- Madrid
Laura Martínez de Guereñu
IE University, School of Architecture and Design, Faculty Member
- History and Theory of Modern Architecture, History of Exhibitions, Architecture, Design, Modernism, Bauhaus, and 14 moreLudwig Mies van der Rohe, Diaspora and transnationalism, Travel, Mobility, Technology, Abstraction, Mediterranean, Archives, Exhibitions, Mies van der Rohe, Tradition, Re-Enactments, Arquitectura, and Modernist Architecture (Architectural Modernism)edit
- Architect, historian, and design critic with expertise in modern Europe and its relationship with the transatlantic w... moreArchitect, historian, and design critic with expertise in modern Europe and its relationship with the transatlantic world. Her research focuses on the study of modernism’s traces in pre-fascist Europe and its diaspora, the impact of pedagogical legacies on built heritage, as well as the effect of changes of ownership in the life and endurance of buildings. In her recent research, she has linked the Bauhäusler with Spain through their travels, transportation of products and creative exchanges, and has demonstrated the critical influence of Lilly Reich’s and Mies’s 1929 Barcelona Exhibits on the architecture of Germany’s representative Pavilion, showing a dialogue between tradition and modernism. Laura teaches in and coordinates the architecture history theory sequence at the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid. Lilly Reich Grantee. She currently holds a Fellowship for Advanced Researchers from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
https://www.ie.edu/university/about/faculty/laura-martinez-de-guerenu/
@guerenuedit
The authorship of a plastic artist is granted by the tangible continuity between the stroke and the finished work. That physical connection smoothed the way to making the task of erasing oneself the primary quest of modernist... more
The authorship of a plastic artist is granted by the tangible continuity
between the stroke and the finished work. That physical connection
smoothed the way to making the task of erasing oneself the primary
quest of modernist abstraction. Architecture followed a different
course. Its inherent mediation by and obligation to drawing, so clearly
identified by Robin Evans, has historically prevented any automatic
recognition of the author in his or her work. In recent decades, the
digitalization of the practice of architecture has ultimately diluted
any record of authorship in its forms of representation, by eliminating
the link between the design and a handwritten signature that
substantiated its legal validity. Where is the record of creativity to be
found today?
Sole authorship is more an exception than a rule in
architecture. The involvement of a variable number of partners,
collaborators, specialists, and even clients –not only in the design
but also in the decisions around how a project is to be developed
and implemented– attests to the inadequacy of narratives extolling
a grand master builder’s single authorship. Most of the short number
of highly reputed names accorded authority in the discipline are
always backed by other participants who have not been sufficiently
acknowledged and who are even more difficult to identify in today’s
environment, due to the constantly rising number of team members.
Recent studies on the adaptive reuse of built heritage
have shown that the life of buildings is always subject to change,
which may sometimes lead the original author to come into play
years later, often without the same team. Other times, political and
social circumstances different from those prevailing at the project’s
inception, the mere passage of time in buildings lasting many
generations, or even inevitable changes in ownership may entail the
development of new projects on top of the original architecture and
the appearance of new superimposed authorship.
Major museums have devoted several decades to
researching the fate of works of art from the time of their creation.
Provenance, or the life of a work of art written in retrospect, recounts
the history of its changes of ownership over time, while shedding
light on its creation, its circulation, and its present value. Translating
provenance research to architecture –constructing a history that
discerns the variability of a building’s states and its conditions of
ownership, veiled behind the sum of layers involved– may also
constitute an operative frame for accrediting authorship otherwise
relegated to oblivion.
This call for articles aims to bring together a suite of
research outcomes and critical essays which analyse historical and
contemporary case studies that may help distinguish voices and
conceptualise authorship that has been silenced or superimposed
over time. The goal is to critically ascertain the real origin of
architectural projects, to measure the extent of individual authorship
in corporate practice, to reveal the identity of other authors who may
have played an instrumental role in project gestation, and to integrate
insufficiently acknowledged contributions into a more diverse,
inclusive, and plural history of architecture.
Call: https://www.unav.edu/documents/29853/0/RA_CFP_2021.pdf
Guidelines for authors: https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/revista-de-arquitectura/information/authors
between the stroke and the finished work. That physical connection
smoothed the way to making the task of erasing oneself the primary
quest of modernist abstraction. Architecture followed a different
course. Its inherent mediation by and obligation to drawing, so clearly
identified by Robin Evans, has historically prevented any automatic
recognition of the author in his or her work. In recent decades, the
digitalization of the practice of architecture has ultimately diluted
any record of authorship in its forms of representation, by eliminating
the link between the design and a handwritten signature that
substantiated its legal validity. Where is the record of creativity to be
found today?
Sole authorship is more an exception than a rule in
architecture. The involvement of a variable number of partners,
collaborators, specialists, and even clients –not only in the design
but also in the decisions around how a project is to be developed
and implemented– attests to the inadequacy of narratives extolling
a grand master builder’s single authorship. Most of the short number
of highly reputed names accorded authority in the discipline are
always backed by other participants who have not been sufficiently
acknowledged and who are even more difficult to identify in today’s
environment, due to the constantly rising number of team members.
Recent studies on the adaptive reuse of built heritage
have shown that the life of buildings is always subject to change,
which may sometimes lead the original author to come into play
years later, often without the same team. Other times, political and
social circumstances different from those prevailing at the project’s
inception, the mere passage of time in buildings lasting many
generations, or even inevitable changes in ownership may entail the
development of new projects on top of the original architecture and
the appearance of new superimposed authorship.
Major museums have devoted several decades to
researching the fate of works of art from the time of their creation.
Provenance, or the life of a work of art written in retrospect, recounts
the history of its changes of ownership over time, while shedding
light on its creation, its circulation, and its present value. Translating
provenance research to architecture –constructing a history that
discerns the variability of a building’s states and its conditions of
ownership, veiled behind the sum of layers involved– may also
constitute an operative frame for accrediting authorship otherwise
relegated to oblivion.
This call for articles aims to bring together a suite of
research outcomes and critical essays which analyse historical and
contemporary case studies that may help distinguish voices and
conceptualise authorship that has been silenced or superimposed
over time. The goal is to critically ascertain the real origin of
architectural projects, to measure the extent of individual authorship
in corporate practice, to reveal the identity of other authors who may
have played an instrumental role in project gestation, and to integrate
insufficiently acknowledged contributions into a more diverse,
inclusive, and plural history of architecture.
Call: https://www.unav.edu/documents/29853/0/RA_CFP_2021.pdf
Guidelines for authors: https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/revista-de-arquitectura/information/authors
Research Interests: History, Intellectual Property, Women's Studies, Digital Signature, Attribution Theory, and 15 moreAuthenticity, Copyright, Boundary Layers, Provenance, Authorship, Cooperation, History of architecture, Teamwork, Other, Hierarchy, Involvement, Masters of education, Visibility/invisibility, Strategic Consultancy, and Concealment
At which point an artist—or an architect—is ready to move from being a disciple to becoming a master? How is proficiency, credibility, or autonomy achieved? What is the thin line that marks this distinction? This text untangles the... more
At which point an artist—or an architect—is ready to move from being a disciple to becoming a master?
How is proficiency, credibility, or autonomy achieved?
What is the thin line that marks this distinction?
This text untangles the complex relationships between masters, disciples, and architectural referents of the Bauhaus and Spain, while serves as an introduction to four essays that allow us to establish a broader historical continuity that travels from the time of the Bauhaus, with its three different directorships, to the present, signifying a series of key moments by means of a double record of people and buildings.
The introduced essays surpass the respective theme tackled, allowing us to bring the always complex bonds between masters and disciples, as well as the uncharted transfers between the Bauhaus and Spain, to a deeper level of examination, by means of architecture.
How is proficiency, credibility, or autonomy achieved?
What is the thin line that marks this distinction?
This text untangles the complex relationships between masters, disciples, and architectural referents of the Bauhaus and Spain, while serves as an introduction to four essays that allow us to establish a broader historical continuity that travels from the time of the Bauhaus, with its three different directorships, to the present, signifying a series of key moments by means of a double record of people and buildings.
The introduced essays surpass the respective theme tackled, allowing us to bring the always complex bonds between masters and disciples, as well as the uncharted transfers between the Bauhaus and Spain, to a deeper level of examination, by means of architecture.
Research Interests: History, German Studies, Architecture, Museum Studies, Cross-Cultural Studies, and 12 moreLudwig Mies van der Rohe, Modern Architecture, Weimar Republic, Visual Arts, Cultural Translation, Contemporary History of Spain, Spain, History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Discipleship, Bauhaus, MASTERS, and El Escorial
This article resolves a historiographical omission, disclosing the forgotten context of the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. Much scholarship has been produced around the myth of a Pavilion that, in spite of... more
This article resolves a historiographical omission, disclosing the forgotten context of the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. Much scholarship has been produced around the myth of a Pavilion that, in spite of its ephemeral existence of eight months, became one of the most important works of the 20th century. However, the formal relationship between the architectural elements of the Pavilion and the design of the 16,000 m2 of German industrial sections distributed in eight Noucentista Palaces had not been explored until now. This article reveals the construction of a consistent sequence linking the Pavilion and the interior of these Palaces, which allowed Mies and Lilly Reich to architecturally express the distinctive identity of Germany through the recovered strength of its industrial fabric.
El presente artículo resuelve una omisión historiográfica y desvela el contexto olvidado del Pabellón Alemán de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929. Se ha producido mucha literatura alrededor del mito de un Pabellón que, a pesar de su efímera existencia de ocho meses, se convirtió en una de las obras más importantes del siglo XX. Sin embargo, la relación formal entre los elementos arquitectónicos de este Pabellón y el diseño interior de los 16.000 m2 de secciones industriales alemanas distribuidas en ocho Palacios novecentistas no había sido explorada hasta el momento. Este artículo revela la construcción de una secuencia espacial que vincula el Pabellón con el interior de estos Palacios, y que sirvió a Mies y a Lilly Reich para mostrar arquitectónicamente la identidad distintiva de Alemania a través de la recuperada fortaleza de su tejido industrial.
El presente artículo resuelve una omisión historiográfica y desvela el contexto olvidado del Pabellón Alemán de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929. Se ha producido mucha literatura alrededor del mito de un Pabellón que, a pesar de su efímera existencia de ocho meses, se convirtió en una de las obras más importantes del siglo XX. Sin embargo, la relación formal entre los elementos arquitectónicos de este Pabellón y el diseño interior de los 16.000 m2 de secciones industriales alemanas distribuidas en ocho Palacios novecentistas no había sido explorada hasta el momento. Este artículo revela la construcción de una secuencia espacial que vincula el Pabellón con el interior de estos Palacios, y que sirvió a Mies y a Lilly Reich para mostrar arquitectónicamente la identidad distintiva de Alemania a través de la recuperada fortaleza de su tejido industrial.
Research Interests:
Focusing on Marcel Breuer’s “ZUP de Bayonne” in the southwest of France, this book chapter examines the historical relationship between corporate architectural practice, so often identified with the so-called Pax Americana, and the... more
Focusing on Marcel Breuer’s “ZUP de Bayonne” in the southwest of France, this book chapter examines the historical relationship between corporate architectural practice, so often identified with the so-called Pax Americana, and the epistemology of the European welfare state.
About the edited volume: Often seen as a pioneer of a “brutalist modernism” of reinforced concrete, Marcel Breuer might best be understood through the lens of the changing institutional structures in and for which he worked. More recently historians, architects, and – with the reopening of the great megalith of his Whitney Museum as the Met Breuer in New York – a larger public are gaining new insights into the cities and large-scale buildings Breuer planned.
About the edited volume: Often seen as a pioneer of a “brutalist modernism” of reinforced concrete, Marcel Breuer might best be understood through the lens of the changing institutional structures in and for which he worked. More recently historians, architects, and – with the reopening of the great megalith of his Whitney Museum as the Met Breuer in New York – a larger public are gaining new insights into the cities and large-scale buildings Breuer planned.
Research Interests:
Le Corbusier developed his South American single-family house projects without visiting their sites. With the project for Victoria Ocampo (negotiated from Anglet), Le Corbusier recognised that a house designed for Paris could equally fit... more
Le Corbusier developed his South American single-family house projects without visiting their sites. With the project for Victoria Ocampo (negotiated from Anglet), Le Corbusier recognised that a house designed for Paris could equally fit in Biarritz or Argentina (Precisions, 1930), since he understood it as a frame for viewing the landscape. With the project for Matías Errázuriz (whose forebears were emigrants from Navarra), Le Corbusier foregrounded the specificity of the site, revealing how form and materials could establish a dialogue with landscape. The aim of this article is to map out the relationship of these projects with the Basque Country, and to show how the Basques' land may have been at the origin of Le Corbusier's different engagements with landscape at the turn of the 1920s.
Research Interests:
By invitation to an international symposium with Miesian experts, curated by Juan José Lahuerta. This article invites a far-reaching interpretation of the work Mies and Lilly Reich developed in Barcelona. It demonstrates the relationship... more
By invitation to an international symposium with Miesian experts, curated by Juan José Lahuerta. This article invites a far-reaching interpretation of the work Mies and Lilly Reich developed in Barcelona. It demonstrates the relationship between the interior design of the German sections inside the Noucentista Palaces of Barcelona with the newly erected German Representative Pavilion. It leads to understand the pavilion as an “anteroom” of the industrial exhibition. If offers a new interpretation of the relationship between design-industry-architecture, revealing the presence of the Bauhaus in Barcelona as an industry, and opening up a new link with the third period of the Bauhaus with Mies as his director.
This article is derived from the paper given at the symposium Mies van der Rohe – Barcelona 1929, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Pavilion’s reconstruction (October 13-15, 2016).
This article is derived from the paper given at the symposium Mies van der Rohe – Barcelona 1929, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Pavilion’s reconstruction (October 13-15, 2016).
