monografia

7/14/2019 monografia

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/monografia-56327b712c97c 1/9

By analysing seven great works o architecture, we shall

see how the exceptional qualities o enamelled and glazed

ceramics, colour, shine and adaptation to complex shapes,

are enhanced, and how they accompany and ne-tune the architect’s

idea o the project.

Using these properties, we shall directly relate Ceramics and the

Design Decision. We shall understand when, how and why ceramic,

and not another material, enters the design process o some o the most

representative works o architecture.From the Ishtar Gate to Saint Catherine’s market, the examples chosen

will show us that it is essential to make the material work in avour o

the project’s unctional, physical and aesthetic needs, by choosing it

conscientiously. Also, the importance o knowing what has been learned

throughout the centuries with respect to both the tradition o ceramics and

architecture itsel will be highlighted, so that rm steps can be taken, based on

the development o what has already been done, to reinterpret and reprocess

these achievements.

OriginsCeramics go beyond the simple interpretation “made o

clay”, but are to be connected to the history o almost all

the peoples o the world, so much so that ceramics date

sites and name cultures. Ceramics were invented during

the Neolithic revolution, and they were a result o the

settling o civilisations, i.e. o humankind’s bonding to a

Colour, shine and shapein architectural claddingR. Sánchez González Madrid, Spain

22 TILEToDAY #68 www.infotile.com/publications


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/monografia-56327b712c97c 2/9www.infotile.com/publications TILEToDAY #68 23

particular land. At the beginning, ceramics were made using the

clay extracted rom the area, creating a bond between the land,

the cratsmen and the community.

Ceramics, as an ancient art, has evolved along with humanity’s

progress. While the clay is oten sourced locally, nowadays the

end product is usually the result o industrial processes which

orm the piece. Ceramic tiles are one o a very small number o

products which retain much o their original integrity, in spite o

the act that they are now generally mass produced by highly

technical processes.

Two o the breakthroughs that led to more aesthetic and plastic

possibilities in the world o ceramics were the enamelling and

glazing processes. Applied to the clay base, these techniques give

the ceramic piece the attributes o colour and shine.

Covering the tile body with a layer o protective enamel or glaze

opened up a spectacular range o possibilities, rstly by making it

waterproo, long-lasting and easy to clean, and by also allowing

the architect to design and combine colour and shine.

Ceramics are also extremely easy to mould. Tiles may be hand

made, extruded or dry pressed. Whichever process is adopted the

nal product is usually easy to cut. The nished product can be

installed with high quality adhesive and grout, to provide a suracethat is highly resistant to abrasion and staining

These eatures, present in other materials but exceptional in

ceramics, are colour, shine and adaptation to shape.

Ceramics, in all their variants, but perhaps especially in the

enamelled and glazed ones, ulls Steen Eiler Rasmussen’s

maxim: “as a general rule, it can be said that materials with

poor textural eects improve with a deep embossment, while

high-quality materials can take a smooth surace and, in act,

they appear more advantageous with no embossment or any

ornament ”.

But while it is interesting to know the qualities o the material

(the ingredients), it is more valuable to try to grasp how the

architect uses those qualities to enhance, accompany and ne-

tune an idea (the recipe).

Why did architects like Jørn Utzon, Enric Miralles and Antoni Gaudi,

among others, rely on ceramics to urnish an image, characterise

spaces and provide a special atmosphere or their buildings? What

makes ceramics special in comparison with other materials and

how and why was tile applied in these works?

In short, it is being able to directly relate Ceramics and the

Design Decision; to understanding when, how and why ceramics

and not another material have entered the design process o some

o the most representative works o architecture.

Deep down, it is a return journey, rom the architectural design

to the identication, classication and evaluation o the qualities

o ceramics as a construction material.

It is dicult to say when non-three-dimensional ceramicsappeared as a material inseparable rom architecture.

A remaining wall precursor is the Ishtar Gate in Babylon, clad

with thousands o enamelled bricks eaturing bulls and dragons.

But there are also others like the small mosaics ashioned rom

coloured clay that decorated walls and columns in the Assyrian city

o Nineveh, possible orerunners o the Greek stone mosaics that

would be treated in the Hellenistic era and reached perection in

the Roman and Byzantine period.

