84 Ignacio Paricio Ignacio Mannino Edgardo GATCPAC drawings Architectural ©el globus vermell (Arxiu Històric del COAC) de Catalunya d’Arquitectes Sindicat ©Fons Fundació Joan Miró Lluís Sert, Josep ©Arxiu Photos textuals) (serveis la correccional English translation de Barcelona del Disseny Museu Fundació Joan Miró the support of With el globus vermell Concept and texts Guide-Map Lluís Sert and GATCPAC Josep in Barcelona Architecture Avant-garde 3701 36 99112 Fundació Joan Fundació Joan Miró Miró Joan Fundació by organized Visits and reservations: Information 93 443 94 79 Tel. 10 am to 2 pm) to Friday, (Monday [email protected] www.fmirobcn.org of the Spanish Republic Pavilion vermell el globus by organized Visits and reservations: Information [email protected] www.elglobusvermell.org © texts and images: the authors © texts 2016 de Barcelona, Ajuntament © edition: All rights reserved Reina Sofía Arte de Centro Nacional Museo del COAC, Arxiu Històric Lluís Sert, Josep Arxiu Paricio, Ignacio Mannino, Edgardo Freixa, Jaume Mario Corea, Rossend Casanova, Acknowledgments , we GATCPAC GATCPAC and Avant-garde Avant-garde Architecture in Barcelona Lluís Sert Josep and Josep Lluís Sert Josep GUIDED VISITS about the architecture nd out more fi To of Casa Bloc Museu by organized Visits de Barcelona del Disseny and reservations: Information Friday, to 93 256 68 01 (Tuesday Tel. 3 pm to 5 pm) Thursday, 10 am to 1 pm and [email protected] museudeldisseny.barcelona.cat Macià Plan (1932-1934) invite you to sign up for any of the guided any to sign up for you invite buildings the following for visits offered GATCPAC In the fi rst half of the 1930s the Generalitat of Catalunya The GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Techni- cities and residential buildings. time to be reactivated after the Civil War, and it was not was a government committed to addressing social needs. cians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) On an urban scale they proposed the Macià Plan (1932- until 1951 that Grup R would be founded, a collective Avant-garde At that time more modest neighbourhoods in cities like was comprised of a group of young, ambitious architects 1934), a new urban plan for the city of Barcelona devel- that brought together architects from a broad span of Barcelona had serious hygiene and health problems, and who took a belligerent stance against the dominant oped along with Le Corbusier. The plan sought to rethink generations (Oriol Bohigas, José Antonio Coderch, Josep the government of the Republic considered it urgent and architectural style in the country in the 1920s, striving Cerdà’s Eixample Plan with the goal of responding to the Martorell and Antoni de Moragas, amongst others) with Architecture necessary to emphasize policies for social and urban to rethink twentieth century Catalan architecture in social needs of the moment and clean up the historic the idea of continuing the GATCPAC legacy and forging betterment. general. It was no coincidence that a few months before centre. It also proposed improving communication with international ties anew. The delegates of GATCPAC in Athens (1933) The Generalitat commissioned various projects to the the start of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition the beaches on the Llobregat Delta as part of the study in Barcelona GATCPAC, a group of architects who introduced the crite- an exhibit on the group was inaugurated at the Galeries for the creation of a City of Rest and Vacations, primarily ria of modern architecture into the country, welcoming Dalmau, entitled Arquitectura nova [New Architecture], destined to the working class. innovative proposals to dignify cities and housing, think- setting itself up in contrast to the outdated style of Furthermore, the GATCPAC did research on housing ing above all of the working class. These initiatives gave the majority of buildings done for the World’s Fair. The materials and medical-service buildings in relation to rise to projects in both urban planning and residential group’s fi rst projects were shown in the gallery, under health and hygiene, redefi ning the minimum standards Josep Lluís Sert construction where the main priorities were public health, the infl uence of new architectural currents emerging for twentieth century society. The concrete problems of hygiene and socialization, along with the prerogative to across Europe. their immediate context (namely Barcelona and Catalo- and GATCPAC come up with innovative solutions in construction. During a voyage throughout Europe, a group of GATCPAC nia) allowed them to refl ect and come up with solutions With their manifestos and writings, the GATCPAC refor- members were able to see the emergence of new that could be extrapolated to common problems found mulated the foundations of architecture as a profession. rationalist, avant-garde architecture fi rst-hand. This worldwide. The group was active in a period when architecture and movement was grounded in functionalism (the function Their determination to spread these new ideas led them