We experienced the adventure of exploring the spaces of Conjunto Satélite in Mexico to photograph this edition&#39;s fashion editorial. The building is one of the iconic works of architect Javier Senosiain, who developed his own unique language of curves and movement. He reflects on this and more in this interview.

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/javiersenosiaina?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&amp;igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==">Javier Senosiain</a> 's work is unlike almost anything else. His spaces seem to emerge more from a living organism than from an architectural plan: they envelop, accompany and flow. From his early intuitions at university to the consolidation of his own language with the Organic House, his career has been a constant exercise in observation and curiosity. The architect understands that human beings are part of nature and that, therefore, the spaces they inhabit should behave like nature: adapting to the body, allowing movement and inviting the imagination.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'OFFICIEL: At what point did you become interested in developing organic architecture?</h4>
JAVIER SENOSIAIN : In a way, organic architecture has always existed, since the beginning of the universe. Ultimately, it is life itself. There is a definition that describes organic architecture as the search for harmony between human habitation and the natural world. I believe that the relationship between nature and humanity has always existed, because human beings are part of nature. And organic architecture perhaps existed before other types of architecture. In my case, I don't know if it was a discovery; rather, it developed gradually. In that process, a relevant factor was his encounter at UNAM with Mathias Goeritz, a Mexican sculptor, poet, art historian, architect and painter of German origin, associated with constructive abstraction and a promoter of "emotional architecture." "I was fortunate to have him as a professor in my first and second semesters at the university. He motivated us greatly," Senosiain recalls. &ldquo;Later, I did two or three projects that, looking back, I perceive as very organic. In Mexico, we call that 'hindsight.' However, when I finished school in 1972, I did my social service-which was mandatory at the time-and it took place in a town according to its needs. I proposed a cultural and sports center and began designing octagonal spaces. There came a point when I realised that sports are very fluid and I changed the concept to curved spaces and forms. From then on, I became interested in exploring curved spaces ; I think they are more human. I started researching, reading a lot, travelling, and I related everything to the organic, to curves. I would look at a cap or a hat, how it adapts to the head, or how water adapts to a glass,&rdquo; he recounts.

<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: That was the process prior to designing the Organic House.</h4>
JS : Yes, that was in the mid-70s. At that time, I decided to start building the house, which was originally going to be made of stone because we had leftover material from another project. But I realized there was no continuity between the floor, the walls and the roof, so I decided to use stone for the retaining walls along the property lines and make the house freestanding. I learned about the ferrocement construction system, which was very important to me and which we still use. To understand it better, I went to the Mexican Institute of Cement and Concrete to study what little had been written about it. Up until then, it had been used to build ships and water tanks in countries that were then considered developing, like China, India and Cuba. It's a very simple system: a rebar frame enclosed with chicken wire on the outside and another layer on the inside. When I started building the house, I realised I had a lot of information. I had reviewed many books and resumed that research with the intention of writing a document or a book. I underlined what interested me and abbreviated it; for example, an N for nature and an E for space. The result was 12 or 13 large folders. I organised them, and they became what I see as the four pillars of architecture: function, space, structure, and form. Then another subchapter appeared: the Snail, where these four could be synthesised.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: Besides ferrocement, have any new materials been incorporated into organic architecture?</h4>
JS : I came to the conclusion that organic architecture intersects with any material. For example, where there is ice, as in the Arctic, domes are built; where there is earth, earth domes are also built; the same with stone or with vegetation using plants and branches.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: The Organic House, completed in 1984, looks very modern. Was it intended to connect with a futuristic style?</h4>
JS : No. Initially, we went back to the origin: seeing man as an animal and understanding his basic needs. We thought a lot about primitive man. What seems futuristic might remind you of movies like Star Wars, but the intention was to observe man as an animal surrounded by eco-spaces that adapt to the body. We saw the importance of the fourth dimension. For example, now we are in the third dimension, but if I stop and start walking, I perceive space with the fourth dimension: space-time. In organic architecture, circulation, movement and how that fourth dimension gives us are very important.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: It's a different mindset then.</h4>
JS : Yes, it's a different mindset from most of the buildings we usually see, where space is generally contained by walls, columns, slabs, beams, or chains. Here, spaces are perceived differently. The roof flows and adapts more to the body. I like to think of them as more welcoming spaces. The circulation patterns are also different: people walk in zigzags. If you look at the footprints in Central Park, they're curved; nobody walks rigidly like a soldier or a robot. Curves are the natural form of human movement.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: You don't currently live in that house.</h4>
JS : No. We lived there for 25 years. Then my daughters started studying-one at the Ibero-American University and the other at the National School of Architecture at UNAM -and it was too far away for them. We decided to move to a house closer to the universities.

<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: The stranger?</h4>
JS: At first, yes, a lot. Especially because we first moved to an apartment and we had to open drawers, draw curtains... things we didn't do at home. I wasn't too keen on it, but you get used to it over time. Then we built this house where I live now, which has curved shapes-not all of them, because it wasn't possible-but since there were a lot of trees to define the boundaries, we worked around them, 'wrapping' them, and that's how some of the curves came about.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: When people dare to innovate, it's difficult to find a team that will follow that adventure. How was that knowledge transfer?</h4>
JS : I got too involved in the research and was very convinced of it. The Organic House project developed gradually. It was designed in one or two years and construction took four: partly due to budget constraints and partly because we intentionally moved slowly to define things. For example, when I was thinking about the shower, how did I want the water to fall? One day, watching a Tarzan movie, I noticed how he bathed under a waterfall. How could I bring that effect to the house? Everything was resolved like that, little by little, as challenges arose.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: That humour in the details, the idea of having a good time in a space, how has that marked your work?</h4>
JS : Architecture must address economic, functional and aesthetic aspects, but humour is very important. We don't seek it out directly; it's a consequence of observation. You begin to glimpse figures, animals, or plants. Here in Mexico, there's the Arcos Bosques Tower, by Teodoro Gonz&aacute;lez de Le&oacute;n and Francisco Serrano, but people call it "the pants" because it resembles them. In organic architecture, something similar happens to when we see clouds and recognise shapes. That's how the Mexican whale and the flower house appeared. Sometimes people give them names; other times we do. That's fun.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: Do you think this architecture connected with nature is permeating society?</h4>
JS : I'm convinced it should be this way. I've had eco-neighborhood projects for years and I'm currently writing a book about them. An eco-neighborhood, viewed from above, is shaped like lungs: services would be located in the center, and surrounding them, houses based on the Peanut House (30 m2) or the Embryo House (120 m2). The idea is that no house should be more than two or three minutes away by bike or 10 or 15 minutes walking from the center. Everyday services would be available there: food, daycare, a hair salon, a gym. Six eco-neighborhoods form an eco-village; six eco-villages, an eco-city; six eco-cities, a megacity. That's the theory, but I'm convinced that people will seek this out: avoiding pollution and having contact with nature.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: What are the people who work with you like? How are they chosen?</h4>
JS : That's how things turned out. Luis Enr&iacute;quez, my right-hand man, has worked with me for 40 years. Some were my students; another is the son of a carpenter; another, someone who used to come to the office. There's been a bit of everything. Over time, they've adapted to the curves, and now they almost exclusively design curves.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">L'O: In teaching, what message do you want to leave for new generations?</h4>
JS : I remember that after a lecture by Oscar Niemeyer, he was asked the same question. He said it was important to enjoy family, socialise, enjoy friends, but above all, to be happy. I would give them the same message and I would add that traveling and reading are fundamental. They are two things that help a lot.

Architecture That Breathes: Inside Javier Senosiain’s World

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