7
Ca olina B. Ga cía-Es é ez
Gues Edi o
Replicas.
A chi ec u e as Copy o In en ion1
An oni Gaudí’s Wo kshop a he
Sag ada Familia, 1904.
© 2018 Ins i u Ama lle d’A Hispànic,
Im. 05492038 (pho o Mas E-95 / 1904).
RA. Re is a de A qui ec u a
Núm. 24 – 2022
P. 7–17
8RA. Re is a de A qui ec u a
Núm. 24 – 2022
P. 7–17
ISSN: 1138-5596
DOI: 10.15581/014.24.7-17
In his ecen no el Ob a maes a (Mas e piece), he
w i e and philosophe Juan Tallón ecoun s he disappea ance o he
sculp u e by he Ame ican Richa d Se a: Equal-Pa allel: Gue nica-
Bengasi. A piece weighing 38 onnes o Co en s eel designed o he
opening o he Reina So ía Museum in 1986 and which, due o lack
o space, in 1990 was placed in o specialized a s o age in A ganda
del Rey. I s inexplicable disappea ance was eco ded in 2005 in he
ile o judicial case 183/06, which Tallón, in a b illian exe cise in c i i-
cism, akes as he basis o his na a ion o a se ies o e en s ha a e
unknown and he e o e p e en he ac ual in e en ion o each o he
p o agonis s. Somewhe e be ween ch onicle and ic ion, li e a y imagi-
na ion leshes ou a non-linea plo in ou ac s, summoning a whole
cas o ac o s om secu i y gua ds and o me museum di ec o s o
o me councillo s, police o ice s, judges, o me minis e s, a is s,
his o ians, compose s, a chi ec s, w i e s and galle y owne s. All a e
Fig. 01
Richa d Se a, Equal-Pa allel: Gue nica-
Bengasi, 1986, Co en s eel, cas ing.
Dimensions: piece 1: 148.5 x 500 x 24 cm;
piece 2: 148.5 x 148.5 x 24 cm; piece 3:
148.5 x 500 x 24 cm; piece 4: 148.5 x 148.5
x 24 cm. Museo Nacional Cen o de A e
Reina So ía, Galle y 102, In . AS10531.
01
RA 24 9
in ol ed in an e e yday no hing su ounding he incomp ehensible
disappea ance o he a wo k ha p omp s hem o challenge he lim-
i s o he isible. When in Ap il 2009 he A gen ine w i e Césa A ia
came ace o ace o he i s ime wi h he copy ha Se a himsel
had ag eed o make o he museum, he p onounced: “Wha we had
be o e us was an exac eplica, i s ghos .”2 Today’s Reina So ía Museum
(MNCARS) shuns his shadow, now exhibi ing i in a new galle y as a
wo k da ed 1986, wi h in en o y numbe AS10531.
Faced wi h he ques ion as o how a copy becomes an
o iginal, and o wha ex en i s double can eplace he o iginal objec , a
his o ian Geo ge Kuble o e ed some hin s in his conclusi e, mus - ead
The Shape o Time3 in 1962:
“The annals o a , like hose o b a e y, di ec ly eco d only a hand ul o
many g ea momen s ha ha e occu ed. When we conside he class o
hese g ea momen s, we a e usually con on ed wi h dead s a s. E en hei
ligh has ceased o each us. […] The his o y o a in his sense esembles
a b oken bu much- epai ed chain made o s ing and wi e o connec he
occasional jeweled links su i ing as physical e idences o he in isible
o iginal sequence o p ime objec s.”
The image ha Kuble e okes is a powe ul one: he his-
o y o a is me ely a chain, pieced oge he in ime, o missing links
ha gi e an accoun o he impossible succession o o iginal objec s.
None heless, desi e keeps ali e he hope o inding he o iginal. Like in
he las passage o he no el, in which Tallón na a es he isi o he
heads o secu i y o he MNCARS, Te esa Pons and Ma ías Ama illo,
o an indus ial wa ehouse on he ou ski s o Mad id in Oc obe 2019
a e a alse ale om he Ci il Gua d. They hough hey had ound
he whe eabou s o he o iginal sculp u e. “Ghos s a e eal beings
who simply p e e o li e in doub , on he hidden side, and who, on a e
occasions, like now wi h he sculp u e, suddenly decide o come back
and announce ou loud: ‘OK, game o e . He e I am’.”4 Ye aced wi h
he emp iness o his endless in e play o misunde s andings, all ha
emains is he inal unanswe ed ques ion ha he p o agonis s ask
hemsel es: “Wha i i ’s ue?”5
One a chi ec o whom hese ules o play we e always
e y clea was En ic Mi alles (1955-2000), who on mo e han one occa-
sion did no hesi a e o e e o he idea o double o ghos in his wo k.