Research Interests:
The German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition was part of a much larger exhibiting sequence, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich constructed following their main undertaking in the Barcelona industrial... more
The German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition was part of a much larger exhibiting sequence, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich constructed following their main undertaking in the Barcelona industrial exhibits: to design the entire German section. By the time Mies van der Rohe started the project of the German Pavilion, he had already been working for more than four months on the construction
of the identity and representation of the strength of the German industrial fabric, which he would architecturally express in the interior design of eight neoclassical palaces. Hence, the two most innovative architectural elements of the German Pavilion – the milky color double-glazed wall and the chrome-plated cross-shaped posts – can be traced back to the interiors of these palaces. The 16,000 m2 of industrial exhibits, not reconstructed in 1986, form today the immaterial heritage that underpins the historical relevance of the Barcelona Pavilion. Three documents, including a sequence from the official exhibition film, preserve the order linking the range of Mies van der Rohe’s work in Barcelona and broaden the historical meaning of one of the most important works of architectural modernism.
of the identity and representation of the strength of the German industrial fabric, which he would architecturally express in the interior design of eight neoclassical palaces. Hence, the two most innovative architectural elements of the German Pavilion – the milky color double-glazed wall and the chrome-plated cross-shaped posts – can be traced back to the interiors of these palaces. The 16,000 m2 of industrial exhibits, not reconstructed in 1986, form today the immaterial heritage that underpins the historical relevance of the Barcelona Pavilion. Three documents, including a sequence from the official exhibition film, preserve the order linking the range of Mies van der Rohe’s work in Barcelona and broaden the historical meaning of one of the most important works of architectural modernism.
Research Interests:
The Bauhaus participated as an industry in the German section of the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition, sending objects to the Palaces of Textile Industries and Decorative and Industrial Arts, two interiors (besides another... more
The Bauhaus participated as an industry in the German section of the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition, sending objects to the Palaces of Textile Industries and Decorative and Industrial Arts, two interiors (besides another thirteen) designed by Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe. The ground-breaking design for the Textile Industries exhibition space clearly contrasted with the architecture of the given neoclassical palace.
The exhibited Bauhaus objects were samples of drapery material, upholstery material, and wall-covering materials, the three types of utilitarian weavings Anni Albers elaborated at the Bauhaus weaving workshop, apart from her own artistic wall-hangings. In the fall of 1929, after her visit to Barcelona, Albers would design an experimental wall-covering material for the Bundesschule Auditorium of Hannes Meyer’s Federal School of the ADGB in Bernau. The original weaving had two different sides, one for acoustic absorption (made out of a straw-like synthetic material with chenille backing), the other for light reflection (of a silver finishing), which would grant Albers her Bauhaus degree in February 1930.
The goal of this paper is to set out the role played by Reich in the interior design of the exhibition spaces in Barcelona and to trace the origin of the material innovation of Albers’s weavings.
The exhibited Bauhaus objects were samples of drapery material, upholstery material, and wall-covering materials, the three types of utilitarian weavings Anni Albers elaborated at the Bauhaus weaving workshop, apart from her own artistic wall-hangings. In the fall of 1929, after her visit to Barcelona, Albers would design an experimental wall-covering material for the Bundesschule Auditorium of Hannes Meyer’s Federal School of the ADGB in Bernau. The original weaving had two different sides, one for acoustic absorption (made out of a straw-like synthetic material with chenille backing), the other for light reflection (of a silver finishing), which would grant Albers her Bauhaus degree in February 1930.
The goal of this paper is to set out the role played by Reich in the interior design of the exhibition spaces in Barcelona and to trace the origin of the material innovation of Albers’s weavings.
(Exh. Cat., 4 October 2017 - 21 January 2018).
Research Interests:
The goal of this paper is to present the intercultural context and student projects developed in 'Idea and Form,' which constitutes the foundation of the architectural program of the IE School of Architecture and Design, based in Segovia,... more
The goal of this paper is to present the intercultural context and student projects developed in 'Idea and Form,' which constitutes the foundation of the architectural program of the IE School of Architecture and Design, based in Segovia, Spain, with students from across the five continents. It shows how the contemporary reality that beginning architecture students are faced with –the need to be simultaneously intra-and extra-disciplinary, site-specific and intercultural– can be productively engaged by exploring the internal and external components of architecture (Space/Landscape, Program/Culture) across an architectural frame. This framework prepares students to navigate the different worlds in which they are immersed simultaneously, from the backgrounds that accompany them from home, the redefinition of a new home in Segovia, and out to the wider frame of the multi-layered societies in which they will live and practice in the future.
Research Interests:
This article focuses on the travels of Bauhaus masters and instructors and on the transport of Bauhaus products to Spain in 1929, when the Franco-Spanish border was still culturally permeable. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer... more
This article focuses on the travels of Bauhaus masters and instructors and on the transport of Bauhaus products to Spain in 1929, when the Franco-Spanish border was still culturally permeable. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer introduced their tubular-steel furniture in the Spanish market. Mies and Lilly Reich designed the interiors of all German industrial sections at the Barcelona International Exposition, where the Bauhaus sent objects from its carpentry, metal, and weaving workshops. Josef and Anni Albers traveled to see the exhibition and then went to meet Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, who spent over a month on holiday in the Côte Basque. Albers captured their trip in photo collages, Kandinsky registered his impressions in snapshots, while Klee wrote abundant correspondence and produced drawings. Focusing on the itineraries the Bauhäusler followed, along with the means by which they expressed their travel impressions, this article reveals the effect of travel in their later design attitudes and work. Significant cultural transfers between Germany and Spain took place in a critical moment of European history, suggesting that further developments of these learning experiences might have materialized later on both sides of the border, possibly even reaching across the Atlantic.
Research Interests:
In this essay Laura Martínez de Guereñu rescues from oblivion the work of Hans Wittwer for the Halle-Sckendintz airport, and reminds us the connections between Hannes Meyer, Hans Wittwer and the architects of the Russian Revolution. The... more
In this essay Laura Martínez de Guereñu rescues from oblivion the work of Hans Wittwer for the Halle-Sckendintz airport, and reminds us the connections between Hannes Meyer, Hans Wittwer and the architects of the Russian Revolution. The article sets out to demonstrate how the ethical commitment is present in the project, and that the strategy of design results in the material form, thus allowing the construction elements to become the visual matrix of the building.
Research Interests:
[«Abstraktion». Reading in two times: Romano Guardini and Mies van der Rohe] «Abstraktion» is one of the most influential texts of Romano Guardini in the field of architecture, describing the effect that the arrival of modern technology... more
[«Abstraktion». Reading in two times: Romano Guardini and Mies van der Rohe]
«Abstraktion» is one of the most influential texts of Romano Guardini in the field of architecture, describing the effect that the arrival of modern technology produced on the relationship of man and nature and the change it brought about. With great dismay, Guardini explains that abstraction necessarily implies the loss of spirit, since the process of mastery of nature produces an irremediable rupture of the original bond that exists between man and things. The work of Mies van der Rohe, who thoroughly studied this text, describes the double path to essence that is inherent in any abstraction process showing it as the means to avoid this loss, and gives new light to Guardini’s text.
Abstraction, technology, culture, man, nature, spirit, essence, architecture.
«Abstraktion» is one of the most influential texts of Romano Guardini in the field of architecture, describing the effect that the arrival of modern technology produced on the relationship of man and nature and the change it brought about. With great dismay, Guardini explains that abstraction necessarily implies the loss of spirit, since the process of mastery of nature produces an irremediable rupture of the original bond that exists between man and things. The work of Mies van der Rohe, who thoroughly studied this text, describes the double path to essence that is inherent in any abstraction process showing it as the means to avoid this loss, and gives new light to Guardini’s text.
Abstraction, technology, culture, man, nature, spirit, essence, architecture.
Research Interests:
«Abstraction» (Abstraktion | Abstracción) is the third of a series of letters that the German philosopher of Italian origin Romano Guardini wrote and published in the journal Die Schildgenossen (Comrades of the Shield) from 1923 to 1925... more
«Abstraction» (Abstraktion | Abstracción) is the third
of a series of letters that the German philosopher of Italian origin Romano Guardini wrote and published in the journal Die Schildgenossen (Comrades of the Shield) from 1923 to 1925 and that was included in the book Briefe vom Comer See (Letters from Lake Como) in 1927. Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) underlined this text on his personal copy of the book and reproduced the most relevant passages in the «Notebook» (Notizheft) that he compiled from 1927 to 1928 and that shapes the foundation of his architectural thought. A facsimile edition of the original copy of «Abstraktion» from Mies van der Rohe’s personal library as well as a revised version of the Spanish translation made by Víctor Bazterrica (San Sebastián, 1957) are printed in this publication.
of a series of letters that the German philosopher of Italian origin Romano Guardini wrote and published in the journal Die Schildgenossen (Comrades of the Shield) from 1923 to 1925 and that was included in the book Briefe vom Comer See (Letters from Lake Como) in 1927. Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) underlined this text on his personal copy of the book and reproduced the most relevant passages in the «Notebook» (Notizheft) that he compiled from 1927 to 1928 and that shapes the foundation of his architectural thought. A facsimile edition of the original copy of «Abstraktion» from Mies van der Rohe’s personal library as well as a revised version of the Spanish translation made by Víctor Bazterrica (San Sebastián, 1957) are printed in this publication.
Research Interests:
Le Corbusier positions his architecture in such a way that buildings become “frames to view through.” This approach produces a constant play between the small scale objects of everyday life in the foreground and the large scale... more
Le Corbusier positions his architecture in such a way
that buildings become “frames to view through.” This approach
produces a constant play between the small scale objects of everyday
life in the foreground and the large scale geographical features in
the background. The window, in such a spatial relationship, is the
main architectural element that makes his buildings site specific.
that buildings become “frames to view through.” This approach
produces a constant play between the small scale objects of everyday
life in the foreground and the large scale geographical features in
the background. The window, in such a spatial relationship, is the
main architectural element that makes his buildings site specific.
Research Interests:
"Une Maisons sans escaliers”/ "Una casa di vitro" In 1928 Sigfried Giedion defined architecture as being indivisible from time and perception of a subject moving freely in space. Giedion thought the modern viewer needed to “accompany the... more
"Une Maisons sans escaliers”/ "Una casa di vitro"
In 1928 Sigfried Giedion defined architecture as being indivisible from time and perception of a subject moving freely in space. Giedion thought the modern viewer needed to “accompany the eye as it moves” in order to fully understand architecture. Still photography could not capture architecture clearly; only film could “make the new architecture intelligible.” Walter Benjamin, who quoted several of Giedion’s passages in his Das Passagen-Werk, defined “montage” as a new aesthetic model of subjectivity in 1934. Montage was the modern strategy of design, which represented each of the gazes that the modern subject had to juxtapose in order to have a meaningful architectural experience.
This paper proposes to explain “montage” as a strategy of design operative in the interior worlds of architecture since the early 1930s, relying on a work that was both designed and constructed at the time this word was first theorized: Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio in Como (1932-1936).
Terragni impeded the full experience of the building from a single point of view by introducing a series of planes of symmetries that he always situated at a higher or a lower level from the eyes of the subject. Terragni hollowed out the volume and constructed a membrane that separated it into two equivalent halves. He also introduced mirror-like horizontal
planes which vertically duplicated the engagement of the architectural work with the site. In order to enjoy a meaningful experience of space, the modern subjects always needed to critically engage, creating a “montage” in their minds.
In 1928 Sigfried Giedion defined architecture as being indivisible from time and perception of a subject moving freely in space. Giedion thought the modern viewer needed to “accompany the eye as it moves” in order to fully understand architecture. Still photography could not capture architecture clearly; only film could “make the new architecture intelligible.” Walter Benjamin, who quoted several of Giedion’s passages in his Das Passagen-Werk, defined “montage” as a new aesthetic model of subjectivity in 1934. Montage was the modern strategy of design, which represented each of the gazes that the modern subject had to juxtapose in order to have a meaningful architectural experience.
This paper proposes to explain “montage” as a strategy of design operative in the interior worlds of architecture since the early 1930s, relying on a work that was both designed and constructed at the time this word was first theorized: Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio in Como (1932-1936).
Terragni impeded the full experience of the building from a single point of view by introducing a series of planes of symmetries that he always situated at a higher or a lower level from the eyes of the subject. Terragni hollowed out the volume and constructed a membrane that separated it into two equivalent halves. He also introduced mirror-like horizontal
planes which vertically duplicated the engagement of the architectural work with the site. In order to enjoy a meaningful experience of space, the modern subjects always needed to critically engage, creating a “montage” in their minds.
Research Interests:
En el último número de la revista G: Zeitschrfit für elementaren Gestaltung los precursores de la arquitectura moderna de los años 20 publicaron una imagen que decía en su pie: “dos perspectivas distintas/ un mismo objeto”. Apoyándose en... more
En el último número de la revista G: Zeitschrfit für elementaren Gestaltung los precursores de la arquitectura moderna de los años 20 publicaron una imagen que decía en su pie: “dos perspectivas distintas/ un mismo objeto”. Apoyándose en dos teorías de la representación de la naturaleza –la fisionomía y la penetración visual a través de los rayos-X– esta imagen distinguía entre las dos componentes fundamentales de la materia arquitectónica: la estructura y la apariencia. El presente texto analiza las estrategias de proyecto surgidas a partir de estas teorías de la representación y acota los dos polos entre los que se sitúa el campo
de acción del arquitecto.
de acción del arquitecto.
Research Interests:
En 1929, tan sólo un año después de haberse celebrado el primer Congreso Internacional de Arquitectura Moderna, Le Corbusier recibe un fuerte ataque intelectual de sus hasta-entoncesamigos constructivistas, que le reprochaban su “salto... more
En 1929, tan sólo un año después de haberse celebrado el primer Congreso Internacional de Arquitectura Moderna, Le Corbusier recibe un fuerte ataque intelectual de sus hasta-entoncesamigos constructivistas, que le reprochaban su “salto lírico”, y le condenaban por querer aportar un valor “adicional” a la arquitectura. Para estos arquitectos, la arquitectura moderna debía escapar de especulaciones formales, y centrarse en encontrar una solución científica para las verdaderas necesidades del mundo moderno. Para Le Corbusier, en cambio, lo utilitario sólo
formaba la base de cualquier construcción. Atender a la función era para él, evidente, básico, e inevitable, “como los ladrillos con los que se construye un muro”. Pero la arquitectura debía conducir al hombre a algo más que a los acontecimientos materiales; debía tener un significado que lo condujera a lo imponderable.
