an urban sculpture than as an ascending structure. Whichever access the visitor chooses, the desired effect is that of an acropolis-like architectural promenade, complex and articulated, particularly in relation to the landscape. From the large, covered square, almost eight meters above the site’s lowest point, rise four pillars that support the elevated structure, internally defined by four levels. On the two lower levels, the third and fourth floors, are the special reading rooms, including the Treasury Room; on the upper two levels, the fifth and sixth floors, house the main reading rooms, accommodating more than four hundred seats, and further study rooms. “It is interesting because, while respecting the landscape, something around it spontaneously changed. It truly changed: through this central space, one sees the city in a different way. On one side, you see the residential buildings, those 200 meters away, and then you turn, and in front of you is an internal space that is open, open to the point where you can see the river and beyond, you see the sky, and on both sides, the city’s space. What is suspended there is a bar; to the right is the auditorium, and above are the reading rooms.”14 Beneath the large, elevated volume, three prismatic concrete elements emerge: the one facing Libertador Ave. is the auditorium, with its blind facades; in the center, like swings between two Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language 14 Ibidem. 34 trees, there are a café and an open terrace; and at the rear end are the offices, echoing the front volume. The ground floor is conceived as the negative of the elevated space: “When you’re underneath, you already know that the void corresponds to a solid, and that solid is the conference hall, there, just the offices, and then again the small café.”15 One of the main points of the project develops the theme of morphology16 starting precisely from the block/square: the newspaper archive and the spaces dedicated to the Escuela de los Bibliotecarios (School of Librarians) are only in an imaginary section on the first underground floor, as it juts out like a projection of the elevated body of the library. Thus, it appears as an extension of the large square, where Clorindo designs fixed elements like bench-handrails, combined with extrusions of cylindrical volumes that serve as sources of zenithal light for the school’s spaces. The architects had to work on two fronts: the first, what already existed, and the other, imagining something untried but for the use of the citizen. The surprise effect linked, however, to a common and already established memory: Testa speaks of a tension between what was desired and what existed that he and Bullrich always kept alive with the intent to show differentiation in the fragments of the work, also dependent on a functional and contextual aspect. However, not everything was to be revealed, especially the core of what is preserved as historical memory: the great book vault. On the facade, Testa conceived a solution where only a keen eye perceives the dimensional difference of these four volumes, which differ as if Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 15 Ibidem. 16 Here the term “morphology” refers both to that of the site and the urban context: the former constructs an artificial hill, already shaped by the existing slope of the plot, serving as the podium for the new square in relation to the surrounding blocks, which are meant to provide the backdrop for the city stage on which the library project will rise. 35 they were the front and back legs of that famous glyptodon Clorindo often spoke about. The pillars are not “pure parallelepipeds”; they are adorned with lateral wings that, despite the nearly two-meter difference, always coincide with the slab beam system of the first floor. The autonomy of each element is emphasized by the surface of the concrete, where the various volumes, plastically sculpted, are characterized by textures of different directions and sizes. It is clear that, a few years after completing the Banco de Londres building, Testa is fully exploring the world of concrete as a tool capable of shaping and bringing to life his world of ideas and his vision for a Buenos Aires in transformation. The entire project is a journey of discovery through various spaces, with ascents and descents, and unexpected openings onto specific parts of the city; the author pushes us towards continuous search for details: “I like to think of this idea that the building should be an aparición (an appeareance). I want the work to be able to vary depending on different points of view, even in relation to what is seen through this window or that other one.”17 The library is an urban device with a unique character: it is both a metaphor and an allegory of “a civic architecture with extraordinary expressive power, capable of embodying the sense of redemption of an entire nation through the value of culture and knowledge.”18 This building’s contribution to the construction of a new Buenos Aires can be summarized in two points, similar to the case of the Banco, where it disrupts the regularity of the existing system while continuously engaging with it: the hill highlights the Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language 17 Ibidem. 18 Armando Dal Fabbro, Macchine metaforiche, allegorie urbane e altre cose, DPA Marsilio, Venezia, 2003. 