Knowledge o he I alian a chi ec u es o he six een h cen u y gained
h oughou his academic aining allowed him o y ou hese misun-
de s andings in wo ks known unde he heading o “manne is ”, a wo d
ha conceals a he he anguishes and doub s o 20 h cen u y his o ians
aced wi h he p ojec o in en ing an an iqua no i as han he ce ain ies
o ha pe iod.6 To look no u he , he unanimous consensus ha ma ks
he s a o he High Renaissance wi h he a i al o Dona o B aman e
in Rome in 1500 and he subsequen cons uc ion o he empie o as a
mani es o o his new ins au a io was di ided when B aman e’s “o iginal”
wo k came ace o ace wi h he imagina ion o he uin as a “ eplica”
hanks o he d awings o Giuliano da Sangallo, his g ea i al in hose
yea s7 ( ig. 02). Which came i s , B aman e’s in en ion o Sangallo’s copy?
The answe ma e s li le, especially in ligh o one o he ex s ha su -
i ed Filippo B unelleschi hanks o he e sion o he ma hema ician
01. The publica ion o issue 24 o RA Re is a
de A qui ec u a o ms pa o he R&D&I
p ojec “Map o collec ions o models and
eplicas o Spanish a chi ec u al he i age:
be ween na ional iden i y and in e na ional
cul u e. Pa one, 1752-1929”, wi h e e ence
PID2020-113568RB-I00, unded by MCIN/
AEI/10.13039/501100011033.
02. TALLÓN, Juan, Ob a maes a, Anag ama,
Ba celona, 2022, p. 172.
03. KUBLER, Geo ge, “The Classing o Things.
P ime Objec s and Replica ions”, The Shape
o Time. Rema ks on he His o y o Things,
Yale Uni e si y P ess, New Ha en and London,
2008, pp. 35-36.
04. TALLÓN, Juan, op. ci ., p. 314.
05. Ibid., p. 318.
06. I e e o a endance o cou ses a he
Cen o In e nazionale di S udi di A chi e u a
And ea Palladio in Vicenza in au umn 1976 and
he In e na ional Labo a o y o A chi ec u e
& U ban Design, ILA&UD in U bino in 1977. Fo
mo e in o ma ion, see: GARCÍA-ESTÉVEZ,
Ca olina B. “1978. La G an Casa, o sob e el
in e io en la ob a de En ic Mi alles”, in La
Casa. Espacios domés icos, modos de Habi a ,
Cala a a Escoba , Juan, e al., Abada edi o es,
Mad id, 2019, pp. 1372-1383.
07. Giuliano da Sangallo, Va ican Ci y,
Biblio eca Apos olica Va icana, Ba b.la .4424,
ol. 37 [39 ].
10 RA. Re is a de A qui ec u a
Núm. 24 – 2022
P. 7–17
ISSN: 1138-5596
DOI: 10.15581/014.24.7-17
An onio di Tuccio Mane i, he No ella del G asso legnaiuolo (The Fa
Woodwo ke ). He ecoun s he scene in which he p o agonis , on e u n-
ing o his bo ega in Flo ence, ind all his ools in a di e en o de ha
comple ely upse s his memo y o hei p e ious image. In his case,
in en ion is jus a ques ion o s yle. A desi e o achie e ha an iqua
no i as ha collided head on wi h some o he p ojec s p oduced in ha
same yea , 1500, when Leona do da Vinci ecei ed a commission om
F ancesco Gonzaga o design, in Man ua, a copy o he Villa To aglia in
San a Ma ghe i a a Mon ici nea Flo ence, made a e s aying in ha ci y.8
In o de o cons uc an exac eplica in he ci y o his bi h, Gonzaga
w o e o Agnolo To aglia o eques he plans. Al hough no d awing o he
p ojec su i es, he le e w i en by F ancesco Mala es a ha accom-
panied Leona do’s despa ch o he Ma quis on 11 Augus 1500 gi es an
accoun o he scope o his unde aking: “El p e a o Leona do dice che
a a e una cosa pe ec a bisogne ia po e anspo a e ques o si io che
è qui, là do e ol ab icha e la S.a V.a che poi quella ha ia la con en eza
sua.”9 Wi h his wo ds, Leona do an icipa ed he limi s o which any a chi-
ec u al eplica mus submi : place.
