Shadow as subtractive process

Abstract

The essay examines the relationship between shadow as an expressive process and its connection with time. Ensamble Studio's reflections on shadow and gravity are articulated through a focus on the problems of weight and mass. It moves beyond the modernist material that formerly guided the themes of gravity and light in a dialectical relationship between the internal and external, towards a physical action executed through the weight of masses that generate a strong material tension with space. This tension allows the observer to experience the physical and tactile weight of the architecture. Two works are analyzed to clarify the relationship between shadow and excavation, gravity and time: the Music Studies Center in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and the Telcel Theatre in Mexico. Designing with shadow means engaging with the weight of millenary history, through the excavation of space, oriented towards individuals and the community.