Alejandro Aravena Interview: To Design is to Prefer

“I work in a ‘do tank’ not in a ‘think tank’.” In this personal video interview, the Chilean Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena shares his unorthodox path to architecture and offers us insight into the important working process of his socially conscious - and highly innovative - architecture office, Elemental.
“Physically shaking a building, everything that was not strictly necessary falls. So why wait for the earthquake? Can’t we submit design to a mental force that has taken out everything that is not strictly necessary?... Hence the name of our practice, Elemental.” Because they primarily work in Chile, which is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, Elemental seek to understand and respond to the forces of nature in the same way that they respond to cultural or emotional forces. An aspect of this, Aravena feels, is the importance of bringing their work to its innermost core, when there’s no more to remove: “That moment of irreducible existence.” In continuation of this, Aravena, who is “trained in a context with a scarcity of means,” argues that the fewer resources they have, the more meaning every single thing that you were given has to have.
In architecture, process is key, Aravena stresses, and in order to succeed, one must try to understand what it is that really matters to a given society - try to understand the uniqueness of a question and resist the urge of thinking we know the answer in advance: “We spend time designing the question before jumping into the answer.” As a consequence, they never know in advance what a project will look like, an example of this being the headquarters of the Inter-American Development Bank Group in the middle of a poor neighbourhood in Buenos Aires. A building that became a bridge - also physically with a raised linear park - between the wealthiest and the poorest in society. This project, Aravena feels, combines in one single building, everything that they’ve learned: “Architecture has in its innermost core a very powerful tool, which is that the project is synthetic. It can by nature coordinate things that otherwise may be dispersed.” Because they are used to working with constraints and willing to risk their reputation as well as failure every time they do a project, they work hard in advance to anticipate any conflicts. The opinion which matters most to them is that of the user, and so they like to “think out loud with the user” and build projects “around those moments of consensus.”
Alejandro Aravena (b. 1967) is a Chilean architect. In 2001 he founded the socially conscious architectural office Elemental, which focuses on projects of public interest such as housing, public space, infrastructure and transportation, and they first gained recognition for their work with social housing projects in Chile. Elemental also designs other kinds of buildings from museums through universities to office buildings, not only in Chile but also in the U.S., Mexico, China and Switzerland. Exhibitions of their work have been included at e.g. the Sao Paulo Biennale 2007 and MoMA in New York City (2010). Aravena is the recipient of prestigious awards including the Silver Lion (2008), the Erich Schelling Architecture Medal (2006), a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (2008) and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2016. From 2009 to 2015 he was a member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury, and in 2016, he was the director and curator of the Architecture Section of the Venice Biennale.
Alejandro Aravena was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark in October 2018.
Camera: Klaus Elmer
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Cover photo: Innovation Center UC in Chile by Elemental
Copyright: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2018
Supported by Dreyers Fond
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[@jlvmatus]

"Innovation is the consequence of not having enough knowledge"

[@udayjatav7168]

Alejandro Aravena is obviously great .. and I will also draw attention to the interviewer because he has asked all the right kind of questions.

[@theblackponderer]

Love how he acknowledges what he doesn't know. That takes deep insight.

[@FaithUkpai]

This has to be the best interview I've seen in a while and I have 2 pages full of notes from listening. 'When you have scarce resources you have to respond with an abundance of meaning'.🙌

[@gvantsatskipurishvili7224]

The architect who stands on the frontline of the architecture and brings forward the essentials of it. Truly great spirit and beautiful mind. Bravo

[@erinluceystudios6064]

Man, I’ve been binge watching this channel, and I’m starting to believe artists are the real superheroes. I can’t imagine a world without minds like this.. Or I don’t want to at least.

[@dhungryarchitect]

The step isnt really that much big of a deal. just change riser height on one or more of the steps. .. lol

[@TheArtOfSidek2]

He is great, as an architect and as a person.

[@peaou]

what a great interview, thank you for sharing

[@stevekimemia]

Really great sharing of ideas!

[@reginaldamicy6694]

The architectural approach of Mr. Aravena’s firm is in the best interest of places like Haiti so prone to earthquakes-they could help save thousands of lives from now on. I’ll dig his work much deeper. Interesting!

[@dmtgallardo]

Inspiring interview, thank you for doing this series!

[@umansocietyletsgetinspired4367]

I really love his style of architecture. Participatory design and collaboration is very much rooted in his works. His works are holistic and in consideration of all social issues surrounding them:)

[@andreagalanti3894]

Amazing, thank you.

[@danielpineda6053]

Great architect, great thinker!

[@isashach]

Absolutely amazing interview, I thoroughly enjoyed Alejandro's balanced approach. This conversation opened my mind as to how to approach projects, and which projects to focus on in the first place.

[@palebeau]

Beautiful composition of the interview scene! The glorious marine backdrop, the clarity of the room, a few, well placed pieces to structure the depth of the room and the round table with the wine and a surprisingly chaotic collection of books in front. That chair is beautiful, too, and the way he is positioned just slightly off centre... Someone had a great eye! I had to pause and sketch it! ;-)

[@thelouisianachannel]

Thanks so much for your comment, we'd love to see your sketch!

[@palebeau]

@@thelouisianachannel That's what you think now! ;-) It was more for the purpose of appreciating the frame, rather than for sharing. Anyhow, I'm still impressed!

[@saarangsahasrabudhe8634]

It's unfortunate that I can't give more than one thumbs up (i. e. like) to this. It's also unfortunate that I only have two thumbs... I want to be this guy!

[@stefanovaldo1173]

This man is brilliant!!!

[@FernandoPizzani]

Great interview, very intelligent questions and equally intelligent answers. Truly inspiring

[@dhungryarchitect]

The step isnt really that much big of a deal. just change riser height on one or more of the steps. .. lol

[@flokhan2045]

((such an open minded conceptor, Bravo

[@asraansari3066]

He's a truthful soul

[@MrDballiance]

I love ur work aluvera regards

[@user-ou8nc4ug1d]

This interview is just necessary

[@jlgh9902]

What a master.

[@archambaultsulivan235]

Insightful

[@zeinebabdallah2559]

Thanks

[@kbczpp255]

brilliant …..

[@lysergamine]

you work hard brother

[@reddevilian]

that view!

[@andrea.8862]

13:33 (Don't mind this. KZbin doesn't have a way to bookmark specific parts of a video privately so I use comments instead)

[@stanisawrudzki9444]

the most deserved Pritzker Prizer ever

[@josedelemosalencar4009]

Lindo, lindo , lindo.

[@tranzco1173]

Chilean Morrissey built the new soccer stadium in Santiago.

[@Rm-mq2qg]

# 1 punto.

[@Hen9207]

this guy is soooo cute

[@pokahuntas6630]

Please come to Disneyland.Tokyo🦉🐂

[@pokahuntas6630]

🐫🐫🐫

[@pokahuntas6630]

🆒🦅🐫

[@dhungryarchitect]

The step isnt really that much big of a deal. just change riser height on one or more of the steps. .. lol

[@pokahuntas6630]

🐫🦅🆒

[@pauheras1429]

Do not read stupid comments u architect, READ JANE JACOBS

[@jetuarintt870]

Every Architect gets Clients deceived and die in poverty.

[@barrywainwright3391]

What the hell? He talks gibberish and makes no sense and is talking all over the place.