Rafael Moneo por sí mismo, extracto 05/06 del pliego SCALAE: Sobre la propia manera de trabajar | On my way of working…

Rafael Moneo, 2003. foto: Félix Arranz para scalae

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[English] [ > Español]
Rafael Moneo: Many people who are producing good architecture today in this country (Spain) have had some kind of contact with me, either in the studio or at one of the schools, or on some other occasion. I have been fortunate to meet many very good architects along the way, and I would like to be able to say that I have helped them, even just a little, to discover the potential implicit in a job like this one, and to have been able to contribute in their sharing of the unabashed enthusiasm that I feel for architecture. It comforts me and makes me happy to be able to have left some kind of trace, in the usual and most obvious sense of the word, throughout my career.

As for the others, I like people I work with to help me be better. Unfortunately, as it is not possible to be working at each and every drawing board, I need the help of many young architects. I am like a kind of chess player assisting at lots of games, and I want to be at all of the boards in the studio. I start the game off, then I play it with other people, with those who help me in the studio. These are the rules of the game, and I make sure that everybody who comes to work here is aware of them. For better or for worse, this studio is centred around me. I very much appreciate the work of all those around me, but during the time they are here, I want them to help me to draw the water out of the spring which is my work, -something I cannot do alone. I don’t aspire so much to their creative initiative, as to their helping me to draw out something of my own, something more deep-seated. I’m sure that the people who work here in the studio see it the same way; that they see that that continuous dialogue that we have established is something that time spent in a studio like this one can give them. There are twenty five young architects here in this studio now, another five on the Maternidad hospital and some more on the Prado museum project sites, so there are more than thirty of us in total.

Something that never happens here is that a project is considered finished just because the time is up or has run out. To me, it is self-evident that developing a particular form is not a question of finalising a process, but something that must respond to the circumstances and demands that every job and every project demand continuously. One must be aware of the demands of the project and not fall asleep on the job. I don’t generally lurch from one direction to another; I don’t normally work by choosing between one possibility or another. I prefer to respond to a question on the drawing board in a more direct and intuitive way, and then I enjoy refining that first idea. The thing I most enjoy is improving upon my work. The great recompense of this job is seeing something emerging even better each day, even when the work is actually under construction.

In spite of the fact that each project might appear to establish some form of tyranny over one, I like to think about that immanence which I mentioned, and in that internal strength present in all jobs, which can be seen in the final results, – which, in one way or another, has been predetermined from the outset. That, to me, is a magnificent thing. Although the project usually demands an extremely determined and strict predefinition, one has to exploit the margins of intervention right up to the last minute. This is, perhaps, what I consider to be the most important lesson for those who work in my studio.

The modest virtue of perseverance is an essential virtue for the work of an architect. Stubbornness.

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[Español] [ > English]
Rafael Moneo: Mucha gente que hace buena arquitectura hoy en nuestro país ha tenido contacto conmigo, bien sea en el estudio, o en las escuelas, o en algún momento… he tenido suerte de encontrar en el camino a muchos buenos arquitectos. Y me gustaría haberles ayudado, un poco se entiende, a descubrir el potencial implícito en un trabajo como éste. Haber contribuido a que otros compartan el entusiasmo, dicho así sin pudor, que siento por la arquitectura. Ver que algo de rastro, en el sentido más directo y vulgar de la palabra, he ido dejando, a través de una carrera ya dilatada, me alegra y consuela.

Lo que nunca aquí ocurre es que se dé por terminado un trabajo porque se han acabado las horas, porque se agotó el tiempo disponible. Entender que la labra de una forma no es una cuestión de dar por finalizado un proceso sino que es algo que responde a las instancias y exigencias que en cada momento se dan en toda obra y en todo proyecto, es algo que para mí es evidente. Estar pendiente de lo que el proyecto demanda y no tener pereza. No suelo dar bandazos. No suelo proceder eligiendo entre distintas posibles alternativas. Me gusta más responder de un modo directo e intuitivo a la cuestión que tengo en el tablero y luego, disfruto refinando aquella primera idea. Lo que más me gusta es mejorar el trabajo que hago, la gran recompensa que tiene este trabajo es ir viendo emerger una realidad un poco mejor cada día, incluso durante la propia construcción.

A pesar que todo proyecto parece establecer una cierta tiranía, a mí me gusta pensar en esa inmanencia de la que hablaba y en esa fuerza interior de toda obra que se manifiesta en el resultado final, que en modo alguno está predeterminada desde un primer momento inicial. En cierto modo me parece que el gran atractivo de la arquitectura es no ver su final hasta el último día. Me parece que es una gran cosa. Aunque el proyecto exige una definición previa firme y estricta, hay que explotar los márgenes de intervención hasta el último momento. Ésta es, quizás, la que considero más importante lección para quienes trabajan en mi estudio.

–Traducción al inglés y revisión de la traducción: Maxine Hollewell y CathKidman–
–edición online: julio de 2022–