Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 77 MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO

Cover with Jorge Oteiza's "Escultura para la capilla MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO de la Escuela profesional de Buitrago, 1972-73," in Nueva Forma 89 (June 1973).

It was in the 1960s when architects inter- and Barcelona were mainly the two cities ested in organizing the past had enough represented, probably because there were historical perspective to present differ- only two schools of architecture in those BILBAO ent narratives for Spanish modern archi- years, one in each city. Therefore, the most tecture. The different books published relevant journals of architecture were also throughout this decade documented build- published in those cities: Revista Nacional AND THE ings that were clearly influenced by the lan- de Arquitectura (later called Arquitectura) guage of the International Style. Many of in Madrid, and Cuadernos de Arquitec- these buildings are now regarded as mas- tura (later called Cuadernos de Arquitec- terful examples of Spanish architecture tura y Urbanismo) in Barcelona. In 1966, a MAGAZINE culture. The main scope of these books new magazine of art and architecture titled was style, with the aim to document—es- Nueva Forma started to publish. It is re- pecially through photographs—and dem- markable that architects from the Basque NUEVA onstrate that modernity was a reality in Country, and also Navarre, had significant Spain. At the same time, geographical as- roles in much of its issues. The director and pects were latent, but not explicit, in the editors of Nueva Forma identified this terri- organization of those books, essentially tory as a third cultural area of Spain, high- FORMA because of the location of the buildings lighting the history and the architecture of Essay by Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno and Elena Martínez-Litago that were selected to be published. Madrid the city of Bilbao. Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 77 MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO

Fig.1 Covers of: El Inmueble, March 1966, n.2; Forma Nueva- El Inmueble, April 1967, n.15; Forma Nueva- El Inmueble, August 1967, n.19; Nueva Forma, December 1967-January 1968, n.23-24.

Editors, Title, and Director others. They also promoted experimental of magazine in Spain. His new commitment time did not allow two magazines to share In 1967, Juan Huarte Beaumont acquired a initiatives such as the cinema producer X- was not only to promote art and architec- the first word of their titles. Consequently, new little periodical titled El Inmueble that Films and the electronic and acoustic mu- ture, but also their spread throughout the the title was changed once again to its final had started publishing a year earlier and sic group ALEA. The family owned several media. version, Nueva Forma. The subtitle of the was being run by the Spanish poet Gabino building construction companies: Huarte During the first year, Huarte’s magazine magazine was also changed, from “arqui- Alejandro Carriedo. Juan Huarte was the & Cía, HISA, and Imenasa. These compa- enjoyed several titles. Originally called El tectura, decoración, hogar” (architecture, son of Félix Huarte, the head of a remark- nies were in charge of the construction of Inmueble, it was changed to Forma Nueva- decoration, home) to “arquitectura, ur- able family in the Spanish history of art remarkable architectural projects that were El Inmueble a few months later, becoming banismo, diseño, ambientes, arte. Madrid- and architecture. They were originally from later considered masterpieces of Spanish Nueva Forma, its final name, in September Barcelona-Bilbao” (architecture, urbanism, Navarre, but most of their companies and Modern Architecture, such as the Frontón of 1967. There is not a clear consensus re- design, environment, art. Madrid-Barce- businesses were based in Madrid. They Recoletos, designed by Secundino Zuazo garding these changes. The original maga- lona-Bilbao) (fig.1). Finally, the person in supported and funded the development of and Eduardo Torroja (1935-1936), and the zine had a section about design, furniture, charge of the magazine also changed. The modern art and design in Spain, especially housing block Torres Blancas, designed and decoration titled Forma Nueva. This architect Juan Daniel Fullaondo, originally in the 1950s, becoming one of the most by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza (1960- section grew to become very significant, from Bilbao, became the main director of relevant families in the country. They spon- 1968).1 Juan Huarte admired the work of so its name was included in the title of the Nueva Forma in September of 1967, lasting sored the early work of remarkable Span- the Italian entrepreneur Adriano Olivetti magazine. This second title, Forma Nueva- until April of 1975 when the magazine finally ish artists, such as the Basque sculptors and the magazine Zodiac, of which he was El Inmueble, was problematic due to the closed. The fact that Bilbao was included in Jorge Oteiza and Eduardo Chillida, and the in charge. Probably inspired by this, Juan existence of Loewe’s magazine Forma. It the new subtitle and that the new director Madrilean painter Pablo Palazuelo, among Huarte’s aim was to establish a similar kind seems that the Spanish regulations at the was also from Bilbao—although working Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 79 MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO

Fig.2 Covers of the four issues of Nueva Forma that analyze the history of the city of Bilbao: Nueva Forma 34 (November 1968), Nueva Forma 35 (December 1968), Nueva Forma 36 (January 1969), and Nueva Forma 37 (February 1969. and living in Madrid—were not anecdotal Bilbao, its Architecture and Architects planning of Bilbao, from prehistoric settle- tential that grew along the Nervión River decisions. Fullaondo and Huarte shared the In June of 1967, Juan Daniel Fullaondo pub- ments to modern developments.3 Through- with mindful respect for the landscape. The desire of positioning this territory as a cul- lished an essay about Bilbao in the maga- out the discussion, Fullaondo highlighted second chapter presented an architectural tural reference in Spain. It was not casual, zine Arquitectura, the main architecture three relevant moments in history that analysis of the city.5 Fullaondo focused on either, that the cover of the first issue run magazine in Madrid. He summarized the transformed this city: the nineteenth cen- the cultural backwardness of Spain in com- by Fullaondo was a portrait of the Basque history of the urban development of the tury urban expansion, the “Conferencia parison with the rest of Europe due to the sculptor Jorge Oteiza. city as a way to praise and discuss the end de la Bastida” in 1923, and the new plan Civil War (1936-1939) and the economical of the urban planning for Asua Valley, a new of 1943, which was directly related with crisis that followed. He also discussed the important urban expansion for the city de- the urban expansion of Asua Valley. Ful- historicist and eclectic architecture that signed in 1962.2 This article was the starting laondo’s writing not only showed a critical still persisted in some areas of the country. point for a series of articles later published interpretation of these designs, but also Nevertheless, he presented an organization in four special issues of Nueva Forma, from questioned previous readings from histori- of the past using Ortega y Gasset’s idea of November of 1968 until February of 1969. ans such as Caro Baroja and Leopoldo Tor- the “Generation” creating a genealogy of Issues 34 to 37 were entirely dedicated to res Balbás.4 This fact was important so that outstanding local architects whose work examining the history and the architecture the readers could appreciate the writers was essential to understand the develop- culture of Bilbao (fig.2). who previously had valued the relevance of ment of the city. The writing first discussed The first chapter of issue 34, “Análisis the city. In doing so, Fullaondo essentially the pioneer career of the engineer and ar- Urbanístico,” documented and discussed presented to the reader a maritime city with chitect Alberto del Palacio, who invented the main historical decisions of the urban a remarkable industrial and commercial po- the suspension-transported bridge, the Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 81

Fig.3 Santiago Amón, “Universo y poética de Al- MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO berto del Palacio,” in Nueva Forma 60-61 (January- February 1971): 54-55; Alberto del Palacio’s suspension-transporter Bridge of Bizkaia (1893); Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “Análisis Urbanístico,” in La arquitectura y el urbanismo de la región y el entorno de Bilbao 1 (Madrid, Alfaguara, 1969), 231.

first being Bridge of Bizkaia (1893). This de- longs to the same circle. The idea of a gen- and regional architecture that they could regarding architectural culture, as it was sign would later influence other engineers, eration, therefore, does not imply anything not be consider modern architects (fig.4). the case for the rest of Spain. In his own such as the French Ferdinand Arnodin who more than these two factors: to be of the In contrast, the following generation was words, “most of the buildings constructed became internationally renowned because same age, and to have some kind of vital quite remarkable due to their clear affinity in the early forties [were] not part of the his- of his cableway bridges. In 1971, Nueva contact.6 with the European new architecture.8 Mario tory of architecture.”9 Only a few examples Forma edited a special issue (issue 60-61) The second issue, “Bilbao 2,” was a Camuña, Secundino Zuazo, Pedro Ispizua, could be highlighted for following modern about the life and career of Del Palacio, as wide study about the regional architec- Tomás Bilbao, Manuel Galíndez, and Luis principals. The Santamarina Sanatorium de- a vindication of his pioneer yet unknown ture of Bilbao. According to Fullaondo, Vallejo were architects who showed a spe- signed by Eugenio Aquinaga in 1942 was an work. This issue discussed his designs as it was necessary to understand its long cial interest in German expressionism and example of a building that overcame the na- civil engineering decisions that influenced tradition due to the relevance of its build- the architecture lead by Eric Mendelsohn. tional and collective interest for historicism the landscape of the city, consequently ing construction system used in the archi- Among others, Fullaondo highlighted three (fig.5), looking for international references, changing the understanding that people tecture built in the city during the first two projects as the most representative of this particularly in Finnish architecture and the had of the Nervión River (fig.3). decades of the twentieth century. Names generation: the houses of Tomás Bilbao in work of Alvar Aalto. Continuing with Fulla- In subsequent issues, Fullaondo dis- such as Manuel María Smith, José Luis de Indauchu (1934), the Briñas School of Pe- ondo’s genealogy, José Chapa, Francisco cussed the career and work of four gen- Oriol, Ángel Líbano, Guimón Bastida, and dro Ispizua (1932-1933), and the Equitativa Hurtado de Saracho, Álvaro Líbano, and erations of local architects who shared Emiliano Ammann were part of this first building of Manuel Galindez (1932). Rafael Aburto would be the following gen- architecture cultural values. According to generation of Basque architects.7 Despite Despite the high quality of the second eration, the third generation of Basque ar- Ortega, a generation was a whole group, their historical relevance, their architec- generation of Basque architects, Fullaondo chitects who mainly worked in the 1950s.10 which is coetaneous and lives in and be- ture was still so influenced by traditional considered the 1940s as a step backwards All of them could be considered modern Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 83 MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO

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Fig.4 Manuel María Smith, from the “first generation“ of Basque Fig.5 "Santa Marina Sanatorium in Bilbao (1942)," by Eugenio architects, in Nueva Forma 35 (December 1968): 63. Aguinaga, in Nueva Forma 36 (January 1969): 11. Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 85

Fig.6 Housing building in Alameda de Mazarredo, MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO Bilbao (1965-1967), by Fernando Olabarría and Juan Daniel Fullaondo, in Nueva Forma 37 (February 1969): 56.

Fig.7 Cover of the issue about Rafael Aburto, in Nueva Forma 99 (April 1974), and the issue about José Luis and Felix Iñiguez de Onzoño and Antonio Vázquez de Castro, in Nueva Forma 102-103 (July- August 1974).

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and, in particular, rationalist. All of them life. This was the main characteristic of the Once Nueva Forma published these four nicos Españoles para la Arquitectura Con- were clearly influenced by the masterpieces forth generation that was also represented volumes about the history and architectural temporánea), a group close to the ideals of of Le Corbusier and Giusseppe Terragni, by other architects such as Rufino Basáñez, culture of the city of Bilbao, the magazine the CIAM. Among other projects, the Club among others. The 1950s were years in Fernando Olabarría, Miguel de Oriol, and continued publishing special issues on Náutico (Donostia, 1929-30) stands out. which a large number of social housing de- Fullaondo himself (fig.6). In pointing out the career and work of Basque architects Built in partnership with Joaquín Labayen, velopments were constructed, in response organicism as the main influence of these and artists. These volumes were the first it is considered a masterpiece of Span- to the need to build inexpensive dwellings architects, Fullaondo was influenced by monographs that compiled their careers ish Modern Architecture and was the only due to the devastation caused by the Civil the writings of the Italian historian and crit- and the work of all of them. From the last Spanish project to be featured in Henry- War. Fullaondo considered the new de- ic Bruno Zevi. He argued for a synthesis of two generations, Nueva Forma published Russel Hitchcock and Philip Johnson's velopment of Caño Roto in Madrid (1957- the history of art and architecture based on monographs about Rafael Aburto (issue 99 well-known book The International Style.12 1968) as the turning point for a new genera- successive cycles of creativity and regres- in 1974), and José Luis Íñiguez de Onzoño (fig.8) In 1973, issue 90-91 was dedicated tion of architects whose work evolved into sion, a vision that he inherited from his main and Antonio Vázquez de Castro (issue 102- to the career and work of Teodoro Ana- the framework of organicism.11 The Basque philosophical influence, Benedetto Croce. 103 in 1974) (fig.7). Other architects who sagasti and Víctor Eusa from Bizkaia and architects José Luis Íñiguez de Onzoño Therefore, organic architecture was a pro- were not from Bilbao but from other areas Navarre, respectively (fig.9). Fullaondo and Antonio Vázquez de Castro, the au- gression from rationalism, a positive evolu- of the Basque Country and Navarre also considered both of them as examples of thors of Caño Roto, did not believe in lim- tion that transcended the linguistic canons had special issues on their work. In 1969, the influence of German expressionism in iting architecture to the formal dictates of of orthodox functionalism to inspire the cre- issue 40 was dedicated to José Manuel the architecture of the 1930s. Along with the Modern Movement. Their architectural ative spirit of the author, which in his opin- Aizpurúa, the leader of the Northern Group these issues, younger architects, with goal was to serve the human needs of daily ion had been bound and corseted. of the GATEPAC (Grupo de Arstistas y Téc- short but promising careers, were also Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 87 MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO

considered for special volumes, such as owned by the Huarte family—published Luis Peña Ganchegui from Donostia, and both books under the title: La arquitectura Fernando Redón, Rafael Moneo, and Patxi y el urbanismo de la región y el entorno de Biurrum, from Navarre. In underlining the Bilbao 1 (1969) and La arquitectura y los ar- culture of the Basque Country, Nueva For- quitectos de la región y el entorno de Bil- ma also published special issues on the bao II (1971). work of Basque artists. The most outstanding were the sculptors Jorge Oteiza and Eduardo Chillida (fig.10). Other youngest Basque artists who were in close contact with Oteiza and Chillida also had articles and issues published by Nueva Forma, in- cluding Nestor Basterrechea, Agustín Ibar- rola, and José Antonio Sistiaga. While he was in charge of the magazine, Fullaondo published two books that compiled and extended with better photo essays most of the documentation about Bilbao already Fig.8 Cover of the issue about José Manuel Aizpurúa, and letter by discussed. The editorial Alfaguara—also Jorge Oteiza , in Nueva Forma 40 (May 1969): 3. Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma 89 MAS CONTEXT / 30-31 / BILBAO

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Fig.9 Cover of the issue about Teodoro Anasagasti and Víctor Eusa, in Nueva Forma 90-91 (July-August Fig.10 Cover with Jorge Oteiza's, "La desocupación de la esfera, 1973); "Casino Eslava, 1931," by Víctor Eusa, in Nueva Forma 68 (September 1971): 18-19. 1957," in Forma Nueva- el Inmueble 14 (March 1967).

Toward a Third Cultural Area young Basque architects such as Basañez Endnotes Fullaondo’s writings always accepted Ma- or Larrea, despite the fact that there was 1 Javier Martínez González and Marta García 7 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “La Primera Alonso, “Building Modern Spain: Some Generación,” in Nueva Forma 35 drid and Barcelona as the main areas of ar- not a real school of architecture in these Notes on Huarte y Cía,” in Nuts & Bolts of (December 1968): 67. chitectural culture in Spain. Nevertheless, years.13 Thus, this amount of writings is Construction History. Culture, Technology 8 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “La Generación the amount of articles and special issues also a manifestation of the editor’s concern and Society, vol. II, eds. Carvais, R., et al. de Zuazo,” in Nueva Forma 35 (Paris: Picard, 2012), 99-106. (December 1968): 75. about the work and career of architects about spreading the architectural culture of 2 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “Bilbao: Historia 9 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “La Tercera from the Basque Country and Navarre is the Basque Country and Navarre through- urbanística,” in Arquitectura 102 (June Generación,” in Nueva Forma 36 an expression of his interest in pointing out the rest of Spain, and especially in Ma- 1967): 27-36. (January 1969): 10. 3 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “Bilbao: Análisis 10 Ibid. out this area as the third cultural outstand- drid where the magazine was published. Urbanístico,” in Nueva Forma 34 (November 11 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “La Generación ing territory of the country. Nueva Forma 1968): 5-81. actual,” in Nueva Forma 37 (February became a magazine where all these archi- 4 Leopoldo Torres Balbás, “La edad media,” 1969): 4. in Resumen histórico del urbanismo en 12 Henry Russel Hitchcock and Phillip tects and artist found a shared platform España (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios de Johnson, The International Style (New to see their work interpreted as a whole. Administración Local, 1968), 1-107. York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1932). It was necessary as a way to defeat the 5 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “Bilbao: Análisis 13 Juan Daniel Fullaondo, “Rufino Arquitectónico,” in Nueva Forma 34 Basáñez,” in Nueva Forma 37 (February feeling of being a disarticulated number (November 1968): 82-118. 1969): 35. of individuals who did not have a common 6 José Ortega y Gasset, “La idea de las way to express their ideals. It is remarkable generaciones” in J. Ortega y Gasset, En torno a Galileo (Madrid: Revista de that in some writings, Fullaondo used the Occidente, 1967), 51-52; 1st edition, En torno term ‘School of Bilbao’ as a way to identify a Galileo (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1962).