Saint Esteven of ViennaThe rst mosaics were possibly not made o stone, but o clay.

It is also possible that the rst slabs or plates or roos in Central

Europe were neither made o slate or ceramics, but o wood. There

are multiple inter-connections, oten return journeys, which bring

back improvements.

In France, Germany, Austria and other Central European countries

with heavy rains, it was the custom to cover roos with steep

slopes with wooden tiles supported on a grid o wooden strips. The

typical appearance is the one with a sh-scale structure due to the

wide overlaps that were built to prevent water rom entering. One

o the best surviving groups is in Troyes, France. It is a material that

has aged nobly with a very pleasant texture, but since it is a wood

that is exposed to the exterior, it cannot be given colour. Something

similar happens with the slate, with a strong appearance but with

a monotonous nish. While acades, doors, windows and interiors

were becoming more and more complex, the highly visible roos

with steep slopes had to be kept like uniorm drapes, in a certain

way monotonously, merely used or their unction o protectingagainst the elements.

When it was built, Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna became

the largest structure in the city. Its high, wide roos would be visible

within a radius o kilometres. Virtue arose rom necessity, since the

wide gable, ar rom imposing itsel and weighing down on the

city’s huddling houses, became its giant symbol. Its 250,000 tiles

drew the city’s coat o arms in a mosaic and gave it a colour that it

lacked. Far rom imposing a continuous solid mass on the square,

it was a light, clear decoration against which the pointed Gothic

sections were silhouetted.

On this building, ceramics acquired a type o construction that

came rom wood and slate, but which was totally in its avour.

The decision to use ceramics was rather experimental. It could

be thought that the chromatic quality o the material allowed

architects to convert what was initially a problem into a virtue:

it is possible that, when imagining the eect o the thousands

o tiles laid out in mosaic, they gave the roo an even more

A al: TheIshtar Gate, one o theeight gates to the city o Babylon, eatured ceramic cladding – built by Nebuchadnezzar II (604– 562BC). This reconstructioneatures in the PergamonMuseum, Berlin. Photo:Spanner Dan.

L: Imam Mosque,Isahan, Iran. istockphoto.com


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/monografia-56327b712c97c 3/924 TILEToDAY #68 www.infotile.com/publications

pronounced slope than necessary or it to become the maineature o the square.

The same problem occurred, with the same solution, in the city

o Beaune in Burgundy, France, the most representative case being

the Hospices, a teenth century almshouse.

This desire to incorporate colour into architecture will oten be

the motive or introducing ceramics.

In the quest to distinguish public buildings rom the rest o a city’s

huddle o houses, the size or height o a tower is oten sucient,

but sometimes the grey monotony o a climate or the brownish-

grey tone o a city built entirely o the same material requires a

touch o colour, a sparkle, something that breaks the rule.

The possibilities o enamelling or through-body colouring allow

an indelible pigmentation on a product that is also waterproo.

It is true that colour can be incorporated into other materials in

the orm o paint, but this is temporary, since it requently does

not withstand inclement weather. One only needs to think o the

Greek temples, which used to be richly coloured.

Esfahan, The Blue CityThis is the case o Esahan in Iran, a symbol o the golden age o

Persian civilisation. It was designed to amaze the world, with wide

avenues and squares.

The use o tiles on walls and foors was already common in the

Middle East beore the Hellenistic period and it was revived by the

Sassanids. The Islamic use o the tile really began in the Abbasid

period, but it reached its maximum splendour in Iran ater the

18th century. In the rst stages, glazed ceramics had hexagonal

and star shapes, but then the mosaic technique, with small pieces

o cut tiles that were joined together to orm rich and complicated

drawings, was developed.

In Esahan, the large public buildings, due to their size but alsobecause o their colour, had to stand out rom the rest o the

buildings, which were structures which display the land’s natural

colours and were an integral part o the landscape.

