A leading Colombian architect’s inventive conception of tropical architecture’s unique qualities

Appraising the “tropical architecture” of Latin America, On Specific Ambiguity, authored by Colombian architect Camilo Retrespo (born 1973), is a manifesto-cum-monograph on the notion of tropical space. Retrespo argues for a form of architecture that “accepts contradiction and ambiguity, as a space, as an attitude: Specific Ambiguity as a double way of thinking and creating an ambivalent, complex and contradictory, imprecise, mestizo, and multireferential architecture.”

Retrespo is cofounder (with Juliana Gallego Martinez) of the Medellin-based firm AGENdA, and a large portion of this volume is devoted to a selection of works by the firm, mostly located in Medellin and Mexico. In 2020 AGENdA was selected as one of the most creative, interesting and promising emerging architects by Domus magazine.