urban planning played a key role in Catalan development. of the building was meant to determine the form) and to publish the journal AC. Documentos de Actividad The rationalism introduced by the GATCPAC in Catalonia did away with everything considered superfl uous, such Contemporánea [AC. Documents of Contemporary Activ- brought with it new criteria and ideas that were likewise as ornamentation. The emergence of new materials ity], which became a shared organ for all groups in the being conceived and put into practice in the most advan- and technologies applied to construction, allowing for GATEPAC. Besides publishing projects and manifestos ced countries of Europe. At the same time, the group paid standardized industrial production, was also particularly on architecture and urban planning, they printed arti- attention to the country’s vernacular architecture and valued, paving the way for architectural innovation. cles on other cultural fi elds (painting, cinema, design, traditional construction techniques, which in the end were The movement spread to the rest of the Spain and and others). Furthermore, they opened an exhibition understood as expressions of pure functionalism. caught the interest of architects from all over the coun- space and sales point known as MIDVA (the Catalan Avant-garde Architecture in Barcelona, seeks to encourage try, who created the group known as the GATEPAC in initials stood for Furniture and Decor for Today’s Home) understanding of the GATCPAC’s architectural legacy and 1932. It was organized into three sections, including on Passeig de Gràcia, where they showed furniture and its best known architect, Josep Lluís Sert, in relation to the the Catalan group: Grupo Centro, based in Madrid, design products in the style of the Modern Movement. city of Barcelona. This guide-map is a refl ection of the im- Grupo Norte, with its headquarters in Bilbao, and Grupo After the Spanish Civil War broke out, the activity of the portance of the GATCPAC in the development of modern Este (GATCPAC), working out of Barcelona. The Catalan GATCPAC fell off sharply, as the majority of the projects society and on Barcelona as it is known today. Government during the Republic, driven by the desire they were working on were dependent upon the public This publication includes all buildings of the GATCPAC to modernize the country, worked on policies to improve administration. that have been preserved to the present. the social, labour and life conditions of the working In 1937 the last issue of the magazine AC was pub- class. In this political context, the GATCPAC became the lished, and in 1939 they closed the MIDVA space. The technical branch of the government, putting the princi- dictatorship meant that many GATCPAC members were ples of the new architecture into practice. prohibited from working in Spain, and quite a few chose Cover of issue no. 11 of the journal AC. The main projects of the GATCPAC were conceived with to go into exile. Documentos de Actividad Contemporánea the goal of improving health and living conditions in Debate and research related to architecture took some JOSEP LLUÍS SERT OUTSTANDING I LÓPEZ ARCHITECTS (Barcelona, 1902–1983) Josep Torres Joan Baptista Subirana Luis Lacasa Sixte Illescas Ricardo Antoni Bonet Clavé i Subirana Navarro i Mirosa de Churruca i Castellana (Barcelona, 1906 – (Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina, 1904 – (Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain, 1899 – (Barcelona, 1903–1986) (Manila, Philippines, 1900 – (Barcelona, 1913–1989) Els Omellons, Lleida, Spain, 1939) Barcelona, 1978) Moscow, Russia, 1966) Barcelona, 1963) · 1942 The publication of the book 1933–1937 1922–1928 Meets Josep Lluís Sert, 1928 Designs the Gran Hotel Atlán- Works at a young age on projects Can Our Cities Survive?, opens the Tuberculosis Hospital Josep Torres Clavé and other future tico in Cadiz. · 1929 Participates like the Macià Plan and the City of doors for him to the academic world. Currently CAP Lluís Sayé (Barcelona) members of the GATCPAC at univer- in the founding of the GATCPAC. · Rest and Vacations in Castelldefels. He begins to give classes at Yale sity. Works with Josep Goday and 1930 Designs the Delegation of the · 1931 Participates in the founding University, and together with other 1937 Jaume Torres Grau, architects in National Tourism Board, on the Gran of the MIDVA. · 1932 Collaborates in architects, planners and engineers Pavilion of the Republic, 1937 the noucentista neo-classical style. Via.. · 1931 With Germán Rodríguez the studio of Josep Lluís Sert. · 1933 he creates the Town Planning Asso- Universal Exposition (Paris) After fi nishing university he opens Arias, he designs the single family While still a student he attends the ciates, designing urban plans, many (rebuilt in 1992 in Barcelona) a studio with Josep Lluís Sert. · 1929 dwelling on Plaça de Mons. · 1935 CIAM conference held on a cruise for South American cities. Participates in the exhibition Arqui- Designs the residential building on ship from Marseille to Athens.