In Esahan, at two ends o the axes o the immense Imam Square

(previously the Shah’s Square), the mosques o the Shah and

Sheikh Lot Allah stand out rom the double row o superimposed

arcades because o their intense blue colour, rather than their

size. Thus, the so-called blue city has been given its second name

rom the colour o the millions o tiles that cover the mosques’

doors, acades and domes. The dome o the Sheikh Lot Allah

mosque, with warmer tones, changes colour depending on the

sunlight, and goes rom cream to pink, taking ull advantage o the

characteristics o the textures and colours o the ceramics.

The acades sometimes give the impression o merging with the

sky thanks to the colour o the cobalt, a shade o blue that puts

an end to a return journey. Chinese ceramics, a possible precursor

o this art, which would have spread rom east to west until it

Pictured Left with detAiL: Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna. Volume o fsh scaletiles silhouetting the Gothic stone sections. iStockphoto.com Above with detAiL: Roos o the Beaune Hospice, Burgundy, France. iStockphoto.com



reached the Mediterranean, going through Mesopotamia and the

north o Arica, would be enriched centuries later by a colour which

had been unknown to them until that moment.

As it is perectly visible on the acades and domes o Esahan’s

mosques, another o the most beautiul eatures or experimental

possibilities o ceramics can be especially appreciated: the shine.

The double-curvature suraces strengthen this eect, which is even

more obvious when the base o the dome is built o unglazed clay.

The small sizes into which the tiles are cut, but above all the

studied geometry with which they are put together again, allow the

ceramic cladding to be adapted to the dicult shapes o the domes.

The possibility o enamelling or glazing the tile body allows us an

extremely wide variety o tones, which depends on the oxides we

use, but it also allows us to introduce shine or gloss, a very dicult

eect to obtain in other materials. Although wood can be polishedor varnished, that nish will not stand up well to the elements. In

stone materials, polishing is the process that allows us to shine

their suraces, but we also nd ourselves with limitations, since not

all stones take it and the weight and necessary thickness o the

stone pieces make it impossible or them to be applied on many

roos. Metal can have a high gloss, but in time it may rust, making

it lose its power o refection. Glass, which perorms well in terms

o cost and durability, does not adapt well to sinuous shapes.

Gaudi, Jujol and trencadisIn 1904, Antonio Gaudi designed a ceramic cladding with a gradient

o blue tones in the patio o the “Casa Batlló”, with which it blends

the light that trickles down its walls.

But it is with so-called trencadis that the Catalan architect uses

all the possibilities o ceramics, as well as colour. This technique

consists o a type o mosaic made with ragments o ceramic scrap

or with white china cups and plates joined together with mortar.

A: Iman Square. In the background, the Shah’s Mosque. L: Dome o the Sheik Lot Allah Mosque. bl : Detail o the doorway o the Shah’s Mosque. iStockphoto.ocm.



Good examples o this technique are the chimneys in the Mila and

Batllo houses and the dragon in Parc Güell, but the work in which

it is best used is perhaps the undulating white that crowns the

garden’s cornice.

Both the trencadis cladding o the bench and the ceiling o the

hypostyle hall are works o Josep Maria Jujol i Gubert, a leading

gure in the Catalan modernism movement.

The bench is made up o a series o concave and convex modules.

The base is made o white trencadis and it is crowned with a ceramicdecoration with motis that are generally abstract, but also with some

gurative elements like stars, fowers, sh, crabs, etc. This trencadis

was built with scraps, tiles, bottles and pieces o dishware. The sinuous

shapes o the bench could undoubtedly have been made o reinorced

ace concrete, but they would never refect the light o dusk in the

way the pink, blue, yellow and green ragments do.

Trencadis uses ceramics in-situ, but not in the normal sense o

“rst I know the place where it’s going to be placed, and then I

make the piece”, but in the uller, and at the same time, more

intense sense. It is not a case o new pieces to be made in situ,

but o old pieces in situ which have already been made the most

o, laid out on a drawing, which is careully designed but also

undetermined, a drawing that does not recompose the original

piece, but that, along with the extreme possibilities o colour and

shine o ceramics, makes the waves o the cornice in Parc Güell

vibrate under the changing sunlight. The shine highlights the

objective nature o the buildings and the space it covers.

As well as the aesthetic value itsel o enamelled ceramics,

architects highlight their expressive power through contrast.

The white trencadis cladding, with the largest expanse, acts as a

neutral background that validates the coloured background.

