Spanish Architecture in the sixties Conference

[MG]

First International Architecture Conference
SPANISH ARCHITECTURE IN THE SIXTIES:
Elements for Debate

Barcelona, November 7, 8 and 9, 2002
Association of Catalan Architects

Director: Antonio Pizza
Coordinators: Marisa García Vergara, Julio Garnica, Paolo Sustersic

ASSOCIATION OF CATALAN ARCHITECTS
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS AND DEVELOPMENT
MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Collaborators: Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Barcelona Superior Technical School of Architecture

Please send submissions to:
First International Architectural Conference
SPANISH ARCHITECTURE IN THE SIXTIES: elements for debate
Association of Catalan Architects
Plaça Nova 5, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
Tel. 0034 93 3014572 / fax 0034 93 4126795
E-mail: congres60@coac.net www.coac.net/congres60


Presentation

The historical review of the Spanish architectural culture of the twentieth century has begun to bear fruit in recent times, although the Sixties was a period that was subjected to only a brief analysis. The conference: Spanish Architecture in the Sixties: Elements for Debate proposes to use a a critical perspective to address this juncture that is so fundamental for our contemporary understanding. The purpose is to analyze a time of decisive changes for the discipline, to study the era in which the future Spanish architects under democracy were trained, to investigate the strategies they developed, and the levels of reflection they maintained active, contrasting these with the contemporary debate at the international level.

The conference is directed at architects, city planners, university students, historians and anyone who is interested in an historical-critical reflection.
The program includes a series of lectures by guest speakers, selected papers and participation in various round tables.

Calendar

May 31, 2002: Deadline for submission of summaries (maximum 3.000 characters)
September 30, 2002: Deadline for submission of papers (maximum 14.000 characters)


Registration

Registration fee: € 120. Students: € 90.
The authors of the selected papers will be awarded a € 300 grant and will be exempt from paying the registration fee.
Payment of the fee must be via bank transfer to account number: BSCHESMM 3183 0800 89 0000003934, Caja de Arquitectos, Arcs 1-3, 08002 Barcelona, Spain, specifying "Registration fee Sixties conference".
Simultaneous translation facility will be available. UPC students will receive credit for second- and third-cycle courses. They will also receive a certificate of attendance at the conference.

Scientific Committee:
Antoni Font (ETSAV-UPC)
Víctor Pérez Escolano (USE)
Antonio Pizza (ETSAB-UPC)
Josep Maria Rovira (ETSAB-UPC)
Carlos Sambricio (ETSAM-UPM)

CONTENTS

The program is structured around three major theme-based sections as the main cores for reflection:


I. IDEAS AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE SIXTIES

This section addresses the theoretical and architectural scenario in its international context, at a historical moment in which Spanish architecture attempted to interact with contemporary debates held in Italy, Great Britain, Northern Europe or America. A fertile ground for exchange and original creation that would prepare the introduction into Spain of revolutionary architectural ideas which would be decisive for the new paths taken by professionals.


II. SPAIN: BETWEEN INTERNAL CONTROVERSIES AND INTERNATIONAL REFERENCES

With the diminished confidence in the architecture of the modern movement and an internationalism dominated by American technology, coinciding with a crisis in the regenerating message of regionalist readings, it seems necessary to find new sources for a discipline seeking new alternatives. Things begin to move with “Pequeños Congresos” and the appearance of publications such as CAU and Arquitecturas Bis; but something important is also happening in the "real" country, which is radically transforming not only the outskirts of cities but also the coastline, which is subjected to the aggression of tourist-focused architecture. We are witness to a whirlwind of divergent positions, at the same time as both of the country’s propulsive centers attempt to articulate a dialectic between the supposed "Barcelona School" and "Madrid School".


III. PROTAGONISTS / CONTEXTS

In 1960, Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza begins the long process of building the Torres Blancas [White Towers], while the magazine Nueva Forma (1967-1975) attempts to review and update the artistic legacy of the historical avant-garde movements. In 1963, Ricardo Bofill’s experimental "Taller de Arquitectura" is founded and Oriol Bohigas debuts with his book Barcelona entre el Pla Cerdà i el barraquisme. At this same juncture, the lessons of the young Moneo in the Barcelona School stand out, or the teachings of Antonio Fernández Alba, reflected in the pages of Arquitectura and in his theoretical texts. This section proposes to rediscover some of these lines of thought through the testimonies of the protagonists themselves and through critical reviews.

PROVISIONAL PROGRAM

Thursday, November 7, 2002
10:30 Inauguration

I. IDEAS AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE SIXTIES
11:00 lecture: Giorgio Ciucci
12:00 lecture: Joan Ockman
13:00 3 papers

II. PROTAGONISTS / CONTEXTS I
16:30 lecture: Vittorio Gregotti
17:30 lecture : Antonio Fernández Alba
18:30 2 papers
19:30 round table: V. Gregotti, A. Fernández Alba, Federico Correa, Xavier Rubert de Ventós
Moderator: Carlos Sambricio

Friday, November 8, 2002
III. SPAIN: BETWEEN INTERNAL CONTROVERSIES AND INTERNATIONAL REFERENCES
11:00 lecture: Maria Teresa Muñoz
12:00 lecture: Juan José Lahuerta
13:00 3 papers

IV. PROTAGONISTS / CONTEXTS II
16:30 lecture: Rafael Moneo
17:30 lecture: Oriol Bohigas
18:30 2 papers
19:30 round table: R. Moneo, O. Bohigas, Lluís Domènech, Emili Donato
Moderator: Víctor Pérez Escolano

Saturday, November 9, 2002
10:00 Closing Lecture: Ricardo Bofill
11:00 guided tour of significant works from the Sixties in Barcelona

PRESENTATION OF PAPERS

1 Personal information: Name
Surname
Professional center
Address
Telephone/fax
E-mail

2 Title of the paper:

3 Theme: Ideas and Architecture in the Sixties
Spain: Between Internal Controversies and International References
Protagonists/Contexts

4 Summary (maximum 3,000 characters)

5 Brief curriculum vitae

6 Publications

7 Please enclose bank receipt, and a photocopy of student card if
applicable.