carlos

san telmo, buenos aires

yesterday afternoon was our fourth encounter with local architect carlos levinton, the direct supervisor for my group of three. yesterday´s reunion was distinct because it was the first in which we heard specifics about what we may actually do. still, it may not have been completely claro.

we will be working out of estudio levinton, a comfortable space attached to the second floor of his home in the belgrano district of town. the home is what you would think of an architects home: everything is circular, modern, and has a steely comfort. the studio, especially, is what you would imagine to be an architects working space. it is organized chaos. there have to be thousands of free floating papers containing sketches and proposals. these are sometimes stuffed into folders, other times sitting in somewhat neatly stacked piles on one of his desks. the studio has plenty of books as well, though many are haphazardly stacked without spines displayed on high shelves. still, there are large windows and the studio feels modern, but the appearance of the studio bears close resemblance to its occupants mind.

el profesor loco, as he can appropriately be labeled, is exceptionally smart. through glimpses of his work, his models, and his introduction, it is obvious that he is accomplished and deserving. but he´s also a bit crazy. he told us to translate a document while he worked, then proceded to translate it for us in a sort of socratic method. he drew elaborate designs of a sustainable house for pobrezas that we are going to be designing (will fill you in on this later) then somehow we segued into talking about tsunami shelters. we all came away from the meeting with two impressions:

! and ?

for added effect, he showed us a bit of his home before we left and we saw his son, a slovenly teenager engrossed in some sort of computer deejay simulation. it just seems so appropriate.