Pe haps o his eason, when in he sp ing o 1995
Mi alles p esen ed his s uden s a he Ha a d G adua e School
o Design wi h he exe cise One Double Please!, one o he main
02
Fig. 02
Giuliano da Sangallo, d awings o he
ci cula emples a Os ia An ica and on
he Tibe . Ba be ini Codex, Biblio eca
Apos olica Va icana, Va ican Ci y: (Ba b.
la .4424, ol. 37 [39 ]).
08. PEDRETTI, Ca lo, “Il i o no a Fi enze,
1500-1505”, Leona do a chi e o, Elec a,
Milan, 2007, p. 139.
09. “Leona do says ha in o de o do his
hing pe ec ly, i would be necessa y o
anspo he si e ha is he e o whe e His
Highness wan s o build, in acco dance wi h
his wishes.” Ibid., p. 139.
RA 24 11
cons ain s was ha he eplica o he wo k buil on a No h Ame ican
uni e si y campus be ween 1970 and 1990 was o be ca ied ou
on he same si e as he o iginal building. The a chi ec p oposed o
wo k “a ound he in isible image o he ‘double’. [...] The double is no
unde s ood as some hing dis an o as a pa hological image, bu as
con inuous p esence du ing he wo k.”10 The double was simply he
shadow o he pas on he design p ocess. And like in he bo ega o
he Flo en ine woodwo ke , he d awings o Sangallo and B aman e’s
Tempie o, “ wins we e no allowed.”11 The objec i e was, as in manne -
ism, o discuss he concep o his o ical con inui y and i s a ia ions in
s yle. A igh agains mimesis ha sedimen s i s essence in he sea ch
o an an iqua no i as by means o he concep o imi a io. This was
a ecu ing conce n o Mi alles’, which led o some o he mos adi-
cal passages in his w i ings, such as he wo ds he dedica ed o Pe e
Eisenman in an allego y o a win, a eplica whose p inciple o ulne -
abili y uns h ough he No h Ame ican’s a chi ec u e, becoming a
mask o i sel :12
“Wha use is Pe e ’s wo k o me? … / I is a body o wo k ha is use ul o
know in o de o hink … / He always p esen s his wo k wi h a syllogism
o he A = A ype / ‘I wan ed o do A (double spi al, clea -cu geome y,
aul , e c. …) I did A ( he double spi al, e c. …)’ / The wo k is p esen ed as in
a mi o : a double image in which he esul and he mechanism o o mal
gene a ion a e con used… The e, he e is no hing o be said.”
Mi alles wa ns us o o he ypes o eplicas ha canno
escape he mechanisms o o m gene a ion. A s ange and sinis e sim-
ul anei y be ween he “copy” and i s “in en ion” ha accoun s o much
o he digi al a chi ec u e o he 21s cen u y, he o igin o which da es
back o he syllogisms o p ocesses o diag amming o he la e 1960s.
P ocesses ha comple ely annul ime, he second o he cons ain s ha
he a chi ec ne e enounced. A ime ha Mi alles el only as accele a-
ion and emo a e he expe ience o he collapse o he i s design
o he oo o Huesca Spo s S adium in Ap il 1993, a ci cums ance ha
obliged him o p oduce doubles, no copies, as a s a egy o de elop he
de ini i e b ie : “The oo as su ace e e s once again o he no ion o
double. Tha oo , wo en, becomes he double o he g ound.”13 This was
an obsessi e concep in his wo k, and one ha was o e u n o ce ully in
one o he las symposiums a which he spoke: he Anymo e Con e ence
di ec ed by Cyn hia Da idson held in Pa is in June 1999, wi h he pa ici-
pa ion, alongside Eisenman himsel , Hube Damisch, A a a Isozaki, Rem
Koolhaas, Rosalind E. K auss, Ignasi de Solà-Mo ales, Be na d Tschumi
and An hony Vidle , among o he s. In his in e en ion, Mi alles e u ned o
he episode o he Huesca collapse o e e o he inal esul as a double:
“I seems ha ANY pa allel hinking, / any kind o D Jekyll and M Hyde
si ua ion, / allows he wo k […] o con inue.”14
In ac , in an exe cise o ecapi ula ion owa ds he end
o his li e, he a chi ec g ouped his p oduc ion solely unde h ee head-
ings: place, his o y and c ea ion o he wo ld. A his o y ha o ms pa
o he ghos ha haun s his a chi ec u e. Bu unlike his con empo a ies,
oo busy aking ad an age o he Ca alan adi ion as a chain o con inu-
i y ha would legi imize hem o he pas , Mi alles aced he shadow o
Mode nisme (A Nou eau) o measu e his s eng h in he p esen :15
10. MIRALLES, En ic, “One Double Please!”,
S udio Wo ks 3. Ha a d Uni e si y
G adua e School o Design, Camb idge
(MA), 1995, p. 92.