Todas estas ideas formaban el núcleo teórico de Le Corbusier, tal y como había explicado en sus primeros escritos de L’Esprit Nouveau. Y fue en 1929, tras este ataque, cuandoLe Corbusier volvió a explicar concienzudamente su “salto lírico” bajo el título de “Defensa de la
Arquitectura”. En 1933, publicó este texto en el número monográfico que la revista francesa, L’Architecture d’aujourhui, dedicó a su obra conjunta con Pierre Jeanneret.
Entre todos los proyectos impresos llamaban la atención, sobretodo dos páginas. Una, en la que se publicaba una imagen de una Villa en la Provenza, con un único pie de foto que decía: “una habitación en le var”. Y otra, en la que se presentaba un edificio institucional en Moscú—el más grande que había construido hasta entonces—cuya característica más importante es que se trataba de “una casa sin escaleras”. La maqueta de este edifico de Cooperativas, mimetizaba además irónicamente la imagen de un obrero sentado en un banco, que sostenía una herramienta.
Pero además de esta inquietante imagen, sorprendía la contundencia de la memoria que acompañaba a la documentación gráfica en estas páginas, según la cuál, “si no se toman en consideración las escaleras de servicio situadas en la parte trasera del edificio..., el Palacio de Centrosoyus se puede considerar “una casa sin escaleras” en cualquier acepción del término. Las escaleras se sustituyen por dos “suaves pendientes”...que
se revestirán de caucho para evitar posibles resbalones. Además, el edificio de la cooperativa poseerá 8 ascensores de pasajeros y 2 montacargas. El vestíbulo es un inmenso local acondicionado con un gran lucernario en el techo. Casi no se perciben las paredes; el vidrio está
por todas partes. Se calcula un guardarropa para 2.500 personas, al lado del que se sitúan las oficinas de información, el correo, la caja de ahorros, los quioscos, las cabinas telefónicas, y... ni una-sola-escalera.
En el caso de la casa, llamaba la atención que fuera de mampostería, por el modo en que este material “irrumpía” en la uniformidad visual de su obra. Y es que en la página anterior, Le Corbusier presentaba la Villa Savoye—la última de sus cuatro composiciones—donde se consagraban sus cinco puntos. Y en la siguiente, el ático del apartamento Beistegui, un edificio
de conexiones surrealistas en el que no se vislumbraba ningún tipo de elemento de construcción tradicional. Los críticos de la arquitectura moderna, para quienes hasta entonces, todo habían sido muros blancos, fachadas corridas y edificios elevados sobre pilotis, no conseguían entender lo que pretendía con esta nueva obra el maestro suizo-francés.
No hay duda de que a través de estos golpes de atención, Le Corbusier estaba tratando de defenderse en contra de los constructivistas, que reducían la arquitectura a una cuestión totalmente utilitaria. A través de estos edificios, Le Corbusier utilizó una serie de estrategias, que estaban ya presentes en la obra de otros artistas y que le permitieron dotar a la
arquitectura de ese “valor adicional”, de ese componente artístico, que le ofrecía al sujeto que experimentaba la obra un papel en la creación de significado.
formaba la base de cualquier construcción. Atender a la función era para él, evidente, básico, e inevitable, “como los ladrillos con los que se construye un muro”. Pero la arquitectura debía conducir al hombre a algo más que a los acontecimientos materiales; debía tener un significado que lo condujera a lo imponderable.
Todas estas ideas formaban el núcleo teórico de Le Corbusier, tal y como había explicado en sus primeros escritos de L’Esprit Nouveau. Y fue en 1929, tras este ataque, cuandoLe Corbusier volvió a explicar concienzudamente su “salto lírico” bajo el título de “Defensa de la
Arquitectura”. En 1933, publicó este texto en el número monográfico que la revista francesa, L’Architecture d’aujourhui, dedicó a su obra conjunta con Pierre Jeanneret.
Entre todos los proyectos impresos llamaban la atención, sobretodo dos páginas. Una, en la que se publicaba una imagen de una Villa en la Provenza, con un único pie de foto que decía: “una habitación en le var”. Y otra, en la que se presentaba un edificio institucional en Moscú—el más grande que había construido hasta entonces—cuya característica más importante es que se trataba de “una casa sin escaleras”. La maqueta de este edifico de Cooperativas, mimetizaba además irónicamente la imagen de un obrero sentado en un banco, que sostenía una herramienta.
Pero además de esta inquietante imagen, sorprendía la contundencia de la memoria que acompañaba a la documentación gráfica en estas páginas, según la cuál, “si no se toman en consideración las escaleras de servicio situadas en la parte trasera del edificio..., el Palacio de Centrosoyus se puede considerar “una casa sin escaleras” en cualquier acepción del término. Las escaleras se sustituyen por dos “suaves pendientes”...que
se revestirán de caucho para evitar posibles resbalones. Además, el edificio de la cooperativa poseerá 8 ascensores de pasajeros y 2 montacargas. El vestíbulo es un inmenso local acondicionado con un gran lucernario en el techo. Casi no se perciben las paredes; el vidrio está
por todas partes. Se calcula un guardarropa para 2.500 personas, al lado del que se sitúan las oficinas de información, el correo, la caja de ahorros, los quioscos, las cabinas telefónicas, y... ni una-sola-escalera.
En el caso de la casa, llamaba la atención que fuera de mampostería, por el modo en que este material “irrumpía” en la uniformidad visual de su obra. Y es que en la página anterior, Le Corbusier presentaba la Villa Savoye—la última de sus cuatro composiciones—donde se consagraban sus cinco puntos. Y en la siguiente, el ático del apartamento Beistegui, un edificio
de conexiones surrealistas en el que no se vislumbraba ningún tipo de elemento de construcción tradicional. Los críticos de la arquitectura moderna, para quienes hasta entonces, todo habían sido muros blancos, fachadas corridas y edificios elevados sobre pilotis, no conseguían entender lo que pretendía con esta nueva obra el maestro suizo-francés.
No hay duda de que a través de estos golpes de atención, Le Corbusier estaba tratando de defenderse en contra de los constructivistas, que reducían la arquitectura a una cuestión totalmente utilitaria. A través de estos edificios, Le Corbusier utilizó una serie de estrategias, que estaban ya presentes en la obra de otros artistas y que le permitieron dotar a la
arquitectura de ese “valor adicional”, de ese componente artístico, que le ofrecía al sujeto que experimentaba la obra un papel en la creación de significado.
Research Interests:
This paper shows how the aesthetics of play of opposites was at Play in the Villa Mandrot, a controversial project Le Corbusier developed at the end of the 1920s.
Research Interests:
http://ahau.es/libro-de-actas-book-of-proceedings/ ¿Es posible reescribir la historia de la arquitectura española de los últimos 100 años a través de su pulsión con la Bauhaus? Con motivo del centenario de la escuela alemana, la... more
http://ahau.es/libro-de-actas-book-of-proceedings/
¿Es posible reescribir la historia de la arquitectura española de los últimos 100 años a través de su pulsión con la Bauhaus? Con motivo del centenario de la escuela alemana, la segunda edición del Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de historiadores de la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo explora esta pregunta en torno a nueve capítulos: la transmisión de la arquitectura de maestros a discípulos, sus redes, su pedagogía, el papel de las mujeres, los encuentros entre arte y arquitectura, las otras vanguardias, la reforma
del habitar, la cuestión de la técnica, junto al debate historiográfico de su fortuna en el tiempo.
Is the exchange with the Bauhaus a possible means of reassessing the history of Spanish architecture over the last 100 years? On the occasion of the German school’s centenary, the second International Conference of the Association of Historians of Architecture and Urban Design explores this question across nine chapters: the transfer of architecture through masters and disciples, its networks, its pedagogy, the role of women, the encounters between art and architecture, the other avant-gardes, the housing renewal, the discussion about technology, along with a historiographical debate on the critical reception of the Bauhaus over time.
¿Es posible reescribir la historia de la arquitectura española de los últimos 100 años a través de su pulsión con la Bauhaus? Con motivo del centenario de la escuela alemana, la segunda edición del Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de historiadores de la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo explora esta pregunta en torno a nueve capítulos: la transmisión de la arquitectura de maestros a discípulos, sus redes, su pedagogía, el papel de las mujeres, los encuentros entre arte y arquitectura, las otras vanguardias, la reforma
del habitar, la cuestión de la técnica, junto al debate historiográfico de su fortuna en el tiempo.
Is the exchange with the Bauhaus a possible means of reassessing the history of Spanish architecture over the last 100 years? On the occasion of the German school’s centenary, the second International Conference of the Association of Historians of Architecture and Urban Design explores this question across nine chapters: the transfer of architecture through masters and disciples, its networks, its pedagogy, the role of women, the encounters between art and architecture, the other avant-gardes, the housing renewal, the discussion about technology, along with a historiographical debate on the critical reception of the Bauhaus over time.
Research Interests: Art History, Education, Technology, Design, Architecture, and 15 moreHistoriography, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Housing, Modern Architecture, Modernism, Weimar Republic, Spain (History), History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Historia, Bauhaus, Urban Design, Historia del Arte, Pedagogia, Hannes Meyer, and Walter Gropius
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The book explains the guiding principles that have inspired the built work of an architect that is internationally known for keeping a balance between practice, theoretical production and teaching. Analyzing and interpreting 21 of his... more
The book explains the guiding principles that have inspired the built work of an architect that is internationally known for keeping a balance between practice, theoretical production and teaching. Analyzing and interpreting 21 of his works, the book is a chronicle of the theoretical concerns that have been discussed in architectural academia over 40 years (1968-2007). It questions different themes such as “whether the notion of strategy can be privileged over composition” or “whether necessity can be an antidote to arbitrariness.” Published by two highly recognized editorial houses in North America and Spain, the book has had a large impact on different networks of knowledge creation.
I accompanied Moneo in the writing of the texts, I chose the archival material to underpin the works, I conceived the graphic design and set out the rules for a parallel reading of the works with new contemporary photographs that foreground the idea of how architecture withstands the passage of time.
I accompanied Moneo in the writing of the texts, I chose the archival material to underpin the works, I conceived the graphic design and set out the rules for a parallel reading of the works with new contemporary photographs that foreground the idea of how architecture withstands the passage of time.
Research Interests:
Josef Albers wrote extensively throughout his career, in addition to his celebrated Interaction of Color, a key work translated into twelve languages and re-edited and reprinted on a continuous basis (from the fi rst edition published by... more
Josef Albers wrote extensively throughout his career, in addition to
his celebrated Interaction of Color, a key work translated into twelve
languages and re-edited and reprinted on a continuous basis (from the
fi rst edition published by Yale University Press in 1963 to the recent
app produced by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Yale
University Press: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/interaction-colorby-
josef/). Nonetheless, many of his numerous and varied texts –
ranging from public lectures and contributions to conferences, talks,
replies to questionnaires, aphorisms, anecdotes, short stories and poetic
prose to the content of lengthy courses and essays on art and education
– continue to be largely unknown to specialists, researchers and the
general public. [...]
his celebrated Interaction of Color, a key work translated into twelve
languages and re-edited and reprinted on a continuous basis (from the
fi rst edition published by Yale University Press in 1963 to the recent
app produced by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Yale
University Press: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/interaction-colorby-
josef/). Nonetheless, many of his numerous and varied texts –
ranging from public lectures and contributions to conferences, talks,
replies to questionnaires, aphorisms, anecdotes, short stories and poetic
prose to the content of lengthy courses and essays on art and education
– continue to be largely unknown to specialists, researchers and the
general public. [...]
Research Interests:
By invitation to contribute to an exhibition catalog, following a Writer in Residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. Josef Albers wrote extensively throughout his career. Nonetheless, many of his numerous and varied texts... more
By invitation to contribute to an exhibition catalog, following a Writer in Residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. Josef Albers wrote extensively throughout his career. Nonetheless, many of his numerous and varied texts continued to be largely unknown to specialists, researchers and the general public until this publication. This anthology brings to light 57 texts by Albers (26 of them unknown) and 14 texts about Albers, while contributing to a reconstruction of the theoretical and didactic framework of his work. The book obtained the mention of “Outstanding Academic Title” endowed by CHOICE.
Research Interests:
Re-enactment is a material response to the pervasive invisibility of Lilly Reich’s work. It arises with a clear motivation: to reveal the architecture designed by Lilly Reich for the German sections of the 1929 International Exposition... more
Re-enactment is a material response to the pervasive invisibility of Lilly Reich’s work. It arises with a clear motivation: to reveal the architecture designed by Lilly Reich for the German sections of the 1929 International Exposition inside eight Noucentista Palaces, an area that is fifty times greater in magnitude than the Pavilion itself.
Re-enactment occupies the heart of the Pavilion with the reconstruction of two of the display cases Lilly Reich originally designed for the Palaces. The intervention transforms a vertical element of light – the milky-colored double-glazed screen– into a lengthy horizontal display case and adds a vertical display case to a visitor’s path toward the inner reflecting pool. This reconstruction was possible thanks to the blueprints that Lilly Reich saved, moving them to Mühlhausen (Thuringia) during World War II, the originals of which are nowadays a part of the Lilly Reich Collection in the Mies van der Rohe Archive at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
By presenting documents from another dozen of archives and private collections from Barcelona, Berlin, Dessau, Frankfurt am Main, Madrid, and Weimar, the horizontal display case provides an unprecedented tour through the Palaces. A letter from 1944, in which Lilly Reich regretted having lost “the big photos of Barcelona” after a bombing in Berlin, forges now a continuity with the photos –some of them unknown– exhibited in this intervention. All of them show how her display cases accomplished the scalar transition from the great variety of German products to the very diverse spatial structures of the Palaces. By means of two short films, the vertical display case highlights the immaterial heritage of the work made in Barcelona and reveals the Pavilion as an anteroom to more than 16.000 m2 of industrial exhibitions.
