1St Guastavino Biennial Spanish State, 46.6 Millions Inhabitants
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Presentation of the 1st Guastavino Biennial Spanish State, 46.6 millions inhabitants Catalonia, 7.4 millions inhabitants Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, 4.5 millions inhabitants Barcelona, 1.6 millions inhabitants Vilassar de Dalt, 9 thousand inhabitants Presentation As Mayor of Vilassar de Dalt I would like to thank in our culture; an impressive demonstration of per- you for the opportunity of establishing this connec- fection and simplicity. tion between our municipalities; between the home Guastavino inherited this tradition. He lived it and of Guastavino’s Theater of La Massa in Vilassar de he extended it to its limits with the grand dome in Dalt and the city of New York. Theater of La Massa. He employed all of his creative Vilassar de Dalt is a small town in Catalunya which abilities when constructing our theater before then encompasses a thousand years of history. We are exporting his knowledge and understanding to New within easy reach of Barcelona, overlooking the Med- York. A knowledge and understanding that can be iterranean, tucked into a fold of the coastal moun- found all over Catalonia. tains. We enjoy an enviable climate with hot sum- The study and deeper understanding of these sim- mers and gentle winters. ple construction techniques allows us the opportuni- Vilassar de Dalt possesses an impressive archeo- ty to rediscover the essences of architecture. To be- logical heritage, vestiges of different cultures that gin to re-utilise this spectacular construction system; have left footprints in our town. Every historical ep- spectacular in its beauty, functionality and simplicity; och is reflected in monuments we visit to this day: the Catalan vault. the Neolithic dolmen, the villas, the Roman kilns, the Therefore, this event offers us assistance in seve- «masies», the castle, the wine cellars, the mansions ral ways. and the factories... including of course, La Massa In the first place, this event demonstrates that Theater, work of the architect Rafael Guastavino. Guastavino’s work on the dome of Theater of La Vilassar has changed with the passing of time: Massa is indirectly a part of your history as well, link- from the «masies», in and around the area, to the ing our two municipalities. His work in our town, steep streets surrounding the church in the center on the greatest and final dome that he built in our of our town; from the always visible castle, to the country, catapulted him to the United States where streets lined with elegantly symmetrical mansions, he then built more than 1000 buildings. fruit of eighteenth and nineteenth century industri- Secondly, I want to remember and pay homage alists. to the courageous people courageous who commis- Stones, bricks, walled gardens, roofs, woodwork sion such a daring and spectacular work as Theater and ironwork are present throughout Vilassar. Ele- of La Massa. I want to remember and pay homage to ments that helped to build the village and at the Guastavino himself, who constructed the building in same time, to build a society, our active and dynamic record time, and whose daring work opened a new community. We can go back to Roman times when route to a new world. we view the remains of the kilns, a testament to the Rebuilding the image and knowledge of Guasta- production of building supplies in the third centu- vino also reminds us of the importance of recupera- ry AD which continues into current times with our ting the Catalan vault as a useful and powerful ar- strong tradition of local tile work. chitectural structure. Within the context of this history combined with Finally, this biannual allows students or profes- local building traditions we must speak of the Cata- sionals from the United States to read their research lan vault. Aided by their easy brick tile construction, project beneath the first dome constructed by the the vaults are everywhere in Vilassar and in the coun- celebrated New York architect, Rafael Guastavino try. They are used to form stairways, in the entranc- Moreno. es to houses, in wine cellars, and in household wood Llorenç Artigas Planas ovens. They are, without doubt, a defining element Mayor of Vilassar de Dalt Guastavino and Vilassar: The connection between Catalonia and the United States 1. “The architect of New York” We are proud that Vilassar de Dalt is the union be- Rafael Guastavino Moreno was born in Valencia, tween Catalonia and the United States and we are Spain, in 1842 and died in Asheville, North Carolina, grateful to such an important individual as Guasta- in 1908. He studied architecture in Barcelona where vino, who participated in the Architectural Renais- he first built some of his tenement buildings, textile sance of your country and ours and most notably, factories