11. Ibid., p. 92.
12. MIRALLES, En ic, “I, II, II, IV… IX… e c.”, El
C oquis. Pe e Eisenman 1990-1997, no. 83,
pp. 168-171.
13. MIRALLES, En ic, “P oyec o Huesca”,
Documen os de A qui ec u a, no. 32,
Delegación de Alme ía del Colegio O icial
de A qui ec os de Andalucía O ien al,
Alme ía, Oc obe 1995, pp. 11-17.
14. MIRALLES, En ic, “Anymo e”, in
Anymo e, ASADA, Aki a, e al., edi ed by
Cyn hia Da idson, MIT P ess, Camb idge
(MA), London, 2000, p. 157.
15. MIRALLES, En ic, “A qui ec u a del
de eni ”, in e iewed by Paolo Sus e sic,
Pasajes de A qui ec u a y C i ica, Yea 1,
no. 12, Decembe 1999, pp. 24-32.

12
“When an a chi ec ains and wo ks in a ci y like Ba celona, whe e
Mode nisme and Gaudí ha e le such a deep ma k, i is ine i able o ha e
o measu e you sel agains hem. […] Howe e , o me his does no mean
an a i ude o copying he wo k o hese a chi ec s, bu a he an a ini y
wi h ce ain conce ns o aspec s o a chi ec u e. […] Bu –I s ess– i is a
ques ion no o being mime ic, bu o needing o ace up o ou pas .”
The lis o examples by means o which Mi alles essayed
his a i ude goes beyond he scope o his edi o ial, bu I would like
o b ing up he in luence ha An oni Gaudí’s wo k had on he p ocess
o in en ion o o m in Igualada Ceme e y, a compe i ion in which,
join ly wi h Ca me Pinós, he won i s p ize in 1985: “I am ascina ed,
o example, by he way Gaudí managed o make wa e un a ound he
pa k, u ning i s cou se in o appea ance and esu acing, […] gene a -
ing buildings, oun ains, s a ues, se pen s ha spou wa e .”16 Pe haps
wha caugh Mi alles’ a en ion was Gaudí’s obsession wi h being
o iginal— ha is, going back o o igin, some hing ha was de ec ed
by F ancesc Pujols, one o his bes c i ics: “M Gaudí eaches back o
p ehis o y, he oo s o which a e los in he nigh o ime.”17 A Gaudí
who glimpses he law o a punishmen in wo k and ma e , and akes
pleasu e in i . How else should we in e p e he collec ion o eplicas
o bodies and na u es ha se ed as models in he sculp u al g oup o
he Na i i y açade in he Sag ada Familia?18 Wha could be he mean-
ing o he well-known pho og aph o he a chi ec be o e he uins o
he columns o Colonia Güell published in his pos humous comple e
wo ks in 2000? A Mi alles who aces he emains o he pas and, in
his e o s o o e come hem, eso s o he powe o he ic ion o he
wo d: “I ha e always hough ha he a chi ec Gaudí was an in en ion
o he w i e Cal ino.”19
Going back o I alo Cal ino and li e a u e
allows us o ou line he objec i es o his
issue o RA Jou nal. In a passage om Le
Ressassemen é e nel, Mau ice Blancho
w i es how he pa adox o language—in which
we seldom manage o unde s and i s dis u bing
simul anei y— esembles he lu e o a bu e ly: he ligh ouch o i s
