2G 53 Cecilia Puga (Spanish, English, Paperback)

Cecilia Puga belongs, along with Smiljan Radic, Alejandro Aravena and Pezo von Ellrichshausen, to a new generation of Chilean architects who from their peripheral situation address concerns that are very much in keeping with certain avenues explored by European architecture. This issue of "2G" brings together seventeen buildings and projects by the Chilean architect, including the exemplary House in Bah'a Azul, in which the classic icon of the section of a house - the outline any child might draw - is manipulated, pivoted and transformed to produce a sense of strangeness in relation to its environment. Situated at the edge of a bare cliff on the Chilean coast, the icon is toned down and the house seems like a strange ruin in the landscape. With introductory texts by her colleague Smiljan Radic and the Chilean architect and editor Patricio Mardones, and a personal photo album which shows the Chilean vernacular architecture and landscapes that form an inspiration for Puga's work, this immensely observant and informed publication is to be welcomed by all.