Re-enactment occupies the heart of the Pavilion with the reconstruction of two of the display cases Lilly Reich originally designed for the Palaces. The intervention transforms a vertical element of light – the milky-colored double-glazed screen– into a lengthy horizontal display case and adds a vertical display case to a visitor’s path toward the inner reflecting pool. This reconstruction was possible thanks to the blueprints that Lilly Reich saved, moving them to Mühlhausen (Thuringia) during World War II, the originals of which are nowadays a part of the Lilly Reich Collection in the Mies van der Rohe Archive at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
By presenting documents from another dozen of archives and private collections from Barcelona, Berlin, Dessau, Frankfurt am Main, Madrid, and Weimar, the horizontal display case provides an unprecedented tour through the Palaces. A letter from 1944, in which Lilly Reich regretted having lost “the big photos of Barcelona” after a bombing in Berlin, forges now a continuity with the photos –some of them unknown– exhibited in this intervention. All of them show how her display cases accomplished the scalar transition from the great variety of German products to the very diverse spatial structures of the Palaces. By means of two short films, the vertical display case highlights the immaterial heritage of the work made in Barcelona and reveals the Pavilion as an anteroom to more than 16.000 m2 of industrial exhibitions.
Research Interests: History, Gender Studies, Design, Photography, Archives, and 15 morePatents, Trademarks, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Museums and Exhibition Design, Modernism, Artistic Research, Exhibition Design (Architecture), History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Bauhaus, History of Exhibitions, Artistic Interventions in Organizations, Authoriality and Authorship, Museum Display, Visibility/invisibility, and Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe
Los planos del conjunto del proyecto que se conservan en el Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York –y que se publicaron también en 1986– nunca ocultaron que el Pabellón Alemán (hoy conocido como Pabellón Mies van der Rohe) fuera una parte de... more
Los planos del conjunto del proyecto que se conservan en el Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York –y que se publicaron también en 1986– nunca ocultaron que el Pabellón Alemán (hoy conocido como Pabellón Mies van der Rohe) fuera una parte de una mucho más extensa exposición industrial que tuvo lugar en Barcelona. Sin embargo, a lo largo del tiempo, las principales monografías sobre la obra de Mies van der Rohe no han dedicado a las secciones industriales de la exposición más que una simple referencia, mención breve, o nota al pie de página, para explicar el contexto en el que se había creado el famoso Pabellón. No ha sido hasta hace unos pocos años cuando se ha destacado que las exposiciones industriales de Alemania, donde hubo presentes productos de más de 300 empresas alemanas distintas, fueron más de 16.000 metros cuadrados para los que Lilly Reich y Mies van der Rohe diseñaron decenas de metros lineales de vitrinas y petos metálicos que influyeron formalmente en los elementos arquitectónicos con los que se construyó el Pabellón.
La historia es la que ha mantenido silenciado, o al menos no completamente visibilizado, el trabajo que Lilly Reich realizó en Barcelona. Ahora el resultado de la “Beca Lilly Reich”, promovida por la propia Fundació Mies van der Rohe en 2018, es el que ha conseguido poner en valor su trabajo y sacar a la luz su aportación al proyecto de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, tanto en lo que se refiere a las exposiciones industriales como al Pabellón.
La historia es la que ha mantenido silenciado, o al menos no completamente visibilizado, el trabajo que Lilly Reich realizó en Barcelona. Ahora el resultado de la “Beca Lilly Reich”, promovida por la propia Fundació Mies van der Rohe en 2018, es el que ha conseguido poner en valor su trabajo y sacar a la luz su aportación al proyecto de la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929, tanto en lo que se refiere a las exposiciones industriales como al Pabellón.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Intellectual Property, Design, Architecture, Spanish History, and 15 moreLudwig Mies van der Rohe, Art and Interpretation, Modernism, History of Design, Artistic Research, Weimar Republic, Barcelona, History of architecture, History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Propiedad Intelectual, Authoriality and Authorship, Marcas, Visibility/invisibility, Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe, and Patentes
https://www.mascontext.com/observations/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion/ Lilly Reich's co-authorship in the overall Barcelona 1929 project has been materially acknowledged. To reveal that invisibility,... more
https://www.mascontext.com/observations/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion/
Lilly Reich's co-authorship in the overall Barcelona 1929 project has been materially acknowledged. To reveal that invisibility, Lilly Reich's work occupies -and transforms- one singular element of the Barcelona Pavilion: its skylight.
The exhibition, an outcome of the first “Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture,” was scheduled to be on view at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion between March 6-March 22, 2020. [The exhibition ended on March 13, as Fundació Mies van der Rohe closed the Pavilion in response to Covid-19. It has been suspended and will be reopened for two weeks once the confinement is lifted]
Lilly Reich's co-authorship in the overall Barcelona 1929 project has been materially acknowledged. To reveal that invisibility, Lilly Reich's work occupies -and transforms- one singular element of the Barcelona Pavilion: its skylight.
The exhibition, an outcome of the first “Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture,” was scheduled to be on view at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion between March 6-March 22, 2020. [The exhibition ended on March 13, as Fundació Mies van der Rohe closed the Pavilion in response to Covid-19. It has been suspended and will be reopened for two weeks once the confinement is lifted]
Research Interests:
https://diariodesign.com/2020/06/laura-martinez-de-guerenu-resena-la-importancia-de-los-espacios-intermedios-en-la-casa-post-covid/ Some time ago I listened to the artist Daniel Canogar eloquently define the house as “a protection from... more
https://diariodesign.com/2020/06/laura-martinez-de-guerenu-resena-la-importancia-de-los-espacios-intermedios-en-la-casa-post-covid/
Some time ago I listened to the artist Daniel Canogar eloquently define the house as “a protection from the daily transit.” A transit that was restricted to providing for basic needs and that in recent weeks has forced us to remain inside our homes almost uninterruptedly. The outbreak of Covid-19 has pushed the definition of the house to the limit. Practically everything that we used to do outside has been transferred to the inside, thus making the house perform fully. Have we resisted? Has the house resisted?
The apertures in the security perimeter that construe the house have been key to that resistance. They have allowed us to appropriate some of the qualities of the world beyond our walls. Historically, opening windows in facades has been a major field of exploration for architects, since windows, more than any other element, contribute to define the psychological and cultural experience of a space. Both during the avant-garde and today, architects have repeatedly demonstrated that the design of thresholds is at the foundation of a house’s spatial quality. Now, the time invested in the interior of our homes has made us all understand the value of the spaces in-between in the construction of our well-being, for the intense exchange they make possible on a biological and social level.
Some time ago I listened to the artist Daniel Canogar eloquently define the house as “a protection from the daily transit.” A transit that was restricted to providing for basic needs and that in recent weeks has forced us to remain inside our homes almost uninterruptedly. The outbreak of Covid-19 has pushed the definition of the house to the limit. Practically everything that we used to do outside has been transferred to the inside, thus making the house perform fully. Have we resisted? Has the house resisted?
The apertures in the security perimeter that construe the house have been key to that resistance. They have allowed us to appropriate some of the qualities of the world beyond our walls. Historically, opening windows in facades has been a major field of exploration for architects, since windows, more than any other element, contribute to define the psychological and cultural experience of a space. Both during the avant-garde and today, architects have repeatedly demonstrated that the design of thresholds is at the foundation of a house’s spatial quality. Now, the time invested in the interior of our homes has made us all understand the value of the spaces in-between in the construction of our well-being, for the intense exchange they make possible on a biological and social level.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Psychological Assessment, Spatial Analysis, Architecture, Interior Design, and 15 moreWindows, Housing, Well-Being, Social History, Public Health, Housing and Dwelling (Architecture), History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Framing, Boundaries, Double Skin Facades, Thresholding, Understanding Architectural Space, Balconied Window, Apertures, and COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Report on how months of work by researchers is being salvaged.
The chain reaction continues. Already confined to our homes, not a day goes by without news that another architectural exhibition or conference has been
cancelled or postponed.
The chain reaction continues. Already confined to our homes, not a day goes by without news that another architectural exhibition or conference has been
cancelled or postponed.
Research Interests:
Elizabeth Otto Haunted Bauhaus MIT Press, 2019 306 pages Spirituality, gender fluidity, queer identities, and the political stance of instructors and students may seem minor when it comes to assessing the legacy of the Bauhaus. Do... more
Elizabeth Otto
Haunted Bauhaus
MIT Press, 2019
306 pages
Spirituality, gender fluidity, queer identities, and the political stance of instructors and students may seem minor when it comes to assessing the legacy of the Bauhaus. Do designs, artworks, and buildings cover it all? Elizabeth Otto's answer is a categorical no, and to explain this she points out unusual facets of the Bauhäusler's personalities, offering archive evidences besides an exhaustive analysis of the literature on the Bauhaus, including publications from this very year of the school's centenary.
Haunted Bauhaus
MIT Press, 2019
306 pages
Spirituality, gender fluidity, queer identities, and the political stance of instructors and students may seem minor when it comes to assessing the legacy of the Bauhaus. Do designs, artworks, and buildings cover it all? Elizabeth Otto's answer is a categorical no, and to explain this she points out unusual facets of the Bauhäusler's personalities, offering archive evidences besides an exhaustive analysis of the literature on the Bauhaus, including publications from this very year of the school's centenary.
Research Interests:
El Pabellón alemán para la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929 formaba parte de una secuencia expositiva más amplia, que Ludwig Mies van der Rohe y Lilly Reich construyeron siguiendo su cometido principal en la exposición... more
El Pabellón alemán para la Exposición Internacional de Barcelona de 1929 formaba parte de una secuencia expositiva más amplia, que Ludwig Mies van der Rohe y Lilly Reich construyeron siguiendo su cometido principal en la exposición industrial: diseñar toda la sección alemana. Cuando Mies inició el proyecto del Pabellón alemán, llevaba ya más de cuatro meses trabajando en la construcción de la identidad y la representación de la fortaleza del tejido industrial alemán, que expresaría arquitectónicamente en el interior de ocho palacios noucentistas. El estudio del desarrollo del proyecto completo permite rastrear el origen de los dos elementos arquitectónicos más innovadores del Pabellón Alemán –el muro de doble acristalamiento de color lechoso y los postes cromados en forma de cruz–, en el interior de estos palacios. Los miles de metros cuadrados de exposiciones industriales, no reconstruidos en 1986, forman hoy el patrimonio inmaterial que refuerza la relevancia histórica del Pabellón de Barcelona. Tres documentos, incluida una secuencia de la película oficial de la exposición, preservan el orden que muestra el alcance de la obra de Mies y Reich en Barcelona, al tiempo que amplían el significado histórico de una de las obras arquitectónicas más importantes de la modernidad.
Research Interests:
Editor's note (Antonio Juárez): Teaching is a tough experience, which requires an immense respect towards the secret core of every student and, at the same time, putting a guiding light on the vital horizon of each one of the students’... more
Editor's note (Antonio Juárez):
Teaching is a tough experience, which requires an immense respect towards the secret core of every student and, at the same time, putting a guiding light on the vital horizon of each one of the students’ imaginary universe. The conciliation between their listening to that inner voice inside of them, and protecting their spiritual freedom, not always is obtained by an
oversimplified direction in teaching based on models to be repeated or imitated. Most of the times models-based-teaching is far away from the student’s true creative force. To that inner voice, unteachable, but mastered enough in our teaching work, polyhedrally manifested in this book, even beyond our directions, and to the students guided only by that intangible voice, is dedicated this book.
Teaching is a tough experience, which requires an immense respect towards the secret core of every student and, at the same time, putting a guiding light on the vital horizon of each one of the students’ imaginary universe. The conciliation between their listening to that inner voice inside of them, and protecting their spiritual freedom, not always is obtained by an
oversimplified direction in teaching based on models to be repeated or imitated. Most of the times models-based-teaching is far away from the student’s true creative force. To that inner voice, unteachable, but mastered enough in our teaching work, polyhedrally manifested in this book, even beyond our directions, and to the students guided only by that intangible voice, is dedicated this book.
Research Interests:
Karrera Amaierako Proiektuak ezaugarri berezi bat azaltzen du, Espainiako Goi Eskola Teknikoetan tradizionalki ulertu izan dugun moduan. Alde batetik, ikasleak, karreran zehar ikasitako ezagupenak modu mardul batean integratu behar dituen... more
Karrera Amaierako Proiektuak ezaugarri berezi bat azaltzen du, Espainiako Goi Eskola Teknikoetan tradizionalki ulertu izan dugun moduan. Alde batetik, ikasleak, karreran zehar ikasitako ezagupenak modu mardul batean integratu behar dituen lehenengo proiektua da. Arrazoi metodologiko huts batengatik, ikasketak hainbat ezagupen-eremutan zatiturik baitaude. Bestalde, ikasleak bere ibilbide profesionala hasi baino lehen, irakasleen tutoretzarekin kontatuko duen azkeneko proiektua da. Berezitasun horrek KAPa erronka zail bihurtzen du. Eta nola ez, askotan berezitasun berberak zorabio bat ekoitzi izan du, KAPa denboran zehar halabeharrez luzatuz.
Zuzenagoa izango litzateke KAPa helmugatzat ez hartzea, hasieratzat baizik. Horrela ulertuz gero, KAPa ez litzateke bakarrik izango ikasleak proiektu bat integralki garatzen duen lehendabiziko oportunitatea, baizik eta karreran zehar ikasitako tresna guztien limiteak balioztatzeko aukera ezin hobea. KAPean zehar, ikasleak hasieratik parte hartzen badu garatu behar den aktibitate mota eta proiektuaren kokapena erabakitzen –eta aldi berean akzio horren inplikazio ekonomikoak eta eragin soziala aztertzen–, bizitza profesionalera askoz ere tresna gehiagorekin iritsiko da.
