Cámara de Comercio de Córdoba

June 1950. On a modest site of barely 150 m2 and only 8.50 metres of façade, we were faced with our first problem as new architects. It was like walking in the dark, to which the eye gradually and awkwardly gets used to. The plastic translation of ideas and dimensions was a big question that opened up before us. Junio de 1950. En un modesto solar de apenas 150 m2 y sólo 8,50 metros de fachada se nos planteó nuestro primer problema de arquitectos recién estrenados. Fue como el caminar en la oscuridad, a la que poco a poco y torpemente se va acostumbrando el ojo. La traducción plástica de las ideas y de las dimensiones era un gran interrogante que se abría ante nosotros. Unexpected problems appeared in the classrooms. The workers asked a lot of questions. As a consequence, the budget of our library became quite unbalanced. It was made and unmade. Everything was changed a thousand times. There was a lot of doubt and even more discussion. We spent many hours in the sun and under the light bulb. There were mistakes. Sometimes they were rectified. Aparecieron problemas insospechados en las aulas. Los obreros preguntaban muchísimo. Como consecuencia, se desiquilibró bastante el presupuesto de nuestra biblioteca. Se hizo y se deshizo. Se cambió todo una y mil veces. Se dudó mucho y se discutió mucho más aún. Se nos fueron muchas horas bajo el sol y bajo la bombilla. Hubo errores. A veces pudieron rectificarse. It was slow, desperately slow. The owners, however, knew how to be patient… The Chamber of Commerce represented for us, then, a starting point and a basis for evolution, a living and pulsating reality of architecture and the joyful experience of touching for the first time, made material, the speculative and cold lines of the plans. Fue una obra lenta, desesperadamente lenta.