Blank proposes and assumes architecture as the struggle between background and foreground. It at times purposely holds architecture in a state of pure blankness using an architectural container that is reductive and simple; this container holds and hides the architecture, which only flows out when absolutely required.
The architecture is thus the dichotomy between container and contained, background and foreground. The contained mass stems from the idea of object continuity, background cohesion and mass injection towards utility. The mass, when absolutely necessary, creeps, shifts, and structures the foreground into existence, thus presenting people and their activities as the spatial point of focus.
By getting rid of the unnecessary, the decorative, and the frivolous, the mass is the connecting point of function - it flows out to become a rail, a step, or seating - and when its utility is no longer needed, the architectural gestures retreat back into their container, to their original blank state.
The architectural object thus produced is perceived through layers and manufactured by poche. The layers within the object represent an alternative to the part, producing differentiation without fragmentation. Layers are contiguous, not discretized. A whole may be layered and remain internally self-consistent, whether cut, extracted or excavated. Blank Consists off: Reductive Transformation Simple Geometry Elimination Symbology Object Continuity Killing the Component Material Gradient One object, multiple functions Background Production Mass Injection Background Cohesion
Lourenço Vaz Pinto