Architecture in the Expanded Field. The Concept of Landscape in the Writings and Work of Alejandro de la Sota

Abstract

This article makes an analysis of the work and writings of this architect, from the perspective of the landscape, especially applying the concept of the expanded field of Rosalind Krauss. Its objective is to explain this concept applied to his work and draw conclusions about its importance in the thinking and production of this architect. This architect, so little known internationally, has been chosen to be able to disseminate and explain his work, which has already been explained from the point of view of architecture, but not so much from that of the landscape, except for an article by Navarro-Baldeweg. The method used consists of the analysis of two texts on the landscape (one from 1952 and another from 1954) and three works (Guzmán, Maravillas and Alcudia) by this architect. As a conclusion of the case study, it is deduced that the work of this architect surpasses the architectural and uses the passage as a defining element and trigger of his projects, getting the project to leave the landscape itself, instead of being imposed on it. His work is a catalyst for the landscape that surrounds his projects, architecture in the expanded field it goes beyond the architectural discipline itself towards other disciplines such as landscape or geography, thus encompassing scales that exceed architectural, such as the XL (territorial or geographical) or the XS (detailed or botanical). The article incorporates a final diagram that, following the Krauss model, proposes a study of Sota’s work from the perspective of the landscape.