Contemporary World Architects: Richter et Dahl Rocha

Richter and Dahl Rocha's path is not the explicit one of militant "vanguardism," therefore not disturbing to the majority-but rather of insertion in one of the most conservative societies in the world. The question running throughout the work of Richter and Dahl Rocha is one of creative margins within that model, of the possibility of introducing originality where there is greatest demand in the opposite direction. Their work does not perplex visually with presumably rotund affirmations but is rather a rigorous experience in subtleties. The interesting thing about their work is that, while on one hand they appear to border on banality, on the other they resist being reduced to an initial moment, to an excluding determination.

The coincidence is impressive. The paths of Richter and Dahl Rocha crossed in New Haven as students at the school that houses the legacy of Louis Kahn. What could a young man coming from the turbulence and darkness of Argentina in the seventies have in common with another brought up in the safe and opulent surroundings of the confederation in the Alps? My impression is that different roads led them to the place of sensible moderation that they share in their work today.-from the foreword by Jorge Francisco Lienur

Oscar Riera Ojeda is an editor and designer who practices in the United States, South America, and Europe from his office in Boston. he is vice-director of the Spanish-Argentinian magazine Casa Internacional and is the creator of several series of architecture publications for Rockport Publishers, including Contemporary World Architects, Ten Houses, Single Building, and Art and Architecture. Other architectural publications include the new American series for the Whitney Library of Design, as well as several monographs on the work of renowned architects.