MARCELA ARAGUEZ
Architect based in Zurich. -MArch from the University of Granada in Spain. -PhD in Architectural History & Theory from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
Marcela Aragüez is a Spanish architect based in Zurich. She holds an MArch from the University of Granada in Spain and a PhD in Architectural History & Theory from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, where she was also awarded with an MSc in Spatial Design (UCL Turner Prize for best dissertation). Marcela’s research interest lies in the understanding of uncertainty as a spatial quality in architecture, with a particular emphasis on the investigation of post-war practices from a cross-cultural perspective. She is currently coordinating the joint research project ‘The Culture of Water’ between the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan. A former editor of LOBBY and current editor of InForma, Marcela has lectured widely in the UK, Switzerland, Japan, France and Spain and her work has been acknowledged by grants and awards from institutions such as the Japan Foundation, Sasakawa Foundation, Canon Foundation and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. She is a licensed practitioner with professional experience in Spain and Switzerland.
ABSTRACT: This paper argues that the creation of buildings with the potential of functional and physical change over time is inextricably linked to what can be labelled as ‘frameworks of uncertainty’ – i.e. those tools of architectural theory and design that predict, enable and manage the accommodation of controlled changes. To this purpose, the differing contexts of British and Japanese post-war architecture, and more specifically the work of Cedric Price and Arata Isozaki, are investigated as instrumental in understanding this friction between fixity and freedom within architectural design.