36 morphological flow of the Recoleta neighborhood, offering a covered square as a stage from which to observe the various urban happenings; the elevation of the volume above ground level reflects the intentions of the competition organizers, who wished to give the building’s most noble part—the reading room, as the dissemination of cultural memory—a space that could summarize the entire history of Argentina. Clorindo elevates it to such a degree that, from the rooftop, one’s gaze stretches towards the Rio de la Plata, towards Uruguay, towards the Ocean, connecting it to the distant history of Buenos Aires’ founding. The library has become an unintended monument to procrastination, the wait for a beginning that has lasted over thirty years. Yet, every construction site is synonymous with industry and change. Even during this long period of “immobility”, the building was experienced by the city as if it were a ruin, an artifact that “has no functional use or purpose, but is simply lived in by virtue of its material presence in the surrounding environment. Sometimes a building is most attractive in this way, without inhabitants, without users: a sculpture, a promise, a secret.”19 It engages in an endless dialogue with both built and imaginary city structures, with the architects he collaborated with, with his family, with the artists and politics of the time. I conclude the essay by referring to a thought from one of his most trusted collaborators, Oski Lorenti, who said that: “the substantial thing –Testa always repeated to him– was the process behind each of his works. The process was always creative in the way he defined it, as a process-encounter. The search behind projects like the Banco de Londres or the hundreds Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 19 Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, “Time and timelessness in Two buildings by Clorindo Testa.” In Manuel Cuadra, Alfonso Corona Martinez, Clorindo Testa, Architect. Nai publishers, Rotterdam. 37 of competitions we participated in was never about providing a definitive answer. We weren’t discussing what the final goal was –las búsquedas no fueron hacia algo– but our ability to remain open to what would reveal itself along the way, with freedom yet with great disciplinary coherence.” In this process, the space for compositional freedom emerged because Clorindo delved into the broader sense of what is “necessity.” Each decision was considered for its relative, rather than absolute, value: it was placed on the worktable, open to the possibility of always being changed or even modified by someone else. In a certain sense, he never would have talked about a search, but rather of an imagined world constructed around the concept of “open”. I believe that it is precisely for this reason that, today, Testa’s office is called Clorindo Testa Estudio Abierto. This openness led the author to the discovery that the real world could be associated with different worlds; hence his desire to retrospectively interpret his buildings as “animals,” where the act is that of a metamorphosis of what we know. In the transformation, something unusual happens because, in each of his projects, there exists that refined ability to lead the viewer to experience something unknown yet expected. The existence of something other than oneself is at the foundation of all his works, which, in my opinion, are moments and memories of urban architecture— and here I use the words moment and memory because they exist and live over time, defining, through their construction, a past memory, and through constant dialogue with the city, one that is evolving. Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language 38 Thus, it is not just the work itself that demonstrates his mastery in the art of building, but the entire journey between the idea, the built work, and the city. In this way, he manages to give new meaning to the city block (manzana), no longer subject to the rules of the Spanish grid. [6] Buenos Aires breathes through its large squares and reclaims the landscape of the pampas through the constellation of Clorindo Testa’s projects, spanning from the city to the countryside. He thus reformulates a new statute for the Buenos Aires of the future, where the theme of irony is the interpretative key that ties together all the periods of his vast production: not only as a demonstration of non-conformity with the harshness of the world around him, but as a capacity to transcend the techniques of constructing architectural space. Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute [6] Cuadrículas con letras y/o números. Serigraphy, 2000 (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 39 Federica Conte |In search of the Argentine Language 40 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Clorindo Testa’s sketch study for a housing scheme in Lomas del Tafí 47 Selected Works | Banco de Londres y América del Sur 45 6 48 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 1 2 3 [1] Clorindo Testa’s sketch study [2. 3] Interior views [4, 6] Transversal and longitudinal sections [5] Floor plans (ground, first and second levels) 49 Consisting of six floors, two free-standing and four suspended from the roof (excluding underground levels), the building works as a sort of covered plaza that blurs the distinction of outside and inside, challenging the notion of the public realm of the city and the protected space of a private banking institution, something that is reinforced by carving out the corner of the building’s virtual volume. The structure consists of a permeable giant order of sculptural columns that span the building’s entire height and support the horizontal structure from where the suspended levels are hung. Its material expression in exposed reinforced concrete has earned the building a significant place among the socalled Brutalist Architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. The necessary secure enclosure of the building is defined by fully glazed skin that encloses a dramatically dynamic space. Placed on the inner side and completely detached from the concrete structure that defines the building’s exterior volume, this skin epitomizes the many inversions (outer structure/inner enclosure, supported/ suspended structure, indoor covered plaza) that this building subtly proposes. Selected Works | Banco de Londres y América del Sur 4 5 6 50 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 12 3 51 Selected Works | Banco de Londres y América del Sur 4 5 6 [1, 4, 5, 6] Several views of the building’s distinctive exterior concrete skeleton and glazed enclosure [2, 3] Clorindo Testa’s sketch studies Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno [National Library Mariano Moreno] Buenos Aires (Argentina), 1962 (competition), 1972-1995 (construction) with Francisco Bullrich and Alicia Gazzaniga de Bullrich The project for the Biblioteca Nacional is the result of what perhaps was the most important competition in the history of Argentina’s architecture. relevant works. The project’s organization of areas and spaces is based on a clear logic: stacks are placed in several underground levels to protect books from light and sun exposure, while the reading rooms are located high up in a volume open to the four horizons with ample vistas and aboundant natural light. At a metaphorical and symbolic level, it may also be a reference to the openness of the pampas. The elevated volume of the reading rooms is supported by four massive concrete legs that accommodate some services and vertical circulation. Below them, a series of formally autonomous volumes housing diverse functions (for instance, the auditorium) are suspended above an open platform that serves as the building’s main entrance. Echoing the Banco de Londres y América del Sur built only a few years earlier, this is again a covered plaza in which there is yet another reversal: the sides are open, but the central space is covered (instead of a traditional plaza in which a cental space open to the sky is defined by lateral enclosures). Construction of the building began a few years after the competition was awarded; however, the numerous political and economic crisis suffered by Argentina in the last quarter of the 20th century paralyzed construction for a long time, leaving the imposing concrete structure as a ruin emerging from the ground that resembled and unnamed and ageless creature. 52 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute [1] Site plan [2, 4] Sketch studies by Clorindo Testa [3] View of entrance from covered plaza [5, 7] Exterior views [6] View from covered plaza towards the park 1 2 3 53 Selected Works | Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno 5 6 7 4 54 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 1 2 3 4 5 [1] Longitudinal section [2]ramp linking upper levels [3, 7, 8, 9] Details of building’s exterior [4] Floor plans of upper levels [5, 10] Studies for the parasoles (sun-protecting screens) [6] North elevation (from Av. del Libertador) 55 Selected Works | Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno 6 7 8 9 10 Construction finally resumed in the 1990s and the building finally opened to the public in 1995. However, major features remain pending; the most significant are the screens that protect the reading rooms from excessive sunlight to which Testa devoted numerous studies. Centro Cultural Recoleta [+Paseo del Pilar] Recoleta Cultural Center [+Paseo del Pilar] Buenos Aires (Argentina), 1979 with Jacques Bedel and Luis Benedit The Centro Cultural Recoleta consists of several autonomous and independent cultural facilities and institutions housed in a single building complex that involved the recuperation of built structures of an 18th century convent that, after the order’s dissolution, subsequently served as prison, hospital, asylum and art school. Rather that re-functionalizing or adapting the various existing buildings for each of the different cultural entities, Testa and his two younger collaborators –also architects and plastic artists— conceived an architectural ensemble through the addition of a variety of elements and the careful, quasi surgical intervention on the historical buildings that entailed preservation and restoration work of the built structures as well as of their related outdoor landscape elements (patios, historic trees, etc.). The key element of the intervention was the creation of a central spine, an open-air ‘street’, that links and provides access to the different components of the cultural complex. 56 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 1 22 63 Selected Works | Auditorio Universidad del Salvador 4 56 7 8 The auditorium’s program called for a hall for six hundred people that could be not only used for lectures but also as a venue for cultural and sports activities. For this reason, the hall was conceived as a flexible and easily convertible space able to accommodate diverse audience configurations thanks to combining a flat section with removable seating, and a two-section tiered platform. Occupying the central portion of the auditorium’s volume, the audience hall is flanked by classrooms and other areas used for diverse teaching purposes. 64 Individual Houses Residence Guido di Tella, Buenos Aires (Argentina), 1975 Casa Capotesta, Pinamar (Argentina), 1985-1987 with Luis Hevia Paul and Irene van der Pol Casa “La Tumbona,” Ostende (Argentina), 1985-1987 with Juan Genoud and Elena Acquarone House for Mrs. R, Exaltación de la Cruz, 1998-2000 with Juan Fontana In addition to the large volume of institutional buildings and projects, Testa designed numerous buildings for residential purposes, both multifamily buildings and individual houses. The high-rise apartment complexes on Rodríguez Peña Street and Castex Street (both in Buenos Aires, designed in the mid-1970s and not featured in this exhibit) are the most salient among multi-family high-rise buildings designed by Testa. On the other hand, individual houses constitute a universe of its own within the architect’s work, from the surprisingly secluded and spatially complex Residencia Guido di Tella, where a series of intimate and quasi surreal spaces are organized around two patios, to the beach houses of the 1980s and the almost rural House for Mrs. R in Exaltación de la Cruz, a small town one-hundred kilometers to the northwest of Buenos Aires. Every single one of them is singular and unique; they reflect Testa’s close attention to site constraints –or better yet, site opportunities— as well as his inclination to construct architectural promenades (perhaps a sign of his debt to Le Corbusier) that orient the gaze and the bodily occupation of space to and through a spatial journey that leads to carefully conceived spaces with intentionally framed views, be the interior courtyards of the di Tella residence, or the relationship with the Atlantic Ocean in the beach houses. Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 1 4 65 Selected Works | Individual Houses [1-3] Residence Guido di Tella: interiors: living/ fireplace, patio, library. [4-6] Casa “La Tumbona”: sketch, and two exterior views. 2 3 5 6 66 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute [1-3] House for Mrs. R.: sketch study, interior ramp and street view. [4-10] Casa Capotesta: sketch, plans, exterior and interiors. 