as well as other industrial constructions. In in Manhattan where he built more than 240 buil- 1881, just before leaving for New York, Guastavi- dings. no built the Theater of La Massa in Vilassar de Dalt, his first cultural building and including his first dome 2. Guastavino, the connection between New structure with a diameter of 17.5 meters (57 feet). York and Barcelona As well, his first constructed domes in the United This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of States have the same diameter as Theater of La Mas- the urban plan of Cerdà, the Eixample of Barcelona sa. Later, he then went on to build more than 1000 1859, probably one the best of all urban plans of the buildings in America. XIX century in Europe. Ildefons Cerdà analyzed the When Rafael Guastavino died in 1908, The New old town and devised an overall expansion encom- York Times declared that “the architect of New York passing the little villages on the periphery with his had died”. necessary urban facilities. Today, historians consider Guastavino as an archi- I like comparing the urban plan of Barcelona with tect who participated in the formalization and iden- that to the urban plan of New York 1811, by Mor- tification of the American architecture at the end of ris, Simeon De Witt and John Rutherfurd, including the 19th century. Central Park of 1858, projected by Calvert Vaux and Professor George R. Collins, of the history De- Frederick Law Olmsted. partment at Columbia University gathered the do- Leonardo Benevolo, the Italian historian of archi- cumentation of the “R. Guastavino Co.” It was he tecture, emphasized the abstraction of the plan, his who started the investigation and re-evaluation of flexibility and dynamics, announcing a new cultural his work, later giving his research to the Avery Archi- civilization that the painter Piet Mondrian caught in tectural and Fine Arts Library. We are deeply grateful his painting Broadway Boogie-Woogie, 1942-43. to George R. Collins and Avery Library of Columbia In both urban plans the typological freedom in the University who have assumed the custodianship of interior of the mesh grid allows exceptional flexibility the documents of Guastavino Company. and we can find one egalitarian isotropy of the limit- In Vilassar de Dalt, where Guastavino built the The- less grid, without hierarchies or peripheries. ater of La Massa, we have organized different lec- The urban plan of Barcelona 1859 was the per- tures, as well, we have constructed a website www. fect setting for the Renaissance of Catalan Architec- guastavino.cat. In addition, we are creating the first ture in the second half of the XIX century, but at the “Guastavino Biennial”. The “Guastavino Biennial” is same time the urban plan of New York 1811 was the a prize that will be given for investigative projects in scenario of the Renaissance of the American Archi- the respects to tile vaults. The prize consists of the pu- tecture at the end of the XIX and the beginning of blication of the investigation, an official presentation the XX century. of the work in the Theater of La Massa and a grant. Guastavino is present in both cities, Barcelona and In November of 2009, the statutes of our bienni- New York. In Barcelona, he built close to 30 build- al will be delivered in New York. The jury will make a ings and nearly 360 in New York Area. Both anni- decision during the first week of November and said versaries bring about an opportune occasion to ap- decision will be published in the last week of No- proach an urban debate between both Barcelona vember 2010. and New York. 3. Guastavino is the connection between is far from Catalan “art nouveau”. On closer look, Rogent and Richardson he can be seen as nearer to that of the ideas of the structural rationality of Richardson. Richardson Guastavino Rogent Richardson moved to Paris to broaden his stu- 1838-1886 1842-1908 1821-1897 dies and was able to work in the office of Theo- —————————————— dore Labrouste. He was the second American archi- Sullivan Domènec i Montaner tect, after R. M. Hunt, who studied in the School 1856-1924 1850-1923 of Beaux-Arts. As well as Rogent, he learned the Gaudí teachings of Viollet le Duc and introduces them in 1852-1926 his buildings. This professional experience of Rich- —————————————— ardson helped prepare the work of Guastavino in Wright Puig i Cadafalch his tile vaults. 1867-1959 1867-1956 As Lewis Mumford says in his book “The Brown Decades”, to the contrary of William Morris, Ri- The young Rafael Guastavino Moreno moved chardson did not write, but instead articulated his away from Valencia to Barcelona to study architec- ideas of his buildings by giving structural solutions ture. His professor Elies Rogent, was the first di- to the new challenges of the new American society rector of the School of Architecture in Barcelona, at the end of XIX century.