A courtyard meant as a TRANSITION on the way into the town’s funeral parlor, but also as a PLACE for reflection, in touch with the SKY. It gives a certain degree of privacy from the street, and visitors inevitably look upward, as when stepping into a church. In this case not to see frescoes or domes, but to feel absence, the VOID.
 

Miguel Ortego materializes the void with the intention perhaps of giving it what it most lacks: WEIGHT. A VOID weighs nothing, but does have volume. The hollow box, unaligned and with its structure concealed, simply looks supported, making its stability hard to perceive.
 

This shell is visible matter giving shape to the invisible. It contains what we cannot see: the essential… Or maybe the other way around: the void is RAW MATERIAL creating and at the same time giving form to the space.
 

As for MATERIALITY, the material chosen is common brick, locally sourced, and the blocks are held up by a hidden structure, with no metal profiles. Variations of a single bond module were executed, leaving a smooth side facing out, a textured, shadow-generating surface facing in, and a third wall with gaps between bricks to see through. The floor and existing walls were clad in the same material in order to create a monotonous space contrasting with the vegetation close by, resulting in an atmosphere where the three leading players are light, shade, and sky.