When I decided to build the dome I knew very little about construction. I had never put up a structure like this, and that is exactly what made the project so appealing. I did not want to order a finished studio; I wanted to understand how it came into being, to learn every step and to build it with my own hands.
After looking into different options I chose to work with a plastic lumber structure and panels made from recycled Tetra Pak cartons. Both materials share the same idea: to show that what was once discarded can become something strong, useful and lasting.
There were practical reasons, of course. Plastic lumber needs no maintenance and stands up well to damp. The Tetra Pak panels provide thermal insulation, which matters in a place where summers are fierce and winters can be very cold. But those advantages were not the only reason I chose them.
My artistic work is also born of transformation. In Ensamblaje de manchas (Peel & Assemble), hundreds of fragments of paint find a new balance as they come together into a different image. I discovered a quiet kinship between that way of building a work and the way I was building this space.
I have no interest in turning recycling into a statement. What interests me is the possibility of looking at matter with different eyes. Finding that a carton can become a wall, that recycled plastic can hold up a structure, and that a stain of paint can end up forming a face.
Perhaps that is what excites me most about this project. I am not only building a studio. I am learning an entirely new trade, accepting mistakes as part of the process, and understanding that, just as in my artistic practice, building also means trusting that fragments, given time and patience, can become something that did not exist before.