1 2 3 4 5 67 Selected Works | Individual Houses 6 7 8 10 9 68 Clorindo Testa, painter In parallel to his successful architectural practice, Clorindo Testa maintained, throughout his professional life, a prolific career as a painter and sculptor artist, being considered as a one of the most relevant exponents of contemporary painting and sculpture in Argentina and Latin America. Not unlike his architectural production, his artwork reflects his constant experimentation with different media, supports and expressive languages. In his plastic work he embraced figurative and abstract themes, and developed numerous thematic series with narrative overtones focusing on a wide range of topics related to his personal interpretation of historic episodes, social and political issues, and architectural/urbanistic principles. Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 1 2 3 [1] Untitled, oil on canvas, 1954 [2] Cenizas sobre Herculano y la curiosidad mata a Plinio, acrylic on canvas, 1996 [3, 5, 6] Three fragments of Habitar, Trabajar, Circular y Recrearse, spray paint on paper and Board, 1969-1973 [4] Untitled, oil on canvas, 1960 69 Selected Works | Painting 4 56 70 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 1 2 3 71 Selected Works | Painting 4 5 6 [1] Siete cuadrados azules, acrylic on canvas, 2011 [2] Números, letras y manchas negra, acrylic on canvas, 2007 [3] Three fragments of Habitar, Trabajar, Circular y Recrearse, spray paint on paper and Board, 1969-1973 [4] Primavera, acrylic on canvas, 1987 [5] Autorretrato con la Peste o con Caperucita Roja, acrylic on canvas, 1990 [6] La ciudad de Stabia-Plinio y el Vesuio, acrylic on canvas, 1996 72 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Clorindo Testa’s sketch study for the Centro Cultural García Lorca project 79 I admire this man who enters architecture through the door of form, also following Corbu through painting as a parallel instrument of his art of building. Testa has no inhibitions, he is completely free, capable of plundering vocabularies without allowing himself the grid-lock of an apparent rigor. Further, in plundering these vocabularies, he does it with class, with an excess that does not determine a predictable result, but one that regenerates the acceptance and replication of every possible error in a series of bodies composed by writing one piece on top of another an infinite number of times, like when a child writes, deletes and in the place where he puts the mark above the deleted words there still remains the trace of the previous ones. It is striking to see that at the Santa Rosa Civic Center built in 1956, the ability to build a continuous play between equivocal syntaxes and composite elements reveals a study of the Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles5 that becomes an interplay of a long facade, and large objects placed on the roof. It is partly a ruin made by ramps, partly a collection of structures in a cage that never seems to be complete, not even in the large ramp nor in the front façade, barely outlined as something that exists and does not exist, or in the counterpart assailed by volumes that give it a smiling spectrality. The mask is ready and is soon put into action in the solid and perforated marquee of the Bank of London, where interior and exterior dialogue without mixing surfaces, but also with the plastic force of concrete. 5 (editor’s note) Refers to Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, built in 1946-1952. Cherubino Gambardella | Secrets and lies about Clorindo Testa 80 Here it defies gravity from above by taking on the syntactic plane of the ceiling, a plane forgotten in the Baroque and perhaps only recovered in some experiments of Neoclassicism to become a place of mechanical decoration. It becomes an expressive surface of this historical moment. Testa brings it to life by adding a rigid slab that tapers from below, forming up to seven different fronts in a virtual square that empties the corner of a block. It is the moment to summon up a thousand layers and sculpt them everywhere, like the shell 6 (editor’s note) Refers to Milan’s famous tower designed by BBPR studio (completed in 1958). [4] Clorindo Testa seen by Cherubino Gambardella. National Library. (courtesy © Cherubino Gambardella) Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 81 of a crustacean. We are now in the incredibly powerful cascade of styles of the National Library. Something very powerful, where the mass element is so strong that it cancels out the effect of a roof on the outside of the floor levels. It is so important that it fills the empty base, dissolves the intermediate structure and creates a coronation that is a real metropolis. It is a flying city with a whole series of suspended elements. It’s only a few years after the Torre Velasca6 and this architect is carrying out an operation that tends to never end, to narrate places, to write a letter in which the narrative almost stumbles, without falling even when it ends. Leaving concrete behind, we now focus on the spherical eyes of the Naval Hospital where even the short facade thickens in a spectacular open staircase like a body added to the beautiful blue prism that leads the openings to eyesight. [5] Clorindo Testa seen by Cherubino Gambardella. Naval Hospital. (courtesy © Cherubino Gambardella) Cherubino Gambardella | Secrets and lies about Clorindo Testa 82 It is a playfulness that returns in the free and overlapping forms of the Auditorio de La Paz, which, as all the auditoriums designed by Testa –such as of the College of Notaries or the unbuilt spectacular headquarters for the IUAV in San Basilio— it is a multistorey spatial hall. These architectures are true manifestos of a polyphony that leads him towards a luxurious and disturbing irony. This manifested itself in a constant desire to treat the central space with columns and praetorian figures, sentries and guards, staircases, ramps and openings with lowered arches, within a fiercely mixed and meandering composition, as in all the houses he designed till the end of his career or in the formidable Argentine Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia. These are his great forms. However, to illustrate this odd text, I need to accumulate more tension almost as if we