On the other hand, the repetition o the sinuous shapes made

with stone materials, which are heavier, in the rest o the park

brings to mind an empathy with the land, which, by comparison,

make the waves o the cornice made in trencadis much lighter.

In spite o using a new technique with great skill, Gaudi and Jujol

did not leap into the void. O course, they knew the stone mosaicswhich are so widespread in Rome and Byzantium, but, due to

their interests in Eastern and Mudejar architecture, stages through

which they went in their proessional career, perhaps they were

even more aware o the North Arican mosques clad in glazed

ceramic mosaic, which are much more expressive in colour than

their stone counterparts. This way o practising architecture, which

is captivated by what has been done previously, ar rom being o

little creativity, oten leads to the building o structures that better

withstand the passing o time.

Oscar Niemeyer: the Luso-Brazilian experienceOther geographically ar o experiences, but near in spirit, are

the ceramic claddings used by Brazilian architects. A particularly

outstanding case is the Oscar Niemeyer designed church o Saint

Francis o Assisi in Pampulha district o Belo Horizonte

Along with Jorn Utzon who designed the Sydney Opera House, the

Brazilian architect is one o the ew who has managed to invent

fa a: Undulating white ceiling above the ‘market place’ o the Güell Park, Barcelona. A: Flooring in the palace patio, Sale, Rabat, Morocco.L: Natural stone vaulted walkway as comparison, Güell Park, Barcelona. Comparison. Antoni Gaudi.bl: Undulating cornice o the Güell Park, Barcelona.Example o the trencadis. Antoni Gaudi and Josep Maria Jujol.



iconic shapes and convert them into the symbolic expression o a

country or a city beyond their unction. Thus, the curved prole o

the two domes and the double tower o the National Congress will

always be associated with the image o Brasilia. The curved shape

will be the general tonic in his architecture and reinorced concrete

will be his great ally.

Ceramics appear in his work when he wants to make the

shapes lighter, or highlight the small scale. One o the examples

is the Church o Saint Francis o Assisi, where he uses ceramics

to mellow the building’s character, making it less brutal. The

church, which is located in the Pampulha complex, provides

an example o Niemeyers experimentation with concrete

skins. This is also where ceramics appear as a comprehensive

cladding material. It is the test o the antastic pairing ormed

by the concrete skins and ceramics, whether the latter is lost

ramework as in the case o Guastavino, or as a cladding, in the

case o the Brazilian architect.

Niemeyer is interested in tile, partly used as a reminder o the

Luso-Brazilian tradition, or design. It is used in other buildings in

the Pampulha complex like the yacht club and the casino, but it is

in the Church o Saint Francis o Assisi where the use o ceramics

is more intentional, precise and elegant. As always occurs inarchitecture, this renement is preceded by previous experiences.

In the project, which was infuenced by Le Corbusier and designed

by a team o young Brazilian architects led by Lucio Costa, and the

Ministry o Health and Education in Rio de Janeiro, the basics o

architecture o the modern Brazil are provided. Although it ollows

the Corbuserian precepts, like the raised foor on pilotis, the garden

terrace and the water tanks on the roo, the local architects adapt

the Swiss’ ideas to Brazilian reality. Niemeyer proposes increasing

the height o the ground foor, much in line with the graceul

architecture he will establish in the uture. The space between

pilotis must create the eeling that

the square runs beneath the 14-foor

block. For the inevitable nucleus o

vertical communication not to blur

that eeling o lightness, it is clad

with tiles decorated with curvilinear

strokes. Although the idea was taken

rom Le Corbusier, here it inherits

colours and plasticities rom the Luso

tile tradition, allowing the virtual

disappearance o the heavy opaque

nucleus o lits and stairways, thanks

to its pattern.

In Pampulha, Niemeyer is already

applying his ormal exuberance. The

church, a controversial building that

took 16 years to be consecrated,consists o 4 vaults that intersect

among each other and which

seem to only lean on the two

vaults installed at the ends. These

vaults already have the architect’s

imprints: sinuous

lines built and

sustained thanks

to the qualities o

the reinorced concrete. In this work, in contrast to others, there

is the diculty o having a surace which, while it begins in a

vertical position, gradually bends to reach the horizontal position,

and returns again to verticality. Thereore, there was a problem

o sealing and another o maintenance and cleaning. It would be

dicult or concrete to solve these aspects.

