La Obra Secreta (2018)
Elio Montes (Daniel Hendler) is the Argentine architect who spends his life in the only house designed by Le Corbusier in Latin America. Maybe the time has come to escape from that architecture.
“I got my degree in Architecture in December 1989. I did the course in quite a dignified way. As soon as I finished, I began a long journey to know Le Corbusier’s works first-hand. I wasn’t too original about it. Just like Catholics experience the Way of St. James, for instance, students of architecture and young architects did Le Corbusier’s way.”
“It could be said that my affinity for Le Corbusier ended up leading me away from architecture for good. Time went by … What I learned is now obsolete. I’m from the times of the T-shaped ruler and of the Rotring pens. I was out of work and with no horizon ahead, but one day, this opportunity appeared. They were looking for a guide to the house. A way of earning some money, and keeping connected to Le Corbusier’s work, and, above all, of living le Le Corbusier’s work. But the thing started to last longer than expected. And I’ve been here, in charge of this, for nine years now.”
“Now, it is also true that, many times, in the name of your architectural ideas, which are usually misunderstood, or reduced to … mere stylistic result, hideous useless buildings have been made, but with cylindrical columns as Le Corbusier pointed to us. What do you think about that Incidentally: what do you think about Dalì said about you? That your building are ugliest ones in the world and that the architecture of the future will be soft and furry. Is it true that you sympathized with nazism? Did you sympathize with Mussolini? This house could never be inhabited, huh? Why? Any self-criticism? Anything to question?”
Le Corbousier Labirinth
“How can you pretend to know where the maze is, since everything is the maze?” (Giorgio Manganelli, Dall’inferno)
“On the symbolic side, the labyrinth is read as a defense system for the custody of something precious and sacred. The center, protected by the maze, is reserved for the initiate who can access it after passing certain tests. Translated in a psychological key, this center is the symbol of the deepest and most hidden interiority of man.” (Umberto Galimberti, Dictionario di Psicologia)