Zuzenagoa izango litzateke KAPa helmugatzat ez hartzea, hasieratzat baizik. Horrela ulertuz gero, KAPa ez litzateke bakarrik izango ikasleak proiektu bat integralki garatzen duen lehendabiziko oportunitatea, baizik eta karreran zehar ikasitako tresna guztien limiteak balioztatzeko aukera ezin hobea. KAPean zehar, ikasleak hasieratik parte hartzen badu garatu behar den aktibitate mota eta proiektuaren kokapena erabakitzen –eta aldi berean akzio horren inplikazio ekonomikoak eta eragin soziala aztertzen–, bizitza profesionalera askoz ere tresna gehiagorekin iritsiko da.
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https://miesbcn.com/calendar/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion/ Re-enactment is a material response to the pervasive invisibility of Lilly Reich’s work. It arises with a clear motivation: to reveal the... more
https://miesbcn.com/calendar/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion/
Re-enactment is a material response to the pervasive invisibility of Lilly Reich’s work. It arises with a clear motivation: to reveal the architecture designed by Lilly Reich for the German sections of the 1929 International Exposition inside eight Noucentista Palaces, an area that is fifty times greater in magnitude than the Pavilion itself.
Re-enactment occupies the heart of the Pavilion with the reconstruction of two of the display-cases Lilly Reich originally designed for the Palaces. The intervention transforms a vertical element of light – the milky color double-glazed screen– into a horizontal display-case and adds a vertical display-case to a visitor’s path toward the inner pond. This reconstruction was possible thanks to the blueprints that Lilly Reich saved moving them to Mühlhausen (Thuringia) during World War II, the originals of which are nowadays a part of the Lilly Reich Collection of the Mies van der Rohe Archive in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
By presenting documents from another dozen of archives and private collections from Barcelona, Berlin, Dessau, Frankfurt, Madrid, Sevilla and Weimar, the horizontal display-case provides an unprecedented tour through the Palaces. The intervention recovers the “great photos of Barcelona” that Lilly Reich herself regretted losing in a bombing in Berlin and that shows how her display-cases accomplished the scalar transition from the great variety of German products to the very diverse spatial structures of the Palaces. By means of two short films, the vertical display-case highlights the immaterial heritage of the work made in Barcelona and reveals the Pavilion as an anteroom to more than 16.000 m2 of industrial exhibitions.
Re-enactment is a material response to the pervasive invisibility of Lilly Reich’s work. It arises with a clear motivation: to reveal the architecture designed by Lilly Reich for the German sections of the 1929 International Exposition inside eight Noucentista Palaces, an area that is fifty times greater in magnitude than the Pavilion itself.
Re-enactment occupies the heart of the Pavilion with the reconstruction of two of the display-cases Lilly Reich originally designed for the Palaces. The intervention transforms a vertical element of light – the milky color double-glazed screen– into a horizontal display-case and adds a vertical display-case to a visitor’s path toward the inner pond. This reconstruction was possible thanks to the blueprints that Lilly Reich saved moving them to Mühlhausen (Thuringia) during World War II, the originals of which are nowadays a part of the Lilly Reich Collection of the Mies van der Rohe Archive in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
By presenting documents from another dozen of archives and private collections from Barcelona, Berlin, Dessau, Frankfurt, Madrid, Sevilla and Weimar, the horizontal display-case provides an unprecedented tour through the Palaces. The intervention recovers the “great photos of Barcelona” that Lilly Reich herself regretted losing in a bombing in Berlin and that shows how her display-cases accomplished the scalar transition from the great variety of German products to the very diverse spatial structures of the Palaces. By means of two short films, the vertical display-case highlights the immaterial heritage of the work made in Barcelona and reveals the Pavilion as an anteroom to more than 16.000 m2 of industrial exhibitions.
Research Interests: Design, Women's Studies, Architecture, Museum Studies, Women's History, and 15 moreHistoric Preservation, Archives, Modernist Architecture (Architectural Modernism), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Modernism, Weimar Republic, Barcelona, Bauhaus, Architectural Preservation & Restoration, Exhibitions, Acting on the existent (Architecture), Architecture, Built Environment, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Tourism, Culture Studies, Domesticity, Interior design, Military Architecture, and Modern Movement and Local Traditions, History of Exhibitions, Arquitectura Moderna, Visibility/invisibility, and Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe
https://montornes.net/2020/03/23/laura-martinez-de-guerenu-re-enactment-la-obra-de-lilly-reich-ocupa-el-pabellon-de-barcelona-pavello-mies-van-der-rohe-barcelona/ Había leido un artículo que cargaba mucho las tintas en lo justiciero... more
https://montornes.net/2020/03/23/laura-martinez-de-guerenu-re-enactment-la-obra-de-lilly-reich-ocupa-el-pabellon-de-barcelona-pavello-mies-van-der-rohe-barcelona/
Había leido un artículo que cargaba mucho las tintas en lo justiciero que había sido el tiempo al poner a Lilly Reich en el lugar que le correspondía. ¡Ya era hora!, venía a decir. Era un artículo de tono duro. De esos que te hacen sentir culpable por no haber tenido acceso a la información que hubiera sido necesaria para evitar que Reich hubiera sido invisible durante tantos años. Uno de esos artículos que acaba por sentenciar que, gracias a él -es decir, al artículo o quien lo escribe- la historia, por fin, ya ha puesto las cosas en su sitio. Lo confieso: aquel artículo me dejó un cierto gusto amargo [...] >>>
Había leido un artículo que cargaba mucho las tintas en lo justiciero que había sido el tiempo al poner a Lilly Reich en el lugar que le correspondía. ¡Ya era hora!, venía a decir. Era un artículo de tono duro. De esos que te hacen sentir culpable por no haber tenido acceso a la información que hubiera sido necesaria para evitar que Reich hubiera sido invisible durante tantos años. Uno de esos artículos que acaba por sentenciar que, gracias a él -es decir, al artículo o quien lo escribe- la historia, por fin, ya ha puesto las cosas en su sitio. Lo confieso: aquel artículo me dejó un cierto gusto amargo [...] >>>
Research Interests: History, German Studies, Art History, Design, Women's Studies, and 15 moreArchitecture, History of Science, Gender, Modernist Architecture (Architectural Modernism), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Built Environment, Weimar Republic, Visual Arts, Barcelona, History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Bauhaus, Intervention, Pavilion Architecture, Visibility/invisibility, and Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe
Research Interests: History, European Studies, Modernist Architecture (Architectural Modernism), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Modernism (Art History), and 8 moreModernism, Weimar Republic, Spain (History), 20th century Avant-Garde, Barcelona, History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Bauhaus, and Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe
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https://www.rtve.es/m/alacarta/audios/todo-noticias-tarde/lilly-reich-pabellon-bcn/5536381/?media=rne Radio 5, Todo Noticias, March 11, 2020. Radio broadcasting (main Spanish national public channel) presenting the artistic... more
https://www.rtve.es/m/alacarta/audios/todo-noticias-tarde/lilly-reich-pabellon-bcn/5536381/?media=rne
Radio 5, Todo Noticias, March 11, 2020.
Radio broadcasting (main Spanish national public channel) presenting the artistic intervention in the Barcelona Pavilion__Re-enactment: Lilly Reich's Work Occupies the Barcelona Pavilion.
9 minutes devoted to Lilly Reich and to all women who work in order to have access to the practice of architecture in equal conditions.
El Pabellón de Alemania en Barcelona para la Exposición Universal de 1929, es una de las edificaciones más importantes de la modernidad. También el arquitecto que lo diseñó, Mies Van Der Rohe, es un grande. Pero ¿qué sabemos de la diseñadora Lilly Reich su socia y colaboradora durante más de 10 años?
Hasta el día 22 de marzo se puede ver en la Fundació Mies Van der Rohe de Barcelona, 'Re-enactment', una intervención artística de la arquitecta Laura Martínez de Guereñu, ganadora de la primera Beca Lilly Reich para la Igualdad en la Arquitectura. La beca pretende visibilizar aportaciones arquitectónicas que quienes han escrito la historia han ocultado por razones de género, políticas, de religión o de raza...y la primera edición está dedicada a la propia Lilly Reich, borrada de todas las narraciones sobre Mies o su obra.
Radio 5, Todo Noticias, March 11, 2020.
Radio broadcasting (main Spanish national public channel) presenting the artistic intervention in the Barcelona Pavilion__Re-enactment: Lilly Reich's Work Occupies the Barcelona Pavilion.
9 minutes devoted to Lilly Reich and to all women who work in order to have access to the practice of architecture in equal conditions.
El Pabellón de Alemania en Barcelona para la Exposición Universal de 1929, es una de las edificaciones más importantes de la modernidad. También el arquitecto que lo diseñó, Mies Van Der Rohe, es un grande. Pero ¿qué sabemos de la diseñadora Lilly Reich su socia y colaboradora durante más de 10 años?
Hasta el día 22 de marzo se puede ver en la Fundació Mies Van der Rohe de Barcelona, 'Re-enactment', una intervención artística de la arquitecta Laura Martínez de Guereñu, ganadora de la primera Beca Lilly Reich para la Igualdad en la Arquitectura. La beca pretende visibilizar aportaciones arquitectónicas que quienes han escrito la historia han ocultado por razones de género, políticas, de religión o de raza...y la primera edición está dedicada a la propia Lilly Reich, borrada de todas las narraciones sobre Mies o su obra.
Research Interests:
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the third and last director of the Bauhaus. One of the stories he seemed most to enjoy telling in the school had to do with the construction of the Barcelona Pavilion. Mies would proudly recount how he had... more
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the third and last director of the Bauhaus. One of the stories he seemed most to enjoy telling in the school had to do with the construction of the Barcelona Pavilion. Mies would proudly recount how he had stayed up all night before the inauguration, personally putting in position the glass screens as well as cleaning the ‘millions of hand-prints’, just in time for the opening.
[...]
Notes from the article ‘Mies, Barcelona and the Bauhaus’ by Laura Martínez de Guereñu - Editorial Tenov/ Fundació Mies van der Rohe
(free summary)
[...]
Notes from the article ‘Mies, Barcelona and the Bauhaus’ by Laura Martínez de Guereñu - Editorial Tenov/ Fundació Mies van der Rohe
(free summary)
In 1929, the Bauhaus lived its golden moment in Barcelona
https://www.ara.cat/cultura/Bauhaus-viure-moment-daurat-Barcelona_0_2207179368.html
https://www.ara.cat/cultura/Bauhaus-viure-moment-daurat-Barcelona_0_2207179368.html
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
https://vimeo.com/416074010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geMHAnvwxgg&t=1506s https://miesbcn.com/project/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion-by-laura-martinez-de-guerenu/ Extract of the launch of... more
https://vimeo.com/416074010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geMHAnvwxgg&t=1506s
https://miesbcn.com/project/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion-by-laura-martinez-de-guerenu/
Extract of the launch of “Re-enactment.” Together with the presentation by the author, Laura Martínez de Guereñu, Wolf Tegethoff and Christiane Lange intervene as members of the jury of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture. Isabel Bachs and Cristian Cirici also share some words as authors of the Barcelona Pavilion’s reconstruction.
Acto de presentación de "Re-enactment: la obra de Lilly Reich ocupa el Pabellón de Barcelona". Además de la presentación a cargo de la autora, Laura Martínez de Guereñu, Wolf Tegethoff y Christiane Lange intervienen en calidad de miembros del jurado de la Beca Lilly Reich para la igualdad en arquitectura. Isabel Bachs y Cristian Cirici comparten también unas palabras en calidad de autores de la reconstrucción del Pabellón de Mies van der Rohe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geMHAnvwxgg&t=1506s
https://miesbcn.com/project/re-enactment-lilly-reichs-work-occupies-the-barcelona-pavilion-by-laura-martinez-de-guerenu/
Extract of the launch of “Re-enactment.” Together with the presentation by the author, Laura Martínez de Guereñu, Wolf Tegethoff and Christiane Lange intervene as members of the jury of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture. Isabel Bachs and Cristian Cirici also share some words as authors of the Barcelona Pavilion’s reconstruction.
Acto de presentación de "Re-enactment: la obra de Lilly Reich ocupa el Pabellón de Barcelona". Además de la presentación a cargo de la autora, Laura Martínez de Guereñu, Wolf Tegethoff y Christiane Lange intervienen en calidad de miembros del jurado de la Beca Lilly Reich para la igualdad en arquitectura. Isabel Bachs y Cristian Cirici comparten también unas palabras en calidad de autores de la reconstrucción del Pabellón de Mies van der Rohe.
Research Interests: History, Design, Women's Studies, Gender, Patents, and 15 moreLudwig Mies van der Rohe, Modernist Furniture Design, Modernism (Art History), Modern Architecture, Enactivism, Barcelona, History of architecture, History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Historia de la Arquitectura, Bauhaus, Pavilion Architecture, Arquitectura Moderna, Visibility/invisibility, Lilly Reich and Mies van der Rohe, and Display Devices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtfg7o98Wvk Lilly Reich fue la socia de Mies durante el desarrollo de todo el proyecto de Barcelona, que no solo incluía el Pabellón, sino el diseño de las exposiciones de las distintas industrias... more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtfg7o98Wvk
Lilly Reich fue la socia de Mies durante el desarrollo de todo el proyecto de Barcelona, que no solo incluía el Pabellón, sino el diseño de las exposiciones de las distintas industrias alemanas que participaron, en unos recintos feriales divididos en 8 Palacios, y que tuvieron una superficie 50 veces mayor que el famoso Pabellón.
Además, no proyectaron el pabellón tan solo como un espacio representativo para la ceremonia de apertura, como se ha dicho tantas veces. Sino que concibieron el Pabellón Alemán como el punto de inicio de una secuencia que iba a atravesar los interiores de los 8 palacios, donde estarían expuestas las industrias alemanes.
