AP205 Amancio Williams: Readings of the Archive by Studio Muoto, Claudia Shmidt, and Pezo von Ellrichshausen

“In the presence of an archive which ‘is’ the work, which reveals itself as a collection of thoughts, principles, values, and experimental ideas, the practice of multiplying perspectives is crucial. Inviting multiple readings has helped to expand and reconnect the fragments of infinite stories embedded in Amancio Williams’s personal and professional history, revealing numerous connections to our contemporary moment. […] The folds and evolutions of this research can be imagined as both forms of non-linear connection among disparate parts, and as diaries of co-participants reflecting on the practice of architecture itself.” - Francesco Garutti 

We announce the launch of AP205 Amancio Williams: Readings of the Archive by Studio Muoto, Claudia Shmidt, and Pezo von Ellrichshausen, led by Francesco Garutti and edited by Alexandra Pereira-Edwards, with graphic design by Our Polite Society. The book is co-published by the CCA and Spector Books, and available in English and in Spanish. 

Argentinian architect Amancio Williams (1913‒89) was one of the key figures of modern architecture in Latin America, regarded in Argentina as one of the greatest architects of all time despite his limited body of constructed work. The vast output of projects and proposals produced by Williams’s office from the 1940s–1980s is evidenced through an expansive archive of drawings, photographs, correspondence, and models, donated to the CCA by the Williams family in 2020. 

For this latest Out of the Box exhibition and publication series, dedicated to the work of Amancio Williams and structured as a study in three acts, we have invited the perspectives of Studio Muoto (Paris), Claudia Shmidt (Buenos Aires), and Pezo von Ellrichshausen (Concepción) as guest curators, each with distinct backgrounds in architectural practice and history. Together, they offer new and expanded readings of Williams’s work within the Latin American context and beyond, and situate social, environmental, and political dimensions of his practice within contemporary architecture discourse. 

Gilles Delalex and Yves Moreau of Studio Muoto explore the infrastructural dimensions of Williams’s work, with a focus on his unrealized projects for an airport off the coast of Buenos Aires (1945) and the Cruz en el Río de la Plata (1978–1980), both of which establish a dialogue with the horizon. Their reading of the archive emphasizes Williams’s belief that modernity, and the engineering advances it enabled, would have the capacity to elevate humanity. 

Claudia Shmidt’s reading of the archive focuses on the sociopolitical context within which Williams was trying to carve a space, understood through letters he both sent and received. These letters, written to politicians, leading cultural institutions, influential architects, and more help to situate Williams’s practice and elaborate on his persistence in bringing his projects to life.  

Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen of Pezo von Ellrichshausen explore domestic monumentality in Williams’s work. Their findings include technical drawings of monumental elements incorporated in his projects—the bridge in Casa sobre el arroyo [House over the brook] and the umbrella column in various public and domestic projects—alongside an array of photographs and sketches that detail the meticulous translation of ideas into reality. 

If you are attending the 24th edition of the Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennial, join us this Thursday, November 21, as the Museo Archivo de Arquitectura del Ecuador (MAE) hosts the launch of the Spanish version of AP205 Amancio Williams, with the participation of Claudia Shmidt and Albert Ferré, Associate Director, Publications (CCA). 

And in Montreal, join us at the CCA on November 28 for a lecture by Argentinian historian Luis Müller on Amancio Williams’s innovations through an analysis of his creative process, proposals, and investigations. The lecture is followed by a book launch in the presence of Matthias Kreutzer, graphic designer (Our Polite Society) and Alexandra Pereira-Edwards, editor (CCA). 

As part of the CCA’s broader strategy to use its archival holdings to challenge and redefine the role of architecture today, the Out of the Box series aims to encourage new readings of archives in the CCA Collection. The two previous iterations in the series include readings of the Gordon Matta-Clark archive with Yann Chateigné, Hila Peleg, and Kitty Scott (2019–2020), and the Ábalos&Herreros fonds with OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Juan José Castellón, and SO-IL (2015). 

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