olding wings is no hing mo e han he wo d, whe e me amo phosis has
inally occu ed.20 In his analysis o he d awings by he poe Fede ico
Ga cía Lo ca, such as Payaso de os o que se desdobla (1936),
Mi alles e e s o hem as an ope a ion “ ha ans o ms he eyeb ows
in o non-iden ical winged beings… one o hese sides may di e om
he o he ... like an added wing.”21
The o igin o a and a chi ec u e sha es he same
pa adox as language: o iginal models and hei eplicas a e always
p esen ed in a dis u bing simul anei y, hei in e dependence gi ing
ise o ha an iqua no i as as an added wo k. This con adic ion is
picked up by he i le o Ma i Lending’s in oduc o y essay, “T ansien
Pe manence”, o mula ing some o he heo e ical s a emen s ha
un h ough he issue by e asing he bo de s be ween sculp u e and
a chi ec u e by means o he echnique o he plas e cas copy. Au ho
o he essen ial monog aph Plas e Monumen s. A chi ec u e and he
Powe o Rep oduc ion,22 Lending analyses he concep o empo al-
i y, au a and o iginali y o hese wo ks in he 19 h cen u y, om museum
RA. Re is a de A qui ec u a
Núm. 24 – 2022
P. 7–17
ISSN: 1138-5596
DOI: 10.15581/014.24.7-17
16. MIRALLES, En ic; PINÓS, Ca me, “Dalla
ze a alla esse: in e is a a En ic Mi alles
e Ca me Pinos sull p oge o di cimi e o a
Igualada icino a Ba cellona”, in e iewed
by Benede a Tagliabue, L’A chi e u a.
C onache e S o ia, no. 409, 1989, pp.
844-845.
17. PUJOLS, F ancesc, La isió a ís ica i
eligiosa d’en Gaudí, Llib e ia Ca alònia,
no. 1, Ba celona, 1927.
18. GARCÍA-ESTÉVEZ, Ca olina B. “Gaudí
e Rodin: Co ps, na u e e éplique con e
l’éga emen de l’a an -ga de”, in Gaudí,
ca alogue o he exhibi ion o he same
name held a he Musée d’O say in Pa is,
om 11 Ap il o 17 July 2022, Musée d’O say,
Hazan, Pa is, 2022, pp. 78-85.
19. MIRALLES, En ic, “Deu egades més
dep essa”, in L’ob ado de Gaudí, Tex os
i Documen s d’A qui ec u a, no. 4, Escola
Tècnica Supe io d’A qui ec u a del
Vallès, Edicions UPC, May 1996. Spanish
ansla ion in “Diez eces más dep isa”,
En ic Mi alles. A chig aphias, 1983-2000,
ci ., p. 77.
20. BLANCHOT, Mau ice, Le
Ressassemen é e nel, Les Édi ions de
Minui , Pa is, 1951.
21. MIRALLES, En ic, “Cejas”, El C oquis.
Mi alles / Pinós. 1983-1990, no. 30, 49+50,
1994, p. 204.
22. LENDING, Ma i, Plas e Monumen s.
A chi ec u e and he Powe o
Rep oduc ion, P ince on Uni e si y P ess,
New Je sey (NJ), 2017.
NEITHER
ORIGINALS,
NOR REPLICAS
RA 24 13
galle ies and he lec u e ooms o academia o p esen -day cu a o-
ial p ojec s by Sal a o e Se i o Rachel Whi e ead, among o he s.23
Bu Lending is no alone in poin ing ou his dis u bing simul anei y
be ween he o iginal and i s eplica in he e e nal pa adox o language.