Lilly Reich fue la socia de Mies durante el desarrollo de todo el proyecto de Barcelona, que no solo incluía el Pabellón, sino el diseño de las exposiciones de las distintas industrias alemanas que participaron, en unos recintos feriales divididos en 8 Palacios, y que tuvieron una superficie 50 veces mayor que el famoso Pabellón.
Además, no proyectaron el pabellón tan solo como un espacio representativo para la ceremonia de apertura, como se ha dicho tantas veces. Sino que concibieron el Pabellón Alemán como el punto de inicio de una secuencia que iba a atravesar los interiores de los 8 palacios, donde estarían expuestas las industrias alemanes.
Research Interests:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcUuO4O4Bw8 La Bauhaus tuvo una intensa pero desconocida relación creativa con España. Su fundador, Walter Gropius, y sus dos siguientes directores, Hannes Meyer y Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, trabajaron... more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcUuO4O4Bw8
La Bauhaus tuvo una intensa pero desconocida relación creativa con España. Su fundador, Walter Gropius, y sus dos siguientes directores, Hannes Meyer y Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, trabajaron en o incluyeron España entre los destinos internacionales para exhibir el trabajo de la Bauhaus. Tras su clausura, su pedagogía fue llegando con fuerza creciente a Estados Unidos, a medida que muchos Bauhäusler, que buscaban refugio de los fascismos europeos, eran contactados por instituciones como Black Mountain College (1933), el Armour Institute of Technology o Harvard University (1937). Años después, el arquitecto español Josep Lluís Sert tomaría el relevo de Gropius al frente del departamento de arquitectura de la Graduate School of Design de Harvard, donde se había extendido el legado de la Bauhaus.
La Bauhaus tuvo una intensa pero desconocida relación creativa con España. Su fundador, Walter Gropius, y sus dos siguientes directores, Hannes Meyer y Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, trabajaron en o incluyeron España entre los destinos internacionales para exhibir el trabajo de la Bauhaus. Tras su clausura, su pedagogía fue llegando con fuerza creciente a Estados Unidos, a medida que muchos Bauhäusler, que buscaban refugio de los fascismos europeos, eran contactados por instituciones como Black Mountain College (1933), el Armour Institute of Technology o Harvard University (1937). Años después, el arquitecto español Josep Lluís Sert tomaría el relevo de Gropius al frente del departamento de arquitectura de la Graduate School of Design de Harvard, donde se había extendido el legado de la Bauhaus.
Research Interests:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV9mIIJ-g4I Tras su clausura en Berlín en 1933, el espíritu anti-académico de la Bauhaus encontró un terreno fértil en Norte América. El “learning by doing”, así como la educación del individuo por el... more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV9mIIJ-g4I
Tras su clausura en Berlín en 1933, el espíritu anti-académico de la Bauhaus encontró un terreno fértil en Norte América. El “learning by doing”, así como la educación del individuo por el bien de la comunidad, entró en diálogo con las ideas promulgadas por el filósofo y pedagogo americano John Dewey. La presencia de la Bauhaus en Estados Unidos no fue monolítica; la naturaleza de los programas de estudios dependió tanto del carácter de la institución como de las personalidades específicas. La Bauhaus adquirió así diferentes formas en Black Mountain College (con Josef y Anni Albers), en Harvard University (con Walter Gropius), en el Illinois Institute of Technology (con Ludwig Mies van der Rohe), o en el Institute of Design de Chicaco (con László Moholy-Nagy. Pero los Bauhäusler se mantuvieron unidos hasta el final, siempre fieles a su inagotable batalla en defensa de las nuevas ideas.
Tras su clausura en Berlín en 1933, el espíritu anti-académico de la Bauhaus encontró un terreno fértil en Norte América. El “learning by doing”, así como la educación del individuo por el bien de la comunidad, entró en diálogo con las ideas promulgadas por el filósofo y pedagogo americano John Dewey. La presencia de la Bauhaus en Estados Unidos no fue monolítica; la naturaleza de los programas de estudios dependió tanto del carácter de la institución como de las personalidades específicas. La Bauhaus adquirió así diferentes formas en Black Mountain College (con Josef y Anni Albers), en Harvard University (con Walter Gropius), en el Illinois Institute of Technology (con Ludwig Mies van der Rohe), o en el Institute of Design de Chicaco (con László Moholy-Nagy. Pero los Bauhäusler se mantuvieron unidos hasta el final, siempre fieles a su inagotable batalla en defensa de las nuevas ideas.
Research Interests:
The researcher provides the keys of the work Without Title (1941) by Vasily Kandinsky, belonging to the permanent collection of the Museo Universidad de Navarra (MUN). The lecture takes place beside the work, in the exhibition room. La... more
The researcher provides the keys of the work Without Title (1941) by Vasily Kandinsky, belonging to the permanent collection of the Museo Universidad de Navarra (MUN). The lecture takes place beside the work, in the exhibition room.
La investigadora ofrece las claves de la obra Sin título (1941) de Vasily Kandinsky, perteneciente a la colección del Museo Universidad de Navarra. La conferencia tiene lugar en la sala expositiva de la pieza.
La investigadora ofrece las claves de la obra Sin título (1941) de Vasily Kandinsky, perteneciente a la colección del Museo Universidad de Navarra. La conferencia tiene lugar en la sala expositiva de la pieza.
Research Interests:
The German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition was part of a much broader exhibiting sequence, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich constructed following their main undertaking in the Barcelona industrial... more
The German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition was part of a much broader exhibiting sequence, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich constructed following their main undertaking in the Barcelona industrial exhibits: to design the entire German section. By the time Mies started the project of the German Pavilion, he had already been working for more than four months on the construction of the identity and representation of the strength of the German industrial fabric, which he would architecturally express in the interior design of eight neoclassical palaces. Hence, the two most innovative architectural elements of the German Pavilion –the milky color double-glazed wall and the chrome-plated cross-shaped posts– can be traced back to the interiors of these palaces. The 16.000 m2 of industrial exhibits, which were not reconstructed in 1986, form today the immaterial heritage that underpins the historical relevance of the Barcelona Pavilion. Three documents, including a sequence from the official exhibition film, preserve the order linking the range of Mies’s work in Barcelona and broaden the historical meaning of one of the most important works of architectural modernism.
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Josef Albers is the artist with the longest association to the Bauhaus. Initially as a student and later as a teacher, he was there from 1920 until its closure in 1933 and coincided with some of the most prominent artists and architects... more
Josef Albers is the artist with the longest association to the Bauhaus. Initially as a student and later as a teacher, he was there from 1920 until its closure in 1933 and coincided with some of the most prominent artists and architects of the twentieth century. His most public and recognised works were the glass paintings he began creating from 1921 onwards; his most private and intimate works, his photographs, which he began taking in 1928. His stained-glass paintings led to his consecration as an artist, after the Bauhaus Dessau exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Basel (20 April – 9 May, 1929), where he exhibited 20 works with other artists including Lyonel Feininger, Vasili Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer. By contrast, the majority of his photographs remained unpublished until after his death in 1976; Albers kept them as a small treasure for his own personal consultation. The visual relation between two such disparate techniques is, notwithstanding, close. Both reflect his deep interest in tectonics and his fascination with discovering the many spatial interpretations of one particular form.
In his stained-glass paintings, Albers tried to discover a personal compositional strategy, initially using fragments of transparent glass that he found and randomly put together, and subsequently using pieces of industrial glass assembled in a regular pattern, until he formed his most idiosyncratic style, that of the “thermometric strip,” in which he introduced rays of colour in columns of different widths to create a versatile spatiality in an indivisible piece of opaque glass. Photographs, which he used as a search and recording tool, played an instrumental role in the subsequent creation of his stained-glass paintings. They allowed him to isolate the abstract condition of natural phenomena and capture the tectonic qualities of his built environment. He almost always obtained various points of view for a particular object, assembling them in the form of a collage and thus demonstrating their different qualities and their change over time.
His photographs have allowed us to reconstruct his trip to Europe during the summer of 1929, when he met up with Kandinsky and Klee in the Atlantic Pyrenees, and with an earlier stop in Barcelona to visit the exhibition and the famous pavilion that Mies van der Rohe had designed for the German section of the International Exposition. The photographs he took between these two borders enabled Albers to explore the levels of absorption and reflection of light on materials and to come to understand the many structural and expressive variations that can be achieved with very limited means. After his trip, and probably also inspired by Mies's pavilion, he began a new type of painting on grey glass in which a series of floating windows of different intensities of colour form the basis of his early experiments with optical illusions, using more complex patterns consisting of continuous lines.
In 1933, the closure of the Bauhaus did not prevent Albers, who was already in America, from remaining in close contact with Mies, Kandinsky and Klee, the three master painters with whom he shared the memories and visual discoveries of his trip to Spain in 1929.
In his stained-glass paintings, Albers tried to discover a personal compositional strategy, initially using fragments of transparent glass that he found and randomly put together, and subsequently using pieces of industrial glass assembled in a regular pattern, until he formed his most idiosyncratic style, that of the “thermometric strip,” in which he introduced rays of colour in columns of different widths to create a versatile spatiality in an indivisible piece of opaque glass. Photographs, which he used as a search and recording tool, played an instrumental role in the subsequent creation of his stained-glass paintings. They allowed him to isolate the abstract condition of natural phenomena and capture the tectonic qualities of his built environment. He almost always obtained various points of view for a particular object, assembling them in the form of a collage and thus demonstrating their different qualities and their change over time.
His photographs have allowed us to reconstruct his trip to Europe during the summer of 1929, when he met up with Kandinsky and Klee in the Atlantic Pyrenees, and with an earlier stop in Barcelona to visit the exhibition and the famous pavilion that Mies van der Rohe had designed for the German section of the International Exposition. The photographs he took between these two borders enabled Albers to explore the levels of absorption and reflection of light on materials and to come to understand the many structural and expressive variations that can be achieved with very limited means. After his trip, and probably also inspired by Mies's pavilion, he began a new type of painting on grey glass in which a series of floating windows of different intensities of colour form the basis of his early experiments with optical illusions, using more complex patterns consisting of continuous lines.
In 1933, the closure of the Bauhaus did not prevent Albers, who was already in America, from remaining in close contact with Mies, Kandinsky and Klee, the three master painters with whom he shared the memories and visual discoveries of his trip to Spain in 1929.
Research Interests:
Film screening of Mies on Scene. Barcelona in Two Acts, followed by a discussion Mies's Barcelona pavilion was designed during the Weimar Republic to symbolise the new democratic, open and modern society of Germany while the Nazi... more
Film screening of Mies on Scene. Barcelona in Two Acts, followed by a discussion
Mies's Barcelona pavilion was designed during the Weimar Republic to symbolise the new democratic, open and modern society of Germany while the Nazi dictatorship was already looming. Its reconstruction was completed in Spain’s post-Franco era and symbolised a new beginning for the city. The positioning of the pavilion in the two countries’ specific historical moments can serve as a starting point to discuss the interdependencies of national heritage in the context of a shared European heritage. The interplay of historical elements and materials in terms of site and within the building itself – while a provocation at the time – helped to establish a new modernism and language. What can we learn from this dialogue between a heritage and its surroundings? The pavilion was reconstructed decades after its demolition, which caused intense debates on the concepts of reconstructions and replication. Both the documentary and the book took off when celebrating the 30 years of the reconstruction, following an international exhibition and a symposium. Currently many world heritage sites are under threat from conflicts or climate change. How do we deal with the loss of built heritage? Is reconstruction an option?
Mies's Barcelona pavilion was designed during the Weimar Republic to symbolise the new democratic, open and modern society of Germany while the Nazi dictatorship was already looming. Its reconstruction was completed in Spain’s post-Franco era and symbolised a new beginning for the city. The positioning of the pavilion in the two countries’ specific historical moments can serve as a starting point to discuss the interdependencies of national heritage in the context of a shared European heritage. The interplay of historical elements and materials in terms of site and within the building itself – while a provocation at the time – helped to establish a new modernism and language. What can we learn from this dialogue between a heritage and its surroundings? The pavilion was reconstructed decades after its demolition, which caused intense debates on the concepts of reconstructions and replication. Both the documentary and the book took off when celebrating the 30 years of the reconstruction, following an international exhibition and a symposium. Currently many world heritage sites are under threat from conflicts or climate change. How do we deal with the loss of built heritage? Is reconstruction an option?
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The contents of an unpublished letter (FLC I1-17-5), sent to Le Corbusier from the Basses-Pyrénées during the development of the Villa Ocampo project (1928), is the key to understanding the Swiss-French master's particular response to the... more
The contents of an unpublished letter (FLC I1-17-5), sent to Le Corbusier from the Basses-Pyrénées during the development of the Villa Ocampo project (1928), is the key to understanding the Swiss-French master's particular response to the site at the end of the 1920s. Countess Adela Cuevas de Vera, who negotiated the project from Anglet, revealed the Côte Basque as an attractive new market and claimed Le Corbusier's presence there. Furthermore, she reminded him of the prevailing regionalism and the strong cultural identity of the place, as well as the fact that Robert Mallet-Stevens, a great competitor of his, had already embarked there. Whatever the content of this letter awakened in Le Corbusier, led him to submit a very similar version of the third Villa Meyer project (1925) (designed for Paris) to be built in Buenos Aires. This paper re-evaluates the reasons behind a site exchange between two Southern cities on different sides of the Atlantic, studying the role of the negotiation site in the design process; and reassesses Le Corbusier's critical attitude towards regionalism, mapping out his relationship with a French region in which he never intervened. Through primary source research, this paper also recognizes that in architecture, rivalry, pride and ambition can quite often be authentic triggers for action. Resumen: El contenido de una carta inédita (FLC I1-17-5), enviada a Le Corbusier desde los Bajos Pirineos durante el desarrollo del proyecto de la Villa Ocampo (1928), es la clave para entender la muy particular respuesta al lugar del maestro suizo-francés a finales de los años 20. La Condesa Adela Cuevas de Vera, que negoció el proyecto desde Anglet, presentó a Le Corbusier la Côte Basque como un atractivo mercado, al tiempo que reclamó allí su presencia. Le habló del regionalismo imperante y de la fuerte identidad cultural del lugar, recordándole que Robert Mallet-Stevens, un gran competidor suyo, había desembarcado ya allí. La reacción a esta carta llevó a Le Corbusier a entregar un proyecto muy similar a la tercera versión del proyecto de la Villa Meyer (1925) (proyectado para París) para ser construido en Buenos Aires. Este artículo reevalúa las razones que pueden existir tras el intercambio de lugar entre dos ciudades del Sur situadas a los dos lados del Atlántico, estudiando para ello el papel que el lugar de negociación juega en el desarrollo de un proyecto; y reexamina la actitud crítica de Le Corbusier hacia el regionalismo, mapeando su relación con una región francesa en la que nunca intervino. A través de la investigación de fuentes primarias, este artículo muestra también cómo la rivalidad, el orgullo y la ambición pueden asimismo ser auténticos desencadenantes para la acción durante el desarrollo de un proyecto.
