An exhibition on design practices

Garagem Sul CCB Lisbon, 18 June – 8 September 2019

Curated by Mario Rinke

Beyond all of the many components that form a building’s appearance, the physical preconditions remain most important – that of holding the building together and keeping it standing: as animals have bones, every building has a structure. Buildings have non-diminishable inner laws whereby the interconnection of its materials and components provide strength and consequently, these laws impose shapes, patterns, orders and constraints. Within architecture, there is a long tradition of thought that the load bearing structure is a biomorphic metaphor, with construction being the anatomy of architecture. Whilst a structure represents the authority over the physical form of a building, the overall design can manipulate the concept of a structure itself. Hence, that design and concept of the structure is the point of embarkation for endlessly diverse approaches to the creation of the architectural forms. Construction and design technologies are challenging the very notion of structure and its role as a generator of architectural form. The position of structure within the multiple factors of design and building practices is also being challenged. Nonetheless - gravitational force is inescapable.

The exhibition ‘The Bones of Architecture’ will examine the cultivation of structures in the service of architecture as developed by diversely different designers who are all active in building practice. These designers – altogether seven European architects and engineers – will show their works and approaches, reflecting upon rules, strategies and methods in the design of structures. They will comprehensibly map contemporary concepts of structure as formative cultures within the discipline of architectural structural design.

6a, London, United Kingdom
Alejandro Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
Brandlhuber+, Berlin, Germany
Bruther Architects, Paris, France
Rui Furtado, Porto, Portugal
Ingegneri Pedrazzini Guidotti, Lugano, Switzerland
Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter, Copenhagen, Denmark

Website: https://www.ccb.pt/Default/en/GaragemSul/Exhibitions/CurrentExhibitions?a=1450