In his essay “The Alphabe o A chi ec u e. O iginali y and Li e acy in
he Theo y o P o iles”, Maa en Delbeke looks a his con adic ion in
his s udy o Augus in-Cha les D’A ile ’s ea ise, Cou s d’a chi ec u e
qui comp end les o d es de Vignole (1691) and he Li e d’A chi ec u e
(1745) by Ge main Bo and. Since his ecen esea ch a he head
o he Chai o His o y and Theo y o A chi ec u e a ETH Zu ich,24
Delbeke concen a es his in e es on D’A ilie and his mould design
manual hanks o i s abili y o con ain and a icula e he su ace o he
building: an a emp o build he basis o a new ocabula y by means o
wo ds and images. Mi alles p oposed some hing simila in he cou se
o his ca ee , in an a emp o educe some o his p ojec s o he le e s
o he alphabe , such as Domi Mo a’s se ies o pho og aphs o ma k he
end o building wo k on Huesca Spo s S adium. “The i s pa o hese
essays is based on a possible alphabe ... The game o ecognizing some
le e s. The e is a shi owa ds w i ing.”25 The compa ison, despi e he
ime be ween he wo, is no coincidence. Delbeke, like Mi alles, insis s
on he geome y ha mo es always be ween he s aigh line and he
cu e, appealing o Bo and’s wo ds ha ecognize only “ he s aigh
line, he conca e line and he con ex line.” Could he e be a be e de i-
ni ion o he Ca alan’s a chi ec u e? ( ig. 03)
The con on a ion be ween D’A ilie and Bo and is only
he p elude o a dispu e ha con inued h oughou he 18 h cen u y abou
he o igins and egula iza ion o he pedagogy o a chi ec u e. Ca los
Plaza, in his essay “La enseñanza de la a qui ec u a en Se illa (1771-1807):
sob e a es, an igüedades, lib os, éplicas y maque as en el ma co del
Real Alcáza ,” deba es he sou ces and imagina ies ha ga e ise o he
didac ics o classical a chi ec u e in he e a ha included he eaching o
F ancisco B una, such as he amous collec ion o s a ues, insc ip ions and
Fig. 03
En ic Mi alles, Ca men Pinós,
“ABEZEDARIO”, in e iew by Joan Roig,
A30. Publicación de a qui ec u a, no. 6,
May 1987.
03
23. Fo mo e in o ma ion abou he collec-
ions o he Ba celona School o A chi ec u e,
and he blu ed bounda ies be ween a chi-
ec u e and sculp u e in he o ma ion o he
academy, see: GARCÍA-ESTÉVEZ, Ca olina
B., “Dibuja a Venus. A p opósi o de las
colecciones de la Escuela de A qui ec u a de
Ba celona”, in Picasso. Los Cuade nos = Els
Quade ns = Les Cahie s = The Ske chbook,
Gual, Malén e al., Museu Picasso,
Ajun amen de Ba celona, Ba celona, 2020,
pp. 210-217; GARCÍA-ESTÉVEZ, Ca olina
B., “Den o y ue a de la his o ia: las es
idas de las columnas del emplo omano
de Ba celona”, Bu lle í de la Reial Acadèmia
Ca alana de Belles A s de San Jo di,
monog aph de o ed o he a chi ec An oni
Celles, ol. XXXIII, 2019, pp. 15-32.
24. The Co nice, Maa en Delbeke and
E ik Wege ho , edi o s, g a pape s, no. 6,
2021. Con inuing he a isan adi ion o
he Can on o Ticino, he Chai headed
by Delbeke o ganized a wo kshop in col-
labo a ion wi h D awing Ma e in Oc obe
2019. Fo mo e in o ma ion, see: JONES,
Emma Le izia, Wege ho , E ik, “ETH Zu ich:
Cas ing he Co nice in Ticino”, consul ed on
11 Augus 2022, a ailable a : h ps://www.
d awingma e .o g/se s/d awing-week/
e h-zu ich-cas ing-co nice- icino/
25. MIRALLES, En ic, “P oyec o Huesca”,
op. ci ., pp. 11-17.
14
an iqui ies o Bae ica ins alled in he cou ya d o he Alcáza ollowing he
F ench model a e Sebas ian an de Bo ch ’s e o m. Plaza shows how,
despi e he ac ha he Se illian episode ook place alongside he e o m
o he p o incial academies o Mad id, Valencia, Za agoza and Ba celona,26
i is necessa y o include new a chi al sou ces ha go beyond oday’s
well-known his o iog aphic ou lines in sea ch o a mo e complex, dynamic
unde s anding o he o igin o he a chi ec u e o classicism as a eco e y
o ha an iqua no i as.
Some o he a chi ec u es o he 20 h cen u y also con-
inued wi h his e e ence. A s iking example is he copying and ansli -
e a ion o classical elemen s in he in ellec ual p ojec o he no ecen o.
