TOTO GALLERY･MA is pleased to present the first Japanese solo exhibition of Ensamble Studio, which has been continuing to explore the possibilities of architecture out of Spain and America through employing an Earth-scale perspective, powerful forms that resonate with nature, and unique modes of construction.

Ensamble Studio was founded in 2000 in Madrid, Spain, as a cross-functional team led by Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa. Valuing the importance of thinking and experimenting with their own hands, the architects go beyond merely designing buildings to devise their own specialized construction methods for realizing novel works of architecture that elude comparison.

In recent years, the studio’s activities have been growing ever more dynamic, and it has also been undertaking projects of enormous scale. In 2016, it unveiled a series of open-air sculptural works titled “Structures of Landscape” at the Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, USA. The structures dotting the vast 48-square-kilometer site were literally created using the land as formwork, and though mistakable as prehistoric ruins, they are feats of modern technology made possible through complex structural design and construction processes involving careful mock-up analysis and precise computer modeling.

Ensamble Studio’s terrestrial-scale approach to architecture is what informed the exhibition’s theme, “Architecture of The Earth”. The exhibition spotlights projects that were born out of the architects’ exploration of the relationship between the Earth and architecture and introduces their original research, design, and construction processes through a selection of models and videos.