Music for strings, percussion and celesta: Steven Holl Stretto House

Abstract

Stretto House is the manifesto of a simple composition with clear and defined
language, almost as if it were a game, a mere compositional exercise. A composition
that is as a result of assembling solids and voids, punctuated by rhythms
defined by the sound of Music for strings, Percussion and Celeste, a creation
of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, so dear to her. It is a timeless project,
that sees the landscape as a generative act by choosing the element of water
as the main protagonist and revealing itself in the game of eternal contraries.
The weight and gravity of the matter contrasts with the tectonic lightness of the
structures that seem sculpted by the wind. The tension between orthogonal formal
sequences opposes to the softness of fluid lines. The act of living manifests
itself in a succession of opposites that follow each other in an almost sacred
way, in an alternation of shadows and lights that weave different relationships
between the various parts of the house and within the surrounding landscape.