WATA - World Architecture Technal Awards Edition 2019 | Page 4

“T ransparency may be an inherent quality of substance, as in a glass curtain wall; or it may be an inherent quality of organisation.” (Colin Rowe / Robert Slutzky: “Transparency” 1963) Transparency is usually referred to as a material property, most commonly associated with glass. However, understood in in a more conceptual way, it can be a quality inherent to a spatial organisation and thus become a tool for generating a more complex spatial order. By applying techniques such as layering, superimposing, folding and intertwining, complex assemblages of diverse and multi-layered spatial conditions are created, where categories such as solid and void, private and public, city and nature - traditionally perceived in dialectic opposition - are juxtaposed in new and unexpected ways. Apart from the skilful use of light and materiality, it is these spatial qualities which many of the Laureate Projects of the first edition of WATA demonstrate. This manifests itself in varied ways, such as mini-campuses with urban-like qualities of diversity; complex assemblages of historic structures with contemporary interventions; folded blocks superimposed onto themselves; or solids carved-out and clad with multi-layered, adoptable facades. In their simultaneity of different conditions these spaces avoid being deterministic and in their deliberate ambiguity allow for multiple readings. They thereby invite and encourage interpretation and adoption, giving its users the ultimate freedom to engage in creative, ever-changing and unforeseeable manners. Fabian Hecker Zaha Hadid Architects