The Domínguez House: Alejandro de la Sota's investigation of dwelling

Extract

The few discussions of Alejandro de la Sota's Domínguez House which currently exist cite a retrospective text, dated 1976, where he developed activity and repose as two distinct images within human dwelling. While the Domínguez House has previously been understood in relation to biological rhythms, this paper presents a different reading of this remarkable project – as a deconstruction and reformulation of the contemporary dwelling, one which challenges the inward-looking understanding of human dwelling as shelter. I therefore propose that Alejandro De la Sota was as an architect with a theoretical agenda, far from the conventional view that his was an empirical approach to architecture.