Architecture of The Earth

Earth is a material.
It is also a place where we live, that we transform.
Architecture sometimes chooses to build with it.
Others, to exist independently.
Or to flatten its face.

Vestiges of ancient monuments carved in rock, built with it, vernacular architectures that give order to the materials around them, land art, and some earthworks as well... evidence the potential of using land and landscapes actively, beyond their understanding as sources for endless exploitation.

"Architecture of The Earth" presents a series of research and professional projects conducted by Ensamble Studio during two decades. Though developed at different times, in different geographies and for different reasons, together they contribute to reflect upon the relation between Architecture and The Earth, or the print that as humans we leave in our environment. Reading landscapes, recycling them, reinforcing their crust or using it as mold, structures are built utilizing the natural potential of places and creating synergies. Learning from geological processes, analog construction methodologies are developed and new architectural languages discovered, opening our imagination to unknown territories that are worth exploring.

TOTO GALLERY・MA offers three distinct spaces through which the theme unfolds: Laboratory of Ideas and Garden (RESEARCH & DESIGN) and Audiovisual Landscapes (CONSTRUCTION). They propose an itinerary, from ideas to materialization and back: a retrofitting loop that presents the theme of the exhibition as an ongoing and unfinished enterprise.