EB 25- Grupo Aranea

En Blanco nº 25 is dedicated to the work of the Alicante-based studio Grupo Aranea and proposes an unusual way of approaching their architecture: not as a series of finished works, but as a process that unfolds over time.

The issue is structured around an extended conversation between architect Francisco Leiva, one of the founders of the studio, and architect and professor Juan Calduch. Through this dialogue, the different stages involved in the development of a project are explored, from the earliest intuitions to the final appropriation of space by its users.

The publication is organised into four chapters that trace this creative trajectory. The first addresses invention, focusing on drawing as an instrument for architectural thinking and exploration. The second examines the transition from drawing to project, showing how initial intuitions gradually take shape as concrete spatial decisions. The third chapter deals with construction as a process, revealing the tensions, adjustments and compromises that inevitably accompany the materialisation of architecture. Finally, the last chapter reflects on lived architecture, understood as the moment when users appropriate space and incorporate it into their everyday experience.

Throughout this journey, the issue proposes a reflection on architecture understood as an open system, shaped by material, social and territorial conditions. Rather than presenting buildings as autonomous objects, the dialogue reveals the network of decisions, circumstances and transformations that define the architectural process.

The result is a publication that approaches architectural practice from within, highlighting the mechanisms that connect invention with the built work and with its subsequent life over time. More than an analysis of specific projects, En Blanco 25 offers a reflection on the thinking and practice of contemporary architecture.