
April 4, 2022
Future100: Mateo Mantilla Designs for Sustainability at a Human Scale

A mixed-use tower in downtown Savannah, Georgia, The Branch (above) is envisioned as an infill structure atop a former parking lot. A semitransparent latticework facade is meant to unify opposing concepts of heaviness and lightness, an idea inspired by the realization that the vacuum of the parking lot made nearby buildings seem heavier and more oppressive. COURTESY MATEO MANTILLA
A similarly complex proposal for a floating cruise ship terminal in quickly sinking Venice—including a system of courtyard-shading inflating cells that contract and expand depending on daylight conditions—also deeply engages its potential users, providing ample spaces for people to gather and play.
But while Mantilla seems to thrive where competing conditions meet, his work also has the capacity for formal subtlety. A proposal for a wellness retreat in Clearlake, California, inserts simple rectangular forms into a softly undulating topography, producing moments of pause and communion with nature, demonstrating Mantilla’s clear ability to read a site and, when necessary, keep things simple. M
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