Law of Closure

2009 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

The competition held by the National Art Museum of China called for a reflection on the theme of emergency housing. This proposal is based on the Law of Closure in Gestalt theory, which states that our mind tends to complete missing areas from an outline or silhouette. We focused on how a space could be defined by delineating only the four columns of its corners or a fraction of its perimeter. The result is a grid of nine squares that materialize decreasingly, generating one space that is almost enclosed, while the other square spaces may be appropriated by the residents over time.

Architectural Design: PRODUCTORA (Carlos Bedoya, Wonne Ickx, Víctor Jaime, Abel Perles | Collaborators: David Ortega, Óscar Trejo, Diego Escamilla, Félix Guillén Hau | Supervision and mounting: Gabriela López Dena, Alejandro Ezpeleta Sáenz | Project type: Temporary installation as part of the exhibit Crossing: Dialogues for Emergency Architecture in which 16 firms were invited to submit proposals on the topic of emergency architecture to commemorate the anniversary of the May 12th earthquake in Wenchuan | Location: National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China | Organization: National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Zhou Shu & Pan Qing, curators | Date: May, 2009 | Photos in Beijing: Alejandro Ezpeleta Sáenz. D.R.© Gordon Matta-Clark/ARS/SOMAAP/Mexico/2011-00100