Handcraft

A unique find of four clay molds for making glass vessels was found during archaeological researches of the site on the Naberezhno-Khreshchatitska str., 21
(Kyiv Podil) in 2007. The excavations both on the street itself and on the bordering areas revealed the existence here of a large handicraft quarter with economic and
production objects dated to the 11th and 12th centuries. Location of the studied site near the waterway (Dnieper River) was convenient for placing here fire-hazardous
productions, such as glass-making workshops. On the site, remains of the construction of the furnace in the form of large pieces of vitrified clay and fragments of plinth form bricks were fixed. Numerous pieces of glass were found, as well as fragments of glassware, mainly those of bracelets and vessels. Among another
finds there were such glass ornaments as beads and rings, and one inset for the ring. Among the ceramic material from the investigated complex, there were four clay molds for forming glass vessels. The molds were of bowl-like form and had a ribbed inner surface, made by hand. It is worthy to note that among the products there were two fragments of glass bottoms with ribbed outer surfaces, which could be made
in such molds. Vessels with ribbed walls appear on the territory of Ancient Rus’ from the second half of the 12th century. Chemical analyzes of glass mass taken
from the complex showed that samples could be identified as lead-potassium Ancient Rus’ glass. Glassware, certain materials (molds for glass vessels, crucibles, pieces of lead), allow to connect the excavated complex with glass-making production.

Abstract
Alejandro de la Sota begins thus his brief and concise report on the housing block at Prior Street (Salamanca, Spain, 1963) and closes with a "without further aspiration for innovation".
The architect’s attitude towards the inhabiting phenomenon is first urged on - as in many other projects - by normality and modesty but his existential acuity identifies immediately:
- the key issues of the project that ennoble the fact of inhabiting with other citizens: the double scale, home and city, the need for looking and for seeing the others, the creation of intermediate spaces for "spending time in them" while being almost invisible;
- the limitations that he has: the strange geometry of the plot, split in two on both sides of the corner, the narrowness of the street, the regulatory imposition of a material such as Villamayor´s stone;
- the formal abstraction as a strategy from which the timely and necessary innovations emerge: the light bulb bay window, which seems to disappear when used; the stone façade, carved in the traditional way with adze and dry joint but showed as a modern abstraction through two subtle and complex operations: the trimming defined by the bay windows on the stone façades and the fact that they sit in cantilever on "a single glass" of the ground floor.
Within this research work we have drawn a parallel with the thought process that Sota describes in the known drawings, made a posteriori, on the project process of the Gobierno Civil in Tarragona, from the recognition of normal answers to the issue, the definition of the specific problem of the project set out, in this case the particular and tense relationship between house, street and the "need for looking" and, finally, the justification of the need for focusing the innovation on those tiny bay windows.
The bay window, recognised as a subject specific to our architect, and present in works within different programs and at different levels, gains here sophistication through building the constructive detail allowing him perhaps the closest moment to the light bulb effect, as it was defined by the architect. His attitude is linked to an early work, the vernacular fenced bay windows at the village of Esquivel (Seville) (1952-56), technically not at all related to the Prior Street housing, but that shows a similar need for creating effective spaces to spend time in them and intermediate spaces between the home and the street.
The Sota´s attitude towards looking, perceiving and inhabiting the space seems to gather ontological concerns that were present, not only in architecture, in the 1950s and 1960s. These concerns, as a methodological source, as well as other architect’s works, have been useful in our research work on the reasons for materializing the idea of inhabiting on this particular residential and urban project.

Resumen
Así empieza Alejandro de la Sota su breve y sintética memoria del Bloque de Viviendas en Calle Prior (Salamanca, 1963)  para rematar la frase con un “sin mayores pretensiones de novedad”.
Normalidad y modestia espolean inicialmente, como en tantos otros proyectos, la actitud del arquitecto sobre el fenómeno de habitar y  cuya agudeza existencial desgrana:
- los temas claves del proyecto que subliman el habitar con los otros ciudadanos: la doble escala de la casa y la ciudad, la necesidad de mirar y ver a los otros, la creación de espacios intermedios para “estar tiempo en ellos” y que sean casi invisibles.
- las limitaciones que se encuentra: la extraña geometría del solar, partido en dos a ambos lados de la esquina, la estrechez de la calle, la imposición normativa de un material como la piedra de Villamayor.
- la abstracción formal como estrategia desde la que emergen las innovaciones necesarias y oportunas: el mirador-bombilla, cuya forma parece desaparecer cuando entra en uso; la fachada de piedra, labrada al modo tradicional con azuela y junta seca pero que se nos presenta como abstracción moderna con dos sutiles y complejas operaciones: el recorte que los miradores definen en los lienzos de piedra y que estos descansan en voladizo sobre “un solo vidrio” de la planta baja.
En la investigación que hemos realizado sobre estos temas, hemos establecido un paralelismo con el proceso de pensamiento que Sota describe en los conocidos dibujos, realizados a posteriori, sobre el proceso de proyecto del Gobierno Civil de Tarragona, desde el reconocimiento de respuestas normales al tema, la definición del problema específico del proyecto que se enuncia, en este caso la particular y tensa relación entre la casa, la calle y la “necesidad de mirar” y, finalmente, la justificación de la necesidad de concentrar la innovación en esos minúsculos miradores.
El mirador, reconocido como tema específico de nuestro arquitecto, y presente en obras de distinto programa y escala, adquiere aquí una sofisticación en la elaboración del detalle constructivo que le permite tal vez su momento de mayor aproximación al efecto bombilla, como definía el arquitecto, y cuya actitud lo emparenta con una temprana obra, absolutamente alejada técnicamente de las viviendas de Calle Prior, pero que manifiesta similar necesidad de crear espacios eficaces para estar tiempo en ellos  e intermedios entre la casa y la calle, como son los vernáculos miradores enrejados de las viviendas del poblado sevillano de  Esquivel (1952-56).
La actitud de Sota ante el hecho de mirar, percibir y habitar el espacio parece recoger preocupaciones ontológicas que estaban presentes, no sólo en la arquitectura, en aquellos años cincuenta y sesenta y cuyas referencias, como recurso metodológico, así como a otras obras del arquitecto, ha sido útil en nuestra investigación sobre las razones de la materialización de la idea de habitar en este particular proyecto residencial y urbano.