Replicas: architecture as copy or invention

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.