Oscar Niemeyer, in collaboration with the Brazilian painter, Paulo

Werneck, devised the cladding o the concrete vaults with a mosaic

o square ceramic tessarae in sky blue tones. This has the eect o

creating bluish white waves on the base o each end vault, which

bring to mind the mountains located opposite, whilst also providing

lightness, shine and persistence to concrete structures that would

otherwise appear heavy, dull and dirty. Ceramics also served to

solve the sealing, since they quickly defect the rain thanks to their

smooth nish; maintenance, since it is a rather non-porous and

clean material; adaptation to the shape, thanks to the small-sized

tessarae; and the subtle colouring which provides lightness that is

dicult to achieve with reinorced concrete.

This group o vaults is nished at the ront with an oset wall

clad with tiles in bluish tones, arranged in a 45 degree grid. This

mosaic, designed by Candido Portinari, which reminds us o the

one built in the Ministry o Rio de Janeiro, depicts religious scenes,and is in some way, the response o a tropical structure to the wide

glass windows o Northern and Central Europe. Here, the need to

introduce light, which led the architects o Gothic cathedrals to

devise a new way to build, becomes the need to oer protection

rom the sun. The windows are transormed into ceramic mosaics,

and both share the nature o being receptacles o religious

imagery. The virtual lightening o the sides o the vaults makes

them seem lighter.

It is said that Brazilian architectures nd an ally in their tastes in

reinorced concrete. This is equally true o ceramic mosaic, which

has proven to be an excellent support

material in the sinuous architecture

o the Brazilian curved line.

Jørn Utzon: the sails of SydneyHarbourThe other iconic architect par excel-

lence, the Dane, Jørn Utzon, designed

the Sydney Opera House, starting in

1955. The original sketches depicted

some sail-shaped roos which clearly

reer to the boats that populate the

harbour. The Danish architect is at-

tracted by the curved and pointed

shapes o the nautical sails and

their refections under the sun. We

already know the problems whichUtzon and the engineers, Ove Arup,

aced when trying to construct the

graceul vaults in a rational and eco-

nomically adjusted way. In the end,

they managed to settle it by taking

the geometry o

the sail segments

rom a sphere, al-

lowing the entire

surace to have

the same curva-

ture. The preab-

ricated structures

made on-site

made it possible

to raise the sails,

but there still

tp: General view o the Saint Francis o Assisi Church, Pampulha, Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer.

Ml: “La Ricarda” House, El Prat de LLobregat, Antonio Bonet Castellana.

bm l: Mosaic o the gable end. Gymnasiumo the Department o Popular Housing, Brazil,

Aonso Eduardo Reidy.bm g: Detail o the same mosaic. Aonso

Eduardo Reidy.



remained the problem o their

appearance, in relation to the

original idea o a bright white

tense “abric”, and the adapta-

tion to the spherical shape itsel.

Many years were spent devising,

calculating and raising the struc-

ture, yet the entire eect could be

ruined by choosing an inappropri-

ate cladding.

His concern is refected in the

article “Sydney Opera House: The

roo tiles”, which he originally

wrote or “Architecture in

Australia” in 1965.

“It is essential or me to fnd a

material with such a quality that it

could match the simple and pow-

erul geometry and, this way, emphasise the vigorous shapes” . On

the other hand, he also attached prime importance to the physical

properties o the material: “Durability and resistance to the climate

were the main actors. The

roo must also keep its

character throughout the

years in harmony with the

other materials, granite and

glass. Finally, the extreme

changes in temperature o

the Australian climate com-

bined with the problems o

roos o a similar magni-

tude were decisive actors

to be kept in mind”.

The list o materials was,

thereore, very limited, and

in order to avoid surprises,

perormance needed to

be proven. “The material

needed to have been seen

on the buildings o the old world, and have remained undeteriorated

or many years, but it should have aged well and acquired a lovely

patina, and the only material I’ve ound that meets such demands

is the ceramic tile” . In this article, Jørn Utzon just about denes ina simple and direct way some o the aspects that it is sought to

highlight in this paper: the extreme durability o ceramic material, in

which the qualities o colour and shine remain.

