“Architecture Has To Be Generous”

orking out of Lima, Peru, Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse have redefined the architectural possibilities of their Latin American milieu. The pair, who operate as Barclay & Crousse, returned to their native country in 2006 after spending 17 years in Paris, where they had designed a number of social housing projects. What the husband-and-wife team encountered back home was an unparalleled freedom to create a more expressive architecture — one defined by a temperate climate, an arid landscape and the mountainous topography of the Andes — in a country with a political atmosphere that has long been volatile. (Just this past November, its Congress voted to impeach President Martín Vizcarra, whose successor was in turn compelled to resign only a few days later.) In the context of this dual reality, the couple designs houses renowned for their formal beauty, as well as cultural and educational buildings that bridge the divide between trauma and reconciliation, haves and have-nots. recently caught up with them to discuss their