This issue of a+u magazine features the work of Sancho-Madridejos Architecture Office (S-MAO).
Based in Madrid, Spain and established in 1982 by Juan Carlos Sancho and Sol Madridejos, the office has developed a nuanced and committed practice rooted in investigations in plastic arts and aesthetic theory. An essay by their close friends, Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa, reveals the deeper origins to S-MAO’s approach and describes how their trials and investigations have yielded &lnew processes in engineering, new construction systems, and a new language.&r
An ensemble of 20 projects, framed according to 2 investigative themes, are featured in this monograph, supported by axonometric diagrams and concept models. The multiple views of early study models convey the obsessive search for an &loriginal space,&r as described by García-Abril and Mesa, where structure, envelope, and shape come together.