The response to all these requirements would be an extruded tile,

more resistant and rather non-porous, with a size o 12.5 x 12.5

cm, arranged at 45 degrees. The geometry and laying patterns,

even though it is much more technied, allows the ceramic

cladding to adapt to the double curvature o spheres and domes,

just like in Esahan. In order to be able to control its nish and

installation, a decision was made to lay the tiles on preabricated

reinorced concrete pieces.

The nish is obtained using two tonalities on the tiles, a bright

white employed on whole tiles, and a matt white-cream colour on

trapezoidal pieces that allow them to adapt to the shapes o the

sail segments. Their small size and their shine make the sails o

the Sydney Opera House have a uniorm, light appearance, viewed

rom a distance, without the spectator having any idea o the

heavy structure underpinning the shells.

Jørn Utzon, as Gaudi did previously with trencadis, shows us

the possibilities that tile possesses or cladding suraces that are

not fat. The small size and the easy moulding o dierent pieces,

limited weight and easy cutting allow exceptional adaptation to

almost any surace.

But he is radically dierent rom the Spanish architect in the way

he puts the ceramics into place. The trencadis technique, studied as

a whole and at a distance, but spontaneous in close up detail shows

the hand o the architect, and the mason. In the Sydney Opera House,ceramics, rationalised and technied, with two types o nish, are

installed on preabricated panels using automatic procedures that

prevent the slight movement stemming rom manual installation

rom ruining the overall eect o sails tensed by the wind.

The visual sensation is o extreme lightness. The smoothness

and brightness o the sails contrast with the matt, darker colour,

which is more typical o the earth o the platorm that makes up

the peninsula. This eect was partly inspired by the enamelled

ceramic domes and minarets built in Islamic cities like Yazd and

Esahan. The houses and the skirting boards o the mosques rise

rom the earth without any solution o continuity. This emphasises

the lightness o the domes by contrast.

Miralles and Tagliabue: Saint Catherine’s MarketIn the restoration and covering o Saint Catherine’s market by Enric

Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, the possibilities o colour and

adaptation to the shape o the enamelled and glazed ceramics are

L: Detail o the tiles,Sydney, Australia, JørnUtzon.bm l: General view o the Sydney Opera House,Australia, Jørn Utzon.bm g: Clipper onthe Aegean Sea.

The material needed to have

been seen on the buildings of the old

world, and have remained undeteriorated

for many years, but it should have aged

well and acquired a lovely patina, and

the only material I’ve found that

meets such demands

is the ceramic tile.

“

”Architect, Jorn Utzon



also explored. The design o the building, located in the old city

quarters o Barcelona, was envisaged rom the outset as a place

that was open to the neighbourhood, where it was not so easy to

distinguish the old rom the new, between restoration and new

construction. Thus, it was decided to leave the walls o the old

market and build a new roo or the complex.

Although the volume o the market is considerable, it is stuck

to the ground, and the residential blocks that surround it rise

above it. This is why the architects considered an undulating roo

as a main operation, designed to be seen rom above. Enric and

Benedetta designed three waves clad in ceramics, which bring

back memories o the three vaults o the old market. However, the

new vaults are fooded with the colours o the ood produce that is

sold below. The roo is inspired by the produce it covers.

The same requisites o cleanliness and durability that motivated

Niemeyer or Utzon led Miralles and Tagliabue to choose ceramics

as the cladding material or their vaults.

The ceramics involved are preabricated hexagonal pieces, xed

to a plastic mesh that adapts to the sinuous shape o the vaults.

Each piece consists o 37 small hexagonal tiles o the same colour,

which represent the ragment o a vegetable still lie. Sixty-sevencolours and 325,000 small tiles are counted on the roo, a hexagonal

geometry possibly infuenced by breakdowns o Muslim architecture,

as in the fooring o the Maghreb.

Basically the same method, but technied and hexagonally

modulated, as the one used by Antoni Gaudí, although with

one curious note: when the curvilinear geometry o the roo o

Miralles and Tagliabue encounters the straighter geometry o

the gutters, it resorts to the versatility and adaptation o the

Gaudinian trencadis.

