Amancio Williams is considered one of the most significant architects in Argentina’s history. His work is characterized by recurring modernist themes: the use of technology to generate lyrical forms, concern for hygienic and functional issues, and minimal application of ornament. The thematic schemes of Le Corbusier and the classicist tendency and attention to detail of Mies van der Rohe also influenced his projects. Williams’s work addressed the concept of type or paradigmatic space. Over time these concepts were explored, refined, and often expressed through the building section. Aspects of modern life can be seen in his development typologies, such as the “Housing in Space” project, the large cultural complex, the office tower, the airport, the hospital, and the exhibit space. Williams’s projects are identified and qualified through the integration of type, structure, architecture, and site.
From 1948 to 1951, Williams served as construction supervisor for Le Corbusier’s Currutchet House project in La Plata, Argentina. Williams produced most of the construction documents for this house and supervised the project’s structural and concrete work.
In his Housing in Space project (1943), Williams explored the relationship between site and climate. Williams’s new approach toward creating a settlement is revealed in the manner in which the units are stepped to maximize light and ventilation, and a gentle curving roof offers broader views for all residents.
The House over the Brook (1945) in Mar del Plata synthesized many significant ideas for Williams. Designed for his father, a musician, it remains one of his few built projects. Williams described this house, which embodies his classicist attitudes, as “a form in space that cannot deny nature…concrete—its material—is exposed, and textured by mechanical and chemical procedures: form, structure and quality are thus here the same thing” (Frampton, p. 10). Two pillars support the bridgelike structure, and the curvature of the building responds to the landscape. The manner in which the house spans the brook is related to Maillart’s bridge (1933) over the Schawanbach River. It exemplifies Williams’s belief in the confluence of engineering and architecture. The interior displays his concern for detail and his poetic sensibility toward the use of materials.
Structural typology also plays a crucial role in Williams’s proposal for the Airport of Buenos Aires (1945). The solution is logical in its simplicity. Located 8 kilometers from the city, the airport was proposed to sit on massive slabs resembling airplane wings and was supported by enormous pillars embedded into the shallow river. The proposal connected the airport with the city via a platform, beneath which hung all airport circulation and services.
The Suspended Office Building project (1946) was designed in collaboration with Janello, Janello and Butler. This suspended skyscraper, designed for a site in Buenos Aires, is the most paradigmatic among all Williams’s projects. Four concrete columns support two beams from which hang a steel framework for 28 floors divided into three sectors. The first slab was suspended 18 meters above the entrance, thereby generating a covered open space for a densely populated area of the city. The interior had flexible partitions, a structural type that was developed decades later by Sir Norman Foster in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Buildings.
In Williams’s Hall for Visual Spectacle and Sound in Space (1953), the development of the typology is determined not by the location but rather by objective scientific study. Research that investigated the propagation of sound in space was used to shape the auditorium and optimize acoustics for all listeners. Rotating a vertical axis generated the shell; thus, it created a mushroomlike amphitheater capable of providing a variety of visual spectacles.
Since the late 1940s, Williams produced a series of projects that studied the relationships between program-function, sitestructure, and climate-city. Several of these, executed from 1951 to 1966, employed concrete building shells of minimum thickness. Others in the early 1960s rearticulated his strategies for the use of high roof structures. In both cases the structures consisted of thin building shells or roofs that were supported by large columns.
The shells in several projects acted as umbrellas that either grouped together or isolated spaces. They were carefully calculated to incorporate alternative functions to easily accommodate production processes and responded to differing contexts and programs. Among these proposals are the Hospitals in Corrientes, the proposals for Mbucuruyá and Curuzu-Cuatia (1948–53), the Gas Station (1955) in Avellaneda, the Industrial School (1960) in Olavarría, the House (1960) in Punta del Este, and the Bunge and Born Exhibition Stand (1966).
The series of projects employing high roof structures is part of Williams’s research and innovative attitude toward design. In these cases individual shells are replaced with continuous large roof structures supported by few columns. Horizontal panels or glass membranes hang from the roof to offer protection from the climate and provide continuity with the existing context. The basic structural components generate ample space that can accommodate diverse programs and activities. Examples of this approach are the factory building proposal (1962) for Iggam, a small furniture shop (1962) in Buenos Aires, and a monument (1964) for the city of Berlin.
Many of Williams’s later major projects were also unrealized. Among these is an urban proposal for a linear city of 300 kilometers in length by 6 kilometers in width. It is modeled after Le Corbusier’s approach to urban design, with the buildings supported by pilotis, thereby reclaiming the ground space to promote greater contact with nature. An additional unrealized project is Williams’s design for a 200-meter-high cross standing over the river (1988). It was to be situated on a large platform outside the port of Buenos Aires.
In 1981 the critic Kenneth Frampton wrote that Williams “was an enigmatic figure…a brilliant designer whose influence has been totally disproportionate to the extent of his own rather limited output” (Frampton, 1981). A renewed interest in architectural typology and Latin American architecture led to Williams’s work being exhibited at Harvard University in 1987. The exhibit contributed to a greater understanding and deeper appreciation of Williams’s contribution to modern architecture.
JOSE BERNARDI |