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The increasing contradiction between " High-Architecture " and " Low-Architecture " that has been made explicit after the bursting of the " Brick-Bubble " calls for a revision of the teaching of design and history. The change in the... more
The increasing contradiction between " High-Architecture " and " Low-Architecture " that has been made explicit after the bursting of the " Brick-Bubble " calls for a revision of the teaching of design and history. The change in the European education curricula dictated by the Bologna Process (EHEA) has provided an appropriate context to implement brand new creative subjects, in which history is no longer an isolated subject narrated as facts of the past, but another tool that offers the students a framework to critically engage with the complexity of the built environment. " Idea and Form " is a recently created first-year undergraduate-program subject that interrogates how objects, buildings, cities, and landscapes are shaped focusing on the critical analysis of both their processes of creation and development. " Idea and Form " places its main focus on showing the dialectics between the creative processes and the contingencies of the everyday life, the single-handedly designed projects and the unconsciously and collectively generated realities. Based on historically grounded themes, it offers a clearly understandable theoretical foundation for the development of the different design subjects of the architectural studies curriculum, while challenging the design theories taught in architecture schools until now, primarily focused on the analysis of authored works of architecture.
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El conocimiento en arquitectura es un proceso que permanece siempre abierto; un proceso dialéctico que debe transitar de la teoría a la práctica constantemente. Y es en la obra arquitectónica-en el proyecto-donde el conocimiento permanece... more
El conocimiento en arquitectura es un proceso que permanece siempre abierto; un proceso dialéctico que debe transitar de la teoría a la práctica constantemente. Y es en la obra arquitectónica-en el proyecto-donde el conocimiento permanece disponible, a la espera de la observación del investigador. Para llegar a él, el investigador debe entrar en contacto íntimo con los documentos generadores del proyecto. Son escasas las fuentes primarias a las que tenemos acceso desde nuestras escuelas de arquitectura, lo que obliga al investigador a desplazarse y dificulta su vinculación a un grupo de trabajo. Si queremos conseguir crear masa crítica debemos reducir la distancia entre el objeto de estudio y el investigador: debemos digitalizar las fuentes. Massilia. Annuaire d'Etudes Corbuseenne nos muestra que la digitalización de las fuentes (Le Corbusier plans) puede ayudar a consolidar grupos de investigación que hagan aportaciones relevantes a la disciplina. Es ahora cuando debemos invertir y apostar por el acceso a las fuentes digitales y crear así, dentro de nuestras escuelas de arquitectura, grupos de investigadores que innoven y creen talento.
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In 1929, Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein traced the maps of his home-land's memory in Old and New (Staroie i Novoiei). Eisenstein identified the implications that a socio-political transformation such as the collectivization of the... more
In 1929, Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein traced the maps of his home-land's memory in Old and New (Staroie i Novoiei). Eisenstein identified the implications that a socio-political transformation such as the collectivization of the land could have in the territory, and mapped it through film, the new means of representation of the twentieth century. Relying on a series of moving images, Eisenstein demonstrated how an economical decision could alter the landscape, and by extension, how it could modify everything that was vernacular to its inhabitants, all that constituted their culture as they had received it generationally. Eisenstein represented this shift through the modern technique of " Montage " , an operative strategy that was able to reveal a process of change linking pairs of opposites.
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The courageous fight in the never-ending struggle for new ideas, the undiscouraged search for unity and multiplicity, together with the fearless pursuit of cooperation are some of the many different idiosyncratic qualities of the Bauhaus,... more
The courageous fight in the never-ending struggle for new ideas, the undiscouraged search for unity and multiplicity, together with the fearless pursuit of cooperation are some of the many different idiosyncratic qualities of the Bauhaus, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe foregrounded as a eulogy to Walter Gropius in the last text he published in Berlin (1969). An educational way of thinking, not exempt of controversies, that Gropius instilled and that characterized the school, during a large part of its brief and intense existence in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin (1919-1933). A crucible of ideas extended and transmitted beyond borders, which has reached in multitude of different expressions to our days.
At the origin, the well-known formative travels that Gropius made throughout Spain (1907-1908), attracted by the tradition and the ceramic crafts of the workshop schools , traced one of those first vectors that he would later conclude with his famous lecture Funktionelle Baukunst, given in Spanish in Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian (1930) and Barcelona (1932). Also legendary, is the year Mies spent working between Germany and Spain (1928-1929), a few months before becoming the third director of the Bauhaus. During that shining moment, as Mies himself would recall, the architect developed with Lilly Reich the largest exhibition project of his career, while building the German representative Pavilion that catapulted him to fame. No less significant is the choice of Hannes Meyer, its second director, to include Barcelona among the different pan-European exhibition destinations to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bauhaus (1919-1929), thereby presenting the works of art, industrial products and architectural projects developed at the school to a vast audience. Along with its three directors, Spain, during the 1920s and early 1930s, was witness to the integration between the applied and the high arts, as well as of the scalar transition that the Bauhaus had carried out, from object design to city planning.
In addition to these pioneers, various masters went to Spain for different motivations, and captured the peculiarities of a built environment they would later reflect on their work: Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee spent over a month on holiday in the Côte Basque (1929), the same summer in which Josef and Anni Albers visited Barcelona and San Sebastian. Marcel Breuer spent a sabbatical period of more than four months between Madrid, Andalusia and Barcelona (1931-1932), while Lucia Moholy considered settling down in the latter city during the same time. Furthermore, many of the Bauhaus graduates spent extended periods in Spain, such as Ernst Neufert, Paul Linder and Kürt Löwengard, who even collaborated with Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1921-1922), or the less familiar Werner Drewes, Margarete Schall and Erika Zschimmer. Years later, some Bauhaus alumni arrived to Spain as Republican combatants of the Civil War, such as Georg Adams-Telscher and Ernst Scholz.
The number of Bauhäusler that felt attracted to Spain and that accessed both its tradition and its avant-garde is notable, and for reasons as varied as the craftsmanship, the landscape, the monuments, the great masters of painting, the network of foreign trade with Latin America, or even the possibilities of development afforded during the Second Republic. Some Spanish architects such as Enrique Colás and Luis Lacasa had the opportunity to visit the Bauhaus (1922), as well as to collaborate with their maximum representatives, as is the case of Joan Baptista Subirana, who worked with Gropius in Berlin (1930-1931). Spain's participation in the 1937 Paris Exposition was key to consolidating the relationship between José Luis Sert, Breuer and Gropius that had started in the CIRPAC of Barcelona (1932). This meeting set up a full stop in the evolution of the history of the avant-gardes to start a new one outside European territory.
Conferences and exhibitions, together with new educational and cultural projects paved the way as a living estate of a tradition looking for the engagement of common settings. From Francoist Spain, its immaterial heritage seemed to be the best mainstay for artists and architects to be able to discern new horizons to start again. The replacement of Gropius with Sert as Chairman of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1953, or the well-known letter Oriol Bohigas sent to Mies in 1956 proposing the German Pavilion's reconstruction, reveal the continuity of the Bauhaus learnings inside and outside Spain, while opening new paths for its re-assessment.
On the occasion of the 100 Years of Bauhaus, the II International Conference of the Association of historians of Architecture and Urban Design will debate the architecture that embraces the double directionality of its legacy in Spain.
Communication with the general chairs and the submission of proposals and final papers will be made through the following address: congreso.bauhaus@ahau.es
At the origin, the well-known formative travels that Gropius made throughout Spain (1907-1908), attracted by the tradition and the ceramic crafts of the workshop schools , traced one of those first vectors that he would later conclude with his famous lecture Funktionelle Baukunst, given in Spanish in Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian (1930) and Barcelona (1932). Also legendary, is the year Mies spent working between Germany and Spain (1928-1929), a few months before becoming the third director of the Bauhaus. During that shining moment, as Mies himself would recall, the architect developed with Lilly Reich the largest exhibition project of his career, while building the German representative Pavilion that catapulted him to fame. No less significant is the choice of Hannes Meyer, its second director, to include Barcelona among the different pan-European exhibition destinations to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bauhaus (1919-1929), thereby presenting the works of art, industrial products and architectural projects developed at the school to a vast audience. Along with its three directors, Spain, during the 1920s and early 1930s, was witness to the integration between the applied and the high arts, as well as of the scalar transition that the Bauhaus had carried out, from object design to city planning.
In addition to these pioneers, various masters went to Spain for different motivations, and captured the peculiarities of a built environment they would later reflect on their work: Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee spent over a month on holiday in the Côte Basque (1929), the same summer in which Josef and Anni Albers visited Barcelona and San Sebastian. Marcel Breuer spent a sabbatical period of more than four months between Madrid, Andalusia and Barcelona (1931-1932), while Lucia Moholy considered settling down in the latter city during the same time. Furthermore, many of the Bauhaus graduates spent extended periods in Spain, such as Ernst Neufert, Paul Linder and Kürt Löwengard, who even collaborated with Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1921-1922), or the less familiar Werner Drewes, Margarete Schall and Erika Zschimmer. Years later, some Bauhaus alumni arrived to Spain as Republican combatants of the Civil War, such as Georg Adams-Telscher and Ernst Scholz.
The number of Bauhäusler that felt attracted to Spain and that accessed both its tradition and its avant-garde is notable, and for reasons as varied as the craftsmanship, the landscape, the monuments, the great masters of painting, the network of foreign trade with Latin America, or even the possibilities of development afforded during the Second Republic. Some Spanish architects such as Enrique Colás and Luis Lacasa had the opportunity to visit the Bauhaus (1922), as well as to collaborate with their maximum representatives, as is the case of Joan Baptista Subirana, who worked with Gropius in Berlin (1930-1931). Spain's participation in the 1937 Paris Exposition was key to consolidating the relationship between José Luis Sert, Breuer and Gropius that had started in the CIRPAC of Barcelona (1932). This meeting set up a full stop in the evolution of the history of the avant-gardes to start a new one outside European territory.
Conferences and exhibitions, together with new educational and cultural projects paved the way as a living estate of a tradition looking for the engagement of common settings. From Francoist Spain, its immaterial heritage seemed to be the best mainstay for artists and architects to be able to discern new horizons to start again. The replacement of Gropius with Sert as Chairman of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1953, or the well-known letter Oriol Bohigas sent to Mies in 1956 proposing the German Pavilion's reconstruction, reveal the continuity of the Bauhaus learnings inside and outside Spain, while opening new paths for its re-assessment.
On the occasion of the 100 Years of Bauhaus, the II International Conference of the Association of historians of Architecture and Urban Design will debate the architecture that embraces the double directionality of its legacy in Spain.
Communication with the general chairs and the submission of proposals and final papers will be made through the following address: congreso.bauhaus@ahau.es
La inagotable batalla en defensa de las nuevas ideas, la persistente búsqueda de la unidad y la multiplicidad, junto a la firme apuesta por la cooperación son algunas de las muy distintas cualidades que definieron a la Bauhaus y que... more
La inagotable batalla en defensa de las nuevas ideas, la persistente búsqueda de la unidad y la multiplicidad, junto a la firme apuesta por la cooperación son algunas de las muy distintas cualidades que definieron a la Bauhaus y que Ludwig Mies van der Rohe destacó como elegía a Walter Gropius en su texto publicado en Berlín (1969). Una as-piración educativa, no exenta de polémicas, que Gropius inculcó y que caracterizó a la escuela durante gran parte de su breve e intensa existencia en Weimar, Dessau y Berlín (1919-1933). Un crisol de ideas extendidas y transmitidas más allá de las fronteras, que ha llegado en muy diversas expresiones hasta nuestros días.
En el origen, el conocido viaje de formación que Gropius realizó a España (1907-1908) atraído por la tradición de las escuelas taller y su artesanía cerámica, trazaría uno de esos primeros vectores, que concluiría más tarde con su famosa conferencia Funktionelle Baukunst dictada en castellano en Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastián (1930) y Barcelona (1932). Es famoso también el año que Mies pasó trabajando entre Alemania y España (1928-1929), meses antes de convertirse en el tercer director de la Bauhaus. Durante aquel momento brillante, como él mismo recordaría, el arquitecto realizó junto a Lilly Reich el proyecto expositivo más grande de su carrera, al tiempo que construyó el Pabellón representativo alemán que le catapultaría a la fama. No menos significativo es que Hannes Meyer, su segundo director, incluyera Barcelona entre los destinos de las exposiciones pan-europeas para celebrar el 10º aniversario de la Bauhaus (1919-1929) y presentar al gran público las obras de arte, los productos industriales y los proyectos arquitectónicos realizados en la escuela. De la mano de sus tres directores, España fue durante los años 20 y primeros años 30 testigo de la integración de las artes aplicadas y las artes mayores, así como del tránsito escalar que había realizado la Bauhaus desde el diseño de objetos al planeamiento de la ciudad.