Think o some o he wo ks o Augus e Pe e , Pe e Beh ens o Hein ich
Tessenow, and how hey cons i u e a e i able d ama o he G oβ o m,
abling a con adic ion be ween capi alis p oduc ion sys ems and hei
elegiac desi e o cul u e. In Ba celona, his spi i was embodied by igu es
such as Nicolau Ma ia Rubió i Tudu í, b o he s An oni and Raimon Puig
Gai al , Ra ael Masó and F ancesc Mi jans himsel . In his essay “Mi jans
como e e encia de Mi jans”, Félix Solagu en eso s o simila mechanisms
o espond o copying as an a i ude o camou lage du ing he Spanish
pos -wa pe iod. A ges u e ha , again, migh ind an answe in Kuble :27
“S ic ly conside ed, a o m-class exis s only as an idea. I is incomple ely
mani es ed by p ime objec s, o hings o g ea gene a ing powe , in he
ca ego y o he Pa henon, o he po al s a ues a Reims, o he escoes by
Raphael in he Va ican. […] These h ee examples, howe e , a e ex emely
special ones illus a ing he phenomenon o he climac ic en ance. Such
en ances occu a momen s when he combina ion and pe mu a ions o a
game a e all in e idence o he a is ; a a momen when enough o he game
has been played o him o behold i s ull po en ial; a a momen be o e he is
cons ained by he exhaus ion o he possibili ies o he game o adop any o
i s ex eme e minal posi ions. […] I is likely ha buildings cons i u e he majo -
i y o ou p ime objec s, being immobile and o en indes uc ible objec s.”
This game o possibili ies whe e all he posi ions a e is-
ible uns h ough he ex “Don’ Shoo he Messenge SVP: A B ie His o y
on he Theo y o Typology”, by Ana Tos ões and Jaime Sil a. The au ho s
econs uc he possible imeline o s udies a ound he idea o pe manence
o a chi ec u al ype, om An oine Qua emè e de Quincy o he p esen
day, wi h pa icula dedica ion o he eco e y o he deba e in he 1960s and
1970s in ol ing Aldo Rossi, Ra ael Moneo, Josep Rykwe , Oswald Ma hias
Unge s and Léon K ie . Along hese same lines, he ex by Ca los Laba a,
“Vangua dia o adición dis azada: e e be aciones p e é i as en el ocabu-
la io de F ank Geh y, Los Ángeles 1952-1985”, con inues he heses o K auss
in he well-known essay The O iginali y o he A an -Ga de and O he
Mode nis My hs28 (1986) by disman ling he A = A syllogism o which mos
o he a chi ec u es o decons uc i ism eso ed, e ealing he e nacula
o igins in Geh y’s a chi ec u es. Once again, a ghos ha no only haun ed
his ini ial wo k in Los Angeles, bu also ha o o he con empo a ies such as
Cha les Moo e, eminding us o he coo dina e ha made Leona do’s unde -
aking o Gonzaga impossible long ago: eplica ion o a place.
Bu how a e we o ski he abyss o hose a chi ec u es
o which only a na a ed image su i es? How should we us he pos-
sible pe mu a ions o e ed by hose now disappea ed p ime objec s?
I is hen ha he e minal posi ions o he game announced by Kuble
RA. Re is a de A qui ec u a
Núm. 24 – 2022
P. 7–17
ISSN: 1138-5596
DOI: 10.15581/014.24.7-17
26. GARCÍA-ESTÉVEZ, Ca olina B.,
“Monumen s in Mo ion. Exhibi ing he Full-
Scale Replicas om he Ba celona School
Collec ion, 1835-1929”, in AVRAMIDIS,
Kons an inos, e al. The Rou ledge
Companion o A chi ec u al D awings and
Models. F om T ansla ing o A chi ing,
Collec ing and Displaying, edi ed by
Fede ica Go i, Rou ledge, Taylo & F ancis
G oup, London and New Yo k, 2022,
pp. 198-210.
27. KUBLER, Geo ge, “The Classing o
Things. P ime Objec s and Replica ions”,
op. ci ., pp. 36-37.
28. KRAUSS, Rosalind E. The O iginali y
o he A an -Ga de and O he Mode nis
My hs, The MIT P ess, Camb idge (MA),
London, 1986.
RA 24 15
us o he powe o e oca ion o li e a y sou ces and submi o isions
o hem o e ed by o he a is s and a chi ec s o e he yea s. Elena
Me ino and Fe nando Mo al s udy his classical exe cise in hei essay
“A qui ec u as ex uales: la in ención isual a a és de la ecepción de
la na a i a”, ques ioning he capaci y o ansmu a ion o an a chi ec-
u e om he wo d o he objec . The chosen example is none o he han
Pliny he Younge ’s accoun o Villa Lau en ina, while he isions espon-
sible o elucida ing hei hesis ange om he gioco o es i u ion o an
an iqua no i as by Raphael in Villa Madama (1519), o Léon K ie ’s lib-
e a ing in e p e a ions o he compe i ion “La Lau en ine e l’in en ion
de la ille omaine” called in 1982 by he Ins i u F ançais d’A chi ec u e.
