Data
Title: Opuestos inciertos [Uncertain Opposites]
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa
Edition, translation and introduction by Fernando Nieto
Type: research book
Publication date: September 2026
Publisher: Fundación Arquia (FQ)
Collection: la cimbra 28
Director of collections: Ángel Martínez García-Posada
Editorial coordinator: Sonia Peralta Muñoz (FQ)
Proofreading: Diego Galar-Irurre
Graphic design and layout: gráfica futura
Engraving process: Lucam
Printing: Kadmos
ISBN: 979-13-991772-5-1
Summary
In his inaugural lecture as a member of the Academy of Finland on October 3, 1955, Alvar Aalto explained that “almost every formal assignment involves dozens, often hundreds, sometimes thousands of conflicting elements that can be forced into functional harmony only by an act of will. This harmony cannot be achieved by any other means than art.” Drawing on this quote by Aalto, Juhani Pallasmaa explores in this book the mediating role of architecture and its capacity to reconcile diverse poles, disciplines, and realms of knowledge. Using memory as a tool, architecture and its contradictions as a motif, and expanded time as a context, the author argues that the discipline’s fundamental task is “to place us in the world, to provide a sense of home and belonging, and to create a comforting continuum of culture, time and existence”.