need to reach an expressive tuning fork. To that end I will speak about his houses. [6,7] Clorindo Testa seen by Cherubino Gambardella. left: Auditorio La Paz. right: College of Notaries and San Basilio. (courtesy © Cherubino Gambardella) Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 83 Let’s start with Casa La Tumbona where the square is crossed by a forty-five-degree directrix that deforms in its projection behind the staircase, and then the wonderful yellow Casa Amarilla, made of constantly winding volumes reunited by and elevation where a promenade architecturale unfolds at the rooftop. Here everything is paratactic: there are at least five architectures that torture each other in a wonderful sadistic game of fragments and ruins put together by accessory bodies. Let’s continue with the Casa Capotesta, built in 1983, where the volumes and the staircase unfold like an ironic magnet from a square base with high knurls and blue paint, while the square windows are fixed and highlighted by white paint. The Casa Verde is sumptuous and elongated, both in the spectacular triumph of the ramp and in the planimetric dominance of the square, constantly [8, 9] Clorindo Testa seen by Cherubino Gambardella. left: Casa La Tumbona. right: Casa Amarilla. (courtesy © Cherubino Gambardella) Cherubino Gambardella | Secrets and lies about Clorindo Testa 84 challenged by the elevation and the marvelous sliding shutters. Casa Blanca is simply a masterpiece. From the central body grows an incredible village where every window has a slanted frame while the “hut” director lines push you everywhere like the petals of a white flower. Wonderful evidences that are finally materialized in Casa Prontopria, which, located a few meters from the Ocean, seems ready to welcome it back to the Mediterranean. The secret is in the gaze. Then, when you look at these architectures, you make them your own at the moment in which you put a load of lies on them to appropriate them. [10] Clorindo Testa seen by Cherubino Gambardella. Casa Capotesta. (courtesy © Cherubino Gambardella) Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 85 Cherubino Gambardella | Secrets and lies about Clorindo Testa Clorindo Testa, from the Paradise of Architects, will forgive me if I have tried to take him for a ride on my personal rollercoaster. I did it because this is the only way I can say something of what I feel for him and for myself, and above all because I now believe that the fundamental problem is to relate to sacred texts, reading and rereading them, designing and redesigning them until experiencing the subtle pleasure of betrayal. [11] Clorindo Testa seen by Cherubino Gambardella. Casa Prontopria. (courtesy © Cherubino Gambardella) 86 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Gerardo Caballero If the Idea Doesn’t Die, the Project Doesn’t Come to Life In 1991, along with Rafael Iglesia and Gonzalo Sánchez Hermelo, we participated in an event at the Buenos Aires Biennial known as the International Forum of Young Architects in which 40 Argentine architects and 40 international architects gathered. Teams were formed to develop an urban landscape proposal that included public pools on the coast of Vicente López along the Río de la Plata. This workshop spanned five days, from Monday to Friday. From the beginning, we refused to conceive of what is commonly understood as “a pool.” Instead, we began exploring innovative alternatives. However, the first two days passed without us arriving at any solution; we produced no models, nor plans or sketches, only mental reflections. A certain anxiety began to surface. It was only on the third day, Wednesday, that the idea came to us like a revelation: to create an 800-meter-long line in the water, a concrete wall 30 centimeters thick that, along with the sinuous coastline, would define the future pool. The only drawing we made was a plan on a photocopy of the project site, where a black line separated the brown water of the river from the blue, crystal-clear water of our pool. That simple drawing encapsulated the essence of 87 Gerardo Caballero | If the idea doesn’t die, the project doesn’t come to life our proposal, a perfect synthesis that solved the required program with a single constructive gesture . [1] On Thursday, the organizers informed us that renowned Argentinean architect Clorindo Testa would visit the workshop to review the projects and offer feedback. Personally, I was very excited, both because of the deep admiration I felt for Clorindo and also because we had a promising project to present to him. I imagined that upon seeing our drawing, he would congratulate us and perhaps even offer us jobs at his studio. The next morning, we were ready to show him our proposal. Clorindo sat down in front of our drawing and greeted us kindly. We briefly explained our idea, which didn’t require many words. However, I noticed that he didn’t seem impressed. He stared at the drawing in silence and, after a while, took a pencil and started drawing. As he sketched, he suggested alternatives: “If this wall were folded, it [1] G. Caballero, R. Iglesia, and G. Sánchez Hermelo: proposal for public pools on the coast of Vicente López along the Río de la Plata. Forum of Young Architects, Buenos Aires, 1991. (courtesy © Gerardo Caballero) 88 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Joaquina Testa My father: an architect, an artist, a teacher My father’s work and life are inextricably linked to his birth in Italy on December 10th, 1923. Years before, his own father, a Neapolitan medical doctor, had emigrated to Argentina, “the land of the future”, as his uncle had told him. Later, when my grandmother got pregnant, he decided that he wanted his first child to be born in his country of origin, so they boarded a transatlantic ship bound for Naples. They came back when my father was three months old, and then returned five years later. From that second trip, he brought back a deep connection to Italy and the region of Ceppaloni, a collection of drawings – which included those of his family home, his father’s car and a transatlantic – and the imprint on his brain of shapes easily recognized throughout his work, both as an artist and as an architect. [1] All the same, Buenos Aires was his home. [1] Drawing by Clorindo Testa at the age of 4 years old, 1928. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 95 Joaquina Testa | My father: an architect, an artist, a teacher His vocation was a slow discovery: he started naval engineering and moved on to civil engineering, only to end up in architecture. After graduation he spent two years in Italy, also visiting Spain. It was there that he sketched what he considered his first production as an artist: a guesthouse room in Seville. [2] Back in Argentina, he got a job in city planning, won his first architecture competition (Argentine Construction Chamber, 1951, with Gaido, Rossi and Dabinovic, had his first solo exhibition at van Riel Art Gallery (1952) and never stopped, literally. Above anything, my father loved to work. He enjoyed his routine of going to the office every morning and every afternoon (after lunch and an unmissable nap), Monday to Friday. He spent Saturday mornings with his canvases and oil or acrylic paints, and at midday he stopped painting and went to Florida Street1 to see some exhibitions, or met my mother and some friends at a cocktail 1 Lively street in downtown Buenos Aires, full of people, shops, art galleries and cultural centers. [2] Pensión de Sevilla, c. 1950. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 96 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute bar –sometimes The Plaza,2 sometimes the Pink Gin – where he usually had a Negroni. The next step was home, where we had pasta for lunch. Every Saturday evening, we had dinner out, and every Sunday, lunch with other friends. On Sunday evenings, instead, it was my father’s turn to creatively cook a sauce to accompany some dry pasta (with varying results…) to share with still other friends and any unexpected guests that happened to be in Buenos Aires. His first drawings, from his years in Europe and back in Argentina, are made with ink on paper, and represent landscapes, cityscapes and constructions. [3] He then moved onto abstraction in a series of paintings in black and white. [4] After these mostly abstract series, my father’s inspiration usually came from his readings, his curiosity about history and current events. For example, in the 70s, he used spray paint in a series of works that have a close connection with architecture, showing people in different everyday 2 Traditional five-star hotel in Buenos Aires, built in 1909. Now closed for renovations. [3, left] Two ink on paper drawings by Clorindo Testa. Above: Puentes (Bridges), 1952. Below: La montaña rusa (The rollercoaster), 1952. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) [4, right] Untitled (from “Compositions in black and white” series), c.1960, 70 x 50 cm, óleo sobre cartón. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 97 Joaquina Testa | My father: an architect, an artist, a teacher [5, above] Habitar, trabajar, circular y recrearse (Living, Working, Circulating and Cultivating the mind and spirit), fragment. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa and Museum of Modern Art, New York) [6, left] La peste señalando el castillo (The plague pointing to the castle); from the series “La peste en Ceppaloni,” 1978. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 98 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute scenes, represented in plans and sections, reflecting on Le Corbusier’s four functions of architecture and urbanism,3 and how, in my father’s opinion, architecture was not serving people well enough. [5] Many of these series were inspired by historical or current events. The most relevant for his own history is The Plague in Ceppaloni, based on a book he was gifted while visiting relatives in Italy, and which listed the people in the region who had died from the plague in the XVII c. A red figure walks through the landscape and peeks into people’s homes, giving them the plague. [6] Other series depict incidents that took place in Buenos Aires during the Spanish conquest, or comment on the Codex Trujillo del Perú, to which he added some “missing pages” [7] and the cloning of “Dolly”, the sheep. [8] 3 (editor’s note) Refers to the four functions of urbanism --living, working, circulation, and nurturing the body and the spirit— that were enunciated by Le Corbusier in the Athens Charter and became the basis of architectural and urbanistic principles promoted and promulgated by CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne). [7, above] left: Plano que muestra el Cerro Gualcayoc, mayo 25 de 1789, from the series; undated. right: Láminas que faltaban en el inventario del Obispo Martínez. Compañía de Trujillo, 1989 (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) [8, below] Soy el quinto (I’m the fifth), mixed media; from the series Las Clonaciones, 1998. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 99 Joaquina Testa | My father: an architect, an artist, a teacher The common thread is that they all contain a critical reflection on humans, their actions and how these affect all of us. In his later years, he focused on the “Amanzanamientos” or city blocks, showing grids that became progressively deformed, stained or blurred, again an observation on how people live. [9] My father was a creative, free architect and artist, and at the same time a man of routines. Finally, I would like to comment on a third activity that he performed (or fourth, if we include pastasauce maker!): he was a collector. I remember him visiting antiques dealers in Rome and town markets in Indonesia, buying masks and ships to add to his collections. These included wonderful examples of African masks from the 19th century as well as Indonesian or Guatemalan masks sold at small markets, and exquisite professional models of ships as well as small wooden boats made by local craftsmen. [10] [9] Número 3 Santa Fé (y Callao) (Number 3 Número 3 Santa Fé (at Callao), 2003; (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 100 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute At the Clorindo Testa Foundation, we stress the fact that my father was a humanist, that everything he did had the human at its center: in art, in architecture and in his collections. He was an innovative architect, a prolific artist, a curious collector and a father who inspired me to enjoy work, art, architecture and travel. I feel truly grateful for all I learnt from him. [11] [10, above] Clorindo Testa with his collection of masks. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) [11, below] Clorindo Testa and his daughter Joaquina. (courtesy Joaquina Testa) 101 Joaquina Testa | My father: an architect, an artist, a teacher Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 102 Clorindo Testa: a succint biography Clorindo Testa was born near Naples, Italy, on December 10, 1923. His parents returned to Buenos Aires when he was a few months old. He resided in Argentina’s capital for the rest of his life. He grew up in Buenos Aires’ traditional neighborhood of Recoleta, attending elementary school at the Montessori School and the Italian School. After completing high school at the Colegio Marista Champagnat, he enrolled in the schools of Naval Engineering and Civil Engineering, but that lasted a rather short time because he found his passion in Architecture. He studied architecture at the country’s prestigious Universidad of Buenos Aires, where he graduated in 1947. The following year he won a scholarship for a three-month study trip to Europe, which eventually turned into a twoyear journey. [1] Clorindo Testa at the age of five or six, (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) Clorindo Testa: biographical notes 103 Upon his return, he joined the Oficina del Plan Regulador de Buenos Aires, a municipal agency headed by Juan Ferrari Hardoy and inspired by the urbanistic ideas of Le Corbusier, the only architect whom Testa ever recognized as an influential figure in his architectural thinking. In 1951 he joined the Urban Planning Department in the city of Buenos Aires. In that same year, together with Boris Dabinovic, Augusto Gaido, and Francisco Rossi, he won the competition to build the headquarters of the Cámara Argentina de la Construcción, his first built work. The year 1952 was pivotal in his career because he held his first solo exhibition at the van Riel Gallery, an event that marked the beginning of a double professional activity --art and architecture— that would continue throughout his life. In 1962, he married Teresa Bortagaray; they spent their honeymoon in India and Europe. In fact, since then, he traveled to Europe every two or three years to see relatives and friends. In 1969 his daughter Joaquina was born. Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute [2] Clorindo Testa and gallery owner Frans van Riel. (courtesy © Fundación Clorindo Testa) 104 Acknowledgments 111 I cannot thank enough Joaquina Testa for her review of English versions of texts from many contributing authors. Finally, a special recognition to Paco Rodiel, head of Paco Teconart (Barcelona) –where exhibit and book were printed— for his advice, patience and understanding of our tight calendar of production and printing. Alejandro Lapunzina On behalf of the Fundación Clorindo Testa, Joaquina Testa wants to express her gratitude to the Illinois’ Suzanne & William Allen Endowed Professorship (held by Alejandro Lapunzina), as well as to the schools –Illinois School of Architecture and ETSAV— who supported this initiative of producing an exhibition of her father’s work, as well as to speakers and authors who participated in the book and opening round table. It is through these kinds of initiatives that Clorindo Testa’s work will transcend, and new generations will get to know and be inspired by his work. The Clorindo Testa Foundation in Buenos Aires, where you can learn about his life and work, is open to visitors by appointment. Joaquina Testa [www.fundacionclorindotesta.org] Contributing authors Gerardo Caballero. Architect graduated at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario (Argentina) and Master of Architecture at Washington University in Saint Louis. He worked at the office of Corea-Gallardo-Mannino in Barcelona (1983-1985) and heads his own office in Rosario since 1988. He has taught extensively at prestigious institutions in the US, Europe and South America. His work has been published internationally and recognized with important awards such as Argentina’s Architecture Award at the Buenos Aires International Architecture Biennale (2011) and First Prize for the Argentine Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2019). Federica Conte. Architect and a PhD in Architecture and Construction at Sapienza University of Rome. Her doctoral research focuses on the work of the Italian-Argentine architect Clorindo Testa, a subject she has been investigating since 2021 in collaboration with Prof. Arch. Dina Nencini. She collaborates with several architectural offices in South Tyrol since 2023; more recently, along with partners M. Michieletto and Giona Carlotto, she has been commissioned to design buildings that are part of a large-scale development program at the island of Roatán in Honduras. Mario Corea. Hon. FAIA, he graduated as an architect at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario (Argentina), Master of Architecture in Urban Design at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Diploma in Urban Studies at the Architectural Association (London). He is principal of his own architectural office in Barcelona since 1976, and his work has been widely published internationally. He also taught extensively, notably at the ETSAV (1996-2007) and at many institutions in Europe, Latin America and the United States. He received many awards, including two Honoris Causa PhDs. He heads Barcelona’s Laboratory for Hospital Design since 2015. Pere Fuertes. Architect, Ph.D. in architecture and Associate Professor at the Vallès School of Architecture, ETSAV (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya). Since 2021 he is Director of ETSAV and of the CRAL UPC Research Centre. His engagement in the Habitar Group provides him with an academic and research orientation focused on the reinhabitation of the urban fabric and existing buildings as part of a strategy to develop a sustainable environment based on the reprogramming and adaptation of architecture to new paradigms of habitability. He has also written several articles on Le Corbusier. He currently serves as Director of ETSAV. Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute 112 Cherubino Gambardella. Architect and Full Professor of Architectural Design at the Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. He has taught in various Italian universities (Rome, Naples, Ascoli Piceno, Venice) and foreign ones such as Cornell University, the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich, the Catholic University of Washington and the IIT College of Architecture in Chicago. His theoretical research has always focused on the invention of the concept of “democratic beauty” as everyone’s right to unconventional beauty because it is obtained with poor and commonly used materials. Alejandro Lapunzina. Suzanne & William Allen Professor of Architecture at the Illinois School of Architecture (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). He is also Director of the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program at Barcelona-El Vallès of the same institution. An architect educated at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Washington University in St. Louis (USA), he has written books, essays, and articles, as well as delivered lectures on a wide range of architectural themes such as the work Le Corbusier (with an emphasis on his work in the American continent), and diverse aspects of modern and contemporary architecture, and architectural pedagogy. Francisco J. Rodríguez Suárez. Director of the University of Illinois School of Architecture at Urbana-Champaign and Clayton T. Miers Professor. He studied architecture at Georgia Tech, the Université de Paris and Harvard GSD, where he earned a Master of Architecture and numerous awards for his studies. Rodríguez-Suárez has taught and lectured at prestigious universities worldwide and was President of the United States’ Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), an organization that had recognized his work with the prestigious ACSA Distinguished Professor award, which is just one of many awards and distinctions he received for his architectural work, research, teaching, and university administration. Joaquina Testa. Joaquina is Clorindo Testa’s daughter. After a brief passage through the School of Architecture at the University of Buenos Aires, she studied to be an English teacher at a teacher training college in Buenos Aires; she later obtained a MA in Language Education at NILE, with the University of Chichester. In 1999, she participated in a museology seminar organized by Argentina’s National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim Museum and PROA. She has lived in several countries, including Indonesia, where she taught at Jakarta’s National Museum for four years. In 2014, Joaquina and her mother, Teresa Bortagaray, established the Clorindo Testa Foundation in the same space where her father worked as an architect and artist. Contributing authors 113 114 Clorindo Testa: a centennial tribute Credits The source of all the drawings included in this publication is the Fundación Clorindo Testa (Buenos Aires, Argentina); they are reproduced here thanks to their logistical support and with their authorization. Photographic credits The source of a few photographs is also the Fundación Clorindo Testa, while a few others have been provided by contributing authors. However, most of them are the work of extraordinary photographers who have granted their authorization to include their images in this little book. The detail list of them is as follows: © Federico Cairoli (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Banco de Londres y América del Sur; p. 48 (2), pp. 50-51 (1, 6) © Cemal Emden (Istanbul, Turkey) Banco de Londres y América del Sur; book cover, p. 47 (5), pp. 50-51 (4, 5) © Hans-Jürgen Commerell (Berlin, Germany) Centro Cívico Santa Rosa; p. 45 (6) Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno; pp. 54-55 (2, 8) Centro Cultural Recoleta; pp. 58-59 (2, 7) Auditorio Soka Gakkai; p. 60 (2, 6) Individual Houses; pp. 64-65 (1, 3, 6), pp. 66-67 (2, 3, 7, 8) © Daniela Mac Adden (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Centro Cívico Santa Rosa; p. 43 (5), p. 45 (5) Banco de Londres y América del Sur; pp. 46-47 (2, 6), p. 48 (3) Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno; pp. 52-53 (3, 5, 6), pp. 54-55 (3, 7, 9) Centro Cultural Recoleta; p. 57 (4, 5), p. 59 (6) Auditorio Soka Gakkai; pp. 60-61 (3, 5) Auditorio Campus Universidad del Salvador; pp. 62-63 (3, 7) Individual Houses; p. 64 (2), 66-67 (5, 9, 10) Images not listed above provided by contributing authors. Index 5 Preliminary Words 7 Introduction (I): Tracing Testa by Pere Fuertes 11 Introduction (II) by Francisco J. Rodríguez Suárez 15 Clorindo Testa, a centennial tribute by Alejandro Lapunzina 23 In search of the Argentine Language: Clorindo Testa and the covered squares of Buenos Airesd by Federica Conte 41 Selected works 42 Centro Cívico Santa Rosa Santa Rosa’s Civic Center 46 Banco de Londres y América del Sur Bank of London and South America 52 Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno National Library Mariano Moreno 56 Centro Cultural Recoleta Recoleta Cultural Center 60 Auditorium Soka Gakkai [Auditorio de la Paz] Soka Gakkai International Auditorium 62 Auditorium Universidad del Salvador Universidad del Salvador Auditorium 64 Individual Houses 68 Painting 73 Secrets and lies about Clorindo Testa by Cherubino Gambardella 87 If the Idea Doesn’t Die, the Project Doesn’t Come to Life by Gerardo Caballero 91 About Clorindo Testa by Mario Corea 95 My father: an architect, an artist, a teacher by Joaquina Testa 103 Clorindo Testa: a succinct biography 110 Acknowledgements 112 Contributing authors 114 Credits 115 Index This book has been produced in collaboration by: the Fundación Clorindo Testa (Buenos Aires, Argentina) as part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the architect’s birth. the Illinois Architecture Study Abroad Program at Barcelona-El Vallès (or Barcelona Program) of the Illinois School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. the Illinois School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. and the Escola Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. December 2024 Clorindo Testa’s sketch study for an urban development in Puerto Madero