The concep o his o ical con inui y and i s a ia ions in s yle was once
again aken up and pu o he es as imagina ion in he ace o he ex
and he uin, in a igh agains mimesis waged in he space o inde e mi-
nacy. O o a bi a iness, o use one o he wo ds wi h which P o esso
Moneo has ecen ly esponded o his and o he ques ions abou he
o igin o o de in a chi ec u e om Vi u ius o he p esen day.29
Bounda ies and cons ain s ha end up e ealing, as
Mi alles himsel c i icized, he limi a ions o any p ocess o c ea ing
o m as a me e p oduc ion mechanism. The echnical ep oducibili y
o which some wo ks a e subjec ed ques ions no only he absence o
he au a ha Wal e Benjamin called o in his well-known 1935 ex ,30
bu also he impossible me amo phosis o language ha annuls he
simul anei y be ween o iginal models and eplicas. I hink he e is no be -
e way o unde s and he limi s o a chi ec u e as echnique han he
wo ds ha Sieg ied K acaue dedica ed o Ludwig Mies an de Rohe
and Lilly Reich’s Spiegelglashalle ins alla ion o he Ve ein Deu sche
Spiegelglas-Fab iken a he We kbund exhibi ion in S u ga in 1927: “Fo
he ames o hese houses a e no an end in hemsel es, bu a he he
necessa y s ep owa ds a ullness ha does no equi e openings and
ha oday can only be nega i ely wi nessed h ough pain. They will only be
embodied as lesh when humankind gi es up glass.”31 A lesh ha can
be seen as a emo bo h in he wo king moulds in Gaudí’s wo kshop, and
in he ma k ha he na u al cas ing echnique has le on many o he
s one monumen s o ou p esen ( ig. 04). In he essay “Recons uyendo
los p ocesos de ep oducción de monumen os: la huella sob e los
g andes o ma os del siglo XIX”, Mon se a Lasunción un a els his
pa adox by means o unpublished a chi e documen a ion ha includes,
among o he s, le e s o ines imable alue om John Ruskin deposi ed
in I aly’s A chi io Cen ale dello S a o. Likewise, i is echnology and i s
li e a y ic ion ha in o ms he essay by Luis Miguel Lus and S ephen
Pa nell abou he expe imen o he ownscapes: “Ci ilia: U opia in he
Age o Pho omechanical Rep oduc ion. A chi ec u al (Pho o)copy as
(Re)in en ion.” Mi alles again, bu his ime in he ealm o pain ing, would
help us unde s and he scope o he June 1971 monog aphic issue o
A chi ec u al Re iew, in which he au ho ship o he p ojec is p esen ed
unde he pseudonym I o de Wol e: “Wha I would like o do exac ly is
show how hings appea o me...”32 Wha emains o he 18 wo k sessions
in which Albe o Giacome i aces he impossible po ai o James Lo d
is no hing mo e han a se ies in ime, a blend o impo ence and anguish,
ha ne e manages o comple e he commission. Tha same anguish and
impo ence ha he a chi ec u e o he la e 1970s el a he ne e - ul illed
achie emen s o he mas e s o mode n a chi ec u e.
29. MONEO, Ra ael, Sob e el concep o de
a bi a iedad en la a qui ec u a, Speech by
he Academic Elec Hon. M . José Ra ael
Moneo Vallés, ead a his public ecep ion,
on 16 Janua y 2005, Real Academia de
Bellas A es de San Fe nando, Mad id,
2005.
30. BENJAMIN, Wal e , The Wo k o A
in he Age o Mechanical Rep oduc ion,
Penguin, London, 2008.
31. KRACAUER, Sieg ied, “Das neue
Bauen. A p opósi o de la exposición del
We kbund sob e ‘la i ienda’”, in Esc i os
sob e a qui ec u a, edi ed by Daniele
Pisani, Mudi o & Co., Ba celona, 2011, p. 40.
32. MIRALLES, En ic, “Un e a o de
Giacome i”, El C oquis. En ic Mi alles,
1990-1994, no. 72, pp. 382-386.