Conversando con… Luis Longhi

Abstract

[ES] Luis Longhi Traverso, catedrático de la Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) y conferencista internacional, nos recibe una tarde de septiembre a través de videollamada. Estamos ante uno de los arquitectos con mayor proyección del Perú. En las últimas décadas su figura ha sido ampliamente reconocida y sus proyectos le han valido importantes galardones, destacando el Hexágono de Oro 2010, la mayor distinción de la arquitectura peruana. Licenciado por la Universidad Ricardo Palma y con estudios de posgrado en la Universidad de Pennsylvania, trabajó en el estudio de Balkrishna Doshi en Amhedabad (India). En Estados Unidos se desempeñó en las oficinas de Adèle Santos, David Slovic, Gruen Associates y Farrington Design Group, entre otras. En 1994 regresó a Perú para crear la firma Longhi Architects, centrada en realizar arquitecturas con un alto grado de sentido artístico. Un ejemplo es la casa donde actualmente reside y desde la que nos recibe virtualmente: la Casa Chullpas (afueras de Lima), cuyas estructuras tubulares se relacionan con los restos arqueológicos incas de las chullpas de Sillustani, en Puno, su lugar de nacimiento. El interior de la casa Chullpas está lleno de esculturas, unas propias, las más abstractas, y otras de cariz precolombino. Las maquetas de cartón y madera nos recuerdan su oficio docente, en tanto los carteles anunciadores de representaciones teatrales hablan de la época en que ejerció como escenógrafo. Entre piedras y el gris hormigón pintado de tonos magentas, amarillos y azules, el Inca Longhi, como le llaman sus amigos, ha pasado este tiempo de confinamiento.

[EN] Luis Longhi Traverso, professor at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (known as UPC) and international speaker, receives us one afternoon in September via video call. We are in front of one of the architects with more projection in Peru. In recent decades his figure has been widely recognized and his projects have won him important awards, most notably the 2010 Golden Hexagon, the highest distinction in Peruvian architecture. He earned his degree from Ricardo Palma University and has completed postgraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked in Balkrishna Doshi’s studio in Amhedabad (India). In the United States he was employed in the offices of Adèle Santos, David Slovic, Gruen Associates and Farrington Design Group, among others. In 1994 he returned to Peru to create the firm Longhi Architects, focused on creating architecture with a high degree of artistic sense. One example is the house where he currently resides and from which he virtually receives us: the Chullpas House (outside Lima), whose tubular structures are related to the Inca archaeological remains of the Chullpas of Sillustani, in Puno, his place of birth. The interior of the Chullpas house is full of sculptures, some of them own, the most abstract ones, and others of pre-Columbian nature. The cardboard and wood models remind us of his job as a professor, while the posters announcing theatrical performances speak of the time when he worked as a stage designer. Between stones and the gray concrete painted in magenta, yellow and blue tones, the Inca Longhi, as his friends call him, has spent this time of confinement.