Además de los pioneros, los maestros también acudieron a España por distintos motivos, captando así las particularidades de un entorno construido que reflejarían más tarde en su obra: Vassily Kandinsky y Paul Klee estuvieron más de un mes de vacaciones en la Costa Vasca (1929), el mismo verano en que Josef y Anni Albers visitaron Barcelona y San Sebastián. Marcel Breuer pasó un período sabático de más de cuatro meses entre Madrid, Andalucía y Barcelona (1931-1932), mientras Lucia Moholy conside-ró establecerse en la ciudad condal durante la misma época. A su vez, muchos de los estudiantes de la Bauhaus tuvieron prolongadas estancias en España, como es el conocido caso de Ernst Neufert, Paul Linder y Kürt Löwengard, que llegaron incluso a colaborar con Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1921-1922) o los menos analizados de Werner Drewes, Margarete Schall y Erika Zschimmer. Años después, algunos de sus ex-alumnos llegarían a España como combatientes republicanos durante la Guerra Civil, como Georg Adams-Telscher y Ernst Scholz.
Es notable el número de Bauhäusler que se sintieron atraídos por España y que entraron en contacto con su tradición y su vanguardia, por cuestiones tan distintas como la artesanía, el paisaje, los monumentos, los grandes maestros de la pintura, la red de comercio exterior con América Latina, e incluso las posibilidades de desarrollo brindadas durante la Segunda República. Algunos arquitectos españoles, como Enrique Colás y Luis Lacasa, tuvieron ocasión de visitar la Bauhaus (1922), así como también de colabo-rar con sus máximos representantes, como es el caso de Joan Baptista Subirana, que trabajó en Berlín con Gropius (1930-1931). La participación de España en la Exposición Internacional de París en 1937 fue decisiva para afianzar el contacto que se había iniciado ya entre José Luis Sert, Breuer y Gropius durante el CIRPAC de Barcelona (1932). Marcaba un punto y final en el devenir de la historia de las vanguardias para iniciar otro ya fuera de los territorios europeos.
Congresos, exposiciones, a la vez que nuevos proyectos educativos y culturales se abrían paso como reflejo vivo de una tradición que buscaba la complicidad de en-tornos que le fueran afines. Desde la España franquista, su herencia inmaterial se brindaba como la mejor fuga para que artistas y arquitectos vislumbraran horizontes que les permitieran volver a empezar. El relevo en 1953 de Sert a Gropius como Chairman de arquitectura de la Graduate School of Design de Harvard, o la conocida carta de Oriol Bohigas a Mies en 1956 proponiendo la reconstrucción del Pabellón alemán, hacen visible la continuidad de las enseñanzas de la Bauhaus dentro y fuera de España al tiempo que abren nuevas vías para su revaluación.
Con motivo del centenario de la Bauhaus, es la arquitectura que acoge esta doble direccionalidad de su legado en España la que se pretende debatir en el II Congreso Interna-cional de la Asociación de historiadores de la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo.
En el origen, el conocido viaje de formación que Gropius realizó a España (1907-1908) atraído por la tradición de las escuelas taller y su artesanía cerámica, trazaría uno de esos primeros vectores, que concluiría más tarde con su famosa conferencia Funktionelle Baukunst dictada en castellano en Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastián (1930) y Barcelona (1932). Es famoso también el año que Mies pasó trabajando entre Alemania y España (1928-1929), meses antes de convertirse en el tercer director de la Bauhaus. Durante aquel momento brillante, como él mismo recordaría, el arquitecto realizó junto a Lilly Reich el proyecto expositivo más grande de su carrera, al tiempo que construyó el Pabellón representativo alemán que le catapultaría a la fama. No menos significativo es que Hannes Meyer, su segundo director, incluyera Barcelona entre los destinos de las exposiciones pan-europeas para celebrar el 10º aniversario de la Bauhaus (1919-1929) y presentar al gran público las obras de arte, los productos industriales y los proyectos arquitectónicos realizados en la escuela. De la mano de sus tres directores, España fue durante los años 20 y primeros años 30 testigo de la integración de las artes aplicadas y las artes mayores, así como del tránsito escalar que había realizado la Bauhaus desde el diseño de objetos al planeamiento de la ciudad.
Además de los pioneros, los maestros también acudieron a España por distintos motivos, captando así las particularidades de un entorno construido que reflejarían más tarde en su obra: Vassily Kandinsky y Paul Klee estuvieron más de un mes de vacaciones en la Costa Vasca (1929), el mismo verano en que Josef y Anni Albers visitaron Barcelona y San Sebastián. Marcel Breuer pasó un período sabático de más de cuatro meses entre Madrid, Andalucía y Barcelona (1931-1932), mientras Lucia Moholy conside-ró establecerse en la ciudad condal durante la misma época. A su vez, muchos de los estudiantes de la Bauhaus tuvieron prolongadas estancias en España, como es el conocido caso de Ernst Neufert, Paul Linder y Kürt Löwengard, que llegaron incluso a colaborar con Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1921-1922) o los menos analizados de Werner Drewes, Margarete Schall y Erika Zschimmer. Años después, algunos de sus ex-alumnos llegarían a España como combatientes republicanos durante la Guerra Civil, como Georg Adams-Telscher y Ernst Scholz.
Es notable el número de Bauhäusler que se sintieron atraídos por España y que entraron en contacto con su tradición y su vanguardia, por cuestiones tan distintas como la artesanía, el paisaje, los monumentos, los grandes maestros de la pintura, la red de comercio exterior con América Latina, e incluso las posibilidades de desarrollo brindadas durante la Segunda República. Algunos arquitectos españoles, como Enrique Colás y Luis Lacasa, tuvieron ocasión de visitar la Bauhaus (1922), así como también de colabo-rar con sus máximos representantes, como es el caso de Joan Baptista Subirana, que trabajó en Berlín con Gropius (1930-1931). La participación de España en la Exposición Internacional de París en 1937 fue decisiva para afianzar el contacto que se había iniciado ya entre José Luis Sert, Breuer y Gropius durante el CIRPAC de Barcelona (1932). Marcaba un punto y final en el devenir de la historia de las vanguardias para iniciar otro ya fuera de los territorios europeos.
Congresos, exposiciones, a la vez que nuevos proyectos educativos y culturales se abrían paso como reflejo vivo de una tradición que buscaba la complicidad de en-tornos que le fueran afines. Desde la España franquista, su herencia inmaterial se brindaba como la mejor fuga para que artistas y arquitectos vislumbraran horizontes que les permitieran volver a empezar. El relevo en 1953 de Sert a Gropius como Chairman de arquitectura de la Graduate School of Design de Harvard, o la conocida carta de Oriol Bohigas a Mies en 1956 proponiendo la reconstrucción del Pabellón alemán, hacen visible la continuidad de las enseñanzas de la Bauhaus dentro y fuera de España al tiempo que abren nuevas vías para su revaluación.
Con motivo del centenario de la Bauhaus, es la arquitectura que acoge esta doble direccionalidad de su legado en España la que se pretende debatir en el II Congreso Interna-cional de la Asociación de historiadores de la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo.
Research Interests:
The courageous fight in the never-ending struggle for new ideas, the undiscouraged search for unity and multiplicity, together with the fearless pursuit of cooperation are some of the many different idiosyncratic qualities of the Bauhaus,... more
The courageous fight in the never-ending struggle for new ideas, the undiscouraged search for unity and multiplicity, together with the fearless pursuit of cooperation are some of the many different idiosyncratic qualities of the Bauhaus, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe foregrounded as a eulogy to Walter Gropius in the last text he published in Berlin (1969). An educational way of thinking, not exempt of controversies, that Gropius instilled and that characterized the school, during a large part of its brief and intense existence in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin (1919-1933). A crucible of ideas extended and transmitted beyond borders, which has reached in multitude of different expressions to our days.
At the origin, the well-known formative travels that Gropius made throughout Spain (1907-1908), attracted by the tradition and the ceramic crafts of the workshop schools , traced one of those first vectors that he would later conclude with his famous lecture Funktionelle Baukunst, given in Spanish in Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian (1930) and Barcelona (1932). Also legendary, is the year Mies spent working between Germany and Spain (1928-1929), a few months before becoming the third director of the Bauhaus. During that shining moment, as Mies himself would recall, the architect developed with Lilly Reich the largest exhibition project of his career, while building the German representative Pavilion that catapulted him to fame. No less significant is the choice of Hannes Meyer, its second director, to include Barcelona among the different pan-European exhibition destinations to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bauhaus (1919-1929), thereby presenting the works of art, industrial products and architectural projects developed at the school to a vast audience. Along with its three directors, Spain, during the 1920s and early 1930s, was witness to the integration between the applied and the high arts, as well as of the scalar transition that the Bauhaus had carried out, from object design to city planning.
In addition to these pioneers, various masters went to Spain for different motivations, and captured the peculiarities of a built environment they would later reflect on their work: Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee spent over a month on holiday in the Côte Basque (1929), the same summer in which Josef and Anni Albers visited Barcelona and San Sebastian. Marcel Breuer spent a sabbatical period of more than four months between Madrid, Andalusia and Barcelona (1931-1932), while Lucia Moholy considered settling down in the latter city during the same time. Furthermore, many of the Bauhaus graduates spent extended periods in Spain, such as Ernst Neufert, Paul Linder and Kürt Löwengard, who even collaborated with Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1921-1922), or the less familiar Werner Drewes, Margarete Schall and Erika Zschimmer. Years later, some Bauhaus alumni arrived to Spain as Republican combatants of the Civil War, such as Georg Adams-Telscher and Ernst Scholz.
The number of Bauhäusler that felt attracted to Spain and that accessed both its tradition and its avant-garde is notable, and for reasons as varied as the craftsmanship, the landscape, the monuments, the great masters of painting, the network of foreign trade with Latin America, or even the possibilities of development afforded during the Second Republic. Some Spanish architects such as Enrique Colás and Luis Lacasa had the opportunity to visit the Bauhaus (1922), as well as to collaborate with their maximum representatives, as is the case of Joan Baptista Subirana, who worked with Gropius in Berlin (1930-1931). Spain's participation in the 1937 Paris Exposition was key to consolidating the relationship between José Luis Sert, Breuer and Gropius that had started in the CIRPAC of Barcelona (1932). This meeting set up a full stop in the evolution of the history of the avant-gardes to start a new one outside European territory.
Conferences and exhibitions, together with new educational and cultural projects paved the way as a living estate of a tradition looking for the engagement of common settings. From Francoist Spain, its immaterial heritage seemed to be the best mainstay for artists and architects to be able to discern new horizons to start again. The replacement of Gropius with Sert as Chairman of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1953, or the well-known letter Oriol Bohigas sent to Mies in 1956 proposing the German Pavilion's reconstruction, reveal the continuity of the Bauhaus learnings inside and outside Spain, while opening new paths for its re-assessment.
At the origin, the well-known formative travels that Gropius made throughout Spain (1907-1908), attracted by the tradition and the ceramic crafts of the workshop schools , traced one of those first vectors that he would later conclude with his famous lecture Funktionelle Baukunst, given in Spanish in Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian (1930) and Barcelona (1932). Also legendary, is the year Mies spent working between Germany and Spain (1928-1929), a few months before becoming the third director of the Bauhaus. During that shining moment, as Mies himself would recall, the architect developed with Lilly Reich the largest exhibition project of his career, while building the German representative Pavilion that catapulted him to fame. No less significant is the choice of Hannes Meyer, its second director, to include Barcelona among the different pan-European exhibition destinations to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bauhaus (1919-1929), thereby presenting the works of art, industrial products and architectural projects developed at the school to a vast audience. Along with its three directors, Spain, during the 1920s and early 1930s, was witness to the integration between the applied and the high arts, as well as of the scalar transition that the Bauhaus had carried out, from object design to city planning.
In addition to these pioneers, various masters went to Spain for different motivations, and captured the peculiarities of a built environment they would later reflect on their work: Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee spent over a month on holiday in the Côte Basque (1929), the same summer in which Josef and Anni Albers visited Barcelona and San Sebastian. Marcel Breuer spent a sabbatical period of more than four months between Madrid, Andalusia and Barcelona (1931-1932), while Lucia Moholy considered settling down in the latter city during the same time. Furthermore, many of the Bauhaus graduates spent extended periods in Spain, such as Ernst Neufert, Paul Linder and Kürt Löwengard, who even collaborated with Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1921-1922), or the less familiar Werner Drewes, Margarete Schall and Erika Zschimmer. Years later, some Bauhaus alumni arrived to Spain as Republican combatants of the Civil War, such as Georg Adams-Telscher and Ernst Scholz.
The number of Bauhäusler that felt attracted to Spain and that accessed both its tradition and its avant-garde is notable, and for reasons as varied as the craftsmanship, the landscape, the monuments, the great masters of painting, the network of foreign trade with Latin America, or even the possibilities of development afforded during the Second Republic. Some Spanish architects such as Enrique Colás and Luis Lacasa had the opportunity to visit the Bauhaus (1922), as well as to collaborate with their maximum representatives, as is the case of Joan Baptista Subirana, who worked with Gropius in Berlin (1930-1931). Spain's participation in the 1937 Paris Exposition was key to consolidating the relationship between José Luis Sert, Breuer and Gropius that had started in the CIRPAC of Barcelona (1932). This meeting set up a full stop in the evolution of the history of the avant-gardes to start a new one outside European territory.
Conferences and exhibitions, together with new educational and cultural projects paved the way as a living estate of a tradition looking for the engagement of common settings. From Francoist Spain, its immaterial heritage seemed to be the best mainstay for artists and architects to be able to discern new horizons to start again. The replacement of Gropius with Sert as Chairman of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1953, or the well-known letter Oriol Bohigas sent to Mies in 1956 proposing the German Pavilion's reconstruction, reveal the continuity of the Bauhaus learnings inside and outside Spain, while opening new paths for its re-assessment.