The result is a wrinkled “blanket”, with the produce displayed on

it, which goes beyond the limits o the walls o the old market and

which, thanks to the lightness o the materials chosen, wood and

steel or the structure and ceramics or the cladding, seems to foat

on these. In this work, just like Utzon, the architects manage to give

an almost textile eect to the ceramics, white and tense due to the

action o the wind in the case o the Danish architect, and o a hal-

spread table cloth ull o vegetables in the Barcelona team’s work.

Design of architecture clad with ceramicsMany centuries have gone by rom the Ishtar Gate to Saint

Catherine’s market, and the ways o building have evolved with

them. In order to show the qualities o ceramics, projects and

architects with a marked ormality have been chosen (though

they in turn leaned on tried and tested architectures) in which

the material was taken to the limit. It is at this point where the

qualities o enamelled and glazed ceramics are more readily seen.

In the oregoing projects, ceramics have proved to be the best

option, given the unctional and technical premises and the

aesthetic-visual sensation that the architect wanted to achieve.

However, in no case is this simply unqualied praise or ceramics.

Each material has its optimum eld o expression, and that

eld is never univocal or clear, and it broadens as construction

techniques progress.

For the design architect’s work, knowing the weak and strong

points o the material, i.e. its possibilities, is o vital importance not

just to build, wall up, cover or protect a space, but to strengthen an

idea, a sensation, an atmosphere, a scale, a proportion, a weight,

by appropriate use. Ceramic tile is a construction material which

participates in the virtues, but also the vices, o Architecture.For this, it is vitally important both in the world o ceramics and

in great architecture to know what has been learned throughout

the centuries, to appreciate what has been proved, to re-interpret

and to reproduce. Based on the maturity o what has already been

done, rm steps may be taken. Think, or example, o the relation

between Utzon’s Opera House and the Iran mosques. Great experts

like Le Corbusier, Aalto, Kahn, Utzon and Niemeyer were not

characterised so much by “creating” or “inventing” architectures,

but by being keen observers o what had already been done, even

thousands o years beore. Their contribution oten consisted o

small steps which updated the usual ideas. Small (and not so small)

steps, but on rm ground. Rather than inventing, rediscovering.

This article was presented at Qualicer, 2010. Tile Today sponsor

that event. This article is available as an archived article which

can be downloaded orm the advice section o www.inotile.com.

All reerences are available there.

Roo o Saint Catherine’smarket, Barcelona.

http://www.infotile.com/

http://www.infotile.com/


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/monografia-56327b712c97c 9/900 TILEToDAY #68 i f til / bli ti

REFERENCES[1] RASMUSSEN, STEEN EILER: Experiencia de la arquitectura. Biblioteca UniversitariaLabor, Barcelona , 1974.[2] MICHELL, GEORGE: La Arquitectura del Mundo Islámico. Alianza Editorial, S.A.Madrid 1985.[3] LAHUERTA, JUÁN JOSÉ: Antoni Gaudí. Sociedad Editorial Electa España S.A., Madrid,1999.[4] MARTÍNEZ LAPEÑA, JOSÉ ANTONIO: Park Gell. Editorial Gustavo Pili S.A.,Barcelona.[5] MARC-HENRI WAJNBERG (CD): Oscar Niemeyer, un arquitecto comprometidoArquia/documental. Bélgica, 2000.[6] AV MONOGRAFÍAS: Oscar Niemeyer. Arquitectura Viva S.L. Madrid, 2007.[7] INSTITUTO LINA BO e P.M. BARDI. Affonso Eduardo Reidy. Editorial Blau. Lisboa,2000.[8] RICHARD WESTON. Utzon. Editorial Blondal. Hellerup, Dinamarca, 2002.[9] AV MONOGRAFÍAS: España 2005. Arquitectura Viva S.L. Madrid, 2005.[10] EDUARDO DE MIGUEL ARBONÉS y otros. Arquitecturas cerámicas. Catedra

monografia

Documents

glazed ceramics

world of ceramics

tradition of ceramics

origins ceramics

ceramics date sites

attributes of colour

ceramic piece

ceramic tiles