The Barcelona School

The features that characterize the Barcelona School are a rationalist constructive language, a reflection on the Mediterranean and on tradition and popular elements in architecture, and an interest in design.

The Barcelona School refers to a group of Catalan architects whose work exhibited a series of shared characteristics, beginning in 1965 and continuing through the mid-1970s. Unlike other groups in the architectural avant-garde, like the GATCPAC, the Barcelona School was never a formal group, nor was it associated with a foundational text or manifesto. The existence of a “Barcelona School” is based on a critical reading or interpretation of the reality of the architectural production that took place in Catalonia during those years. As a result, it was not a closed group, nor did the members take part in any type of formal affiliation.

Members

While the list of members cannot be considered complete or exhaustive, the following studios and architects are often associated with the Barcelona School:

Federico Correa, Alfons Milà, Estudio PER (integrated by Lluís Clotet, Pep Bonet, Christian Cirici and Óscar Tusquets) Gabriel Mora, Helio Piñón & Albert Viaplana, the Taller de Arquitectura with Ricardo Bofill, MBM (Oriol Bohigas. Josep Martorell and David Mackay), Lluís Cantallops, Ramon Maria Puig, Leandre Sabater, Lluís Nadal, Vicenç Bonet, Pere Puigdefàbregues, Enric Tous & Josep Maria Fargas.

International Connections

The production of the Barcelona School revealed a connection with the contemporary movement at the Milan School. The influence of Federico Correa on a generation of Catalan architects, through his role as a professor at the Barcelona School of Architecture, was also decisive. Given the timeliness and obvious ideological and contextual coincidences, Bohigas defined the “Barcelona School” as a local reflection of the climate that existed in Italy with what was called architectural neorealism. There are similarities in the features that characterize both movements: a rationalist constructive language, a reflection on the Mediterranean and on tradition and popular elements in architecture, and an interest in design.

Modernity and Tradition

The architecture of the School of Barcelona was intended to respond to collective needs, exploring the possibilities of traditional construction techniques and considering the conditioning factors for each project and its context. There was a continuity with rationalism in the sincere expression of the construction techniques and the logical decisions that informed the designs. Its representatives adopted an avant-garde approach, and in their work they were able to predict, test and “push” the formal codes characteristic of the architecture of their time towards new avenues of expression.

Legacy

The architecture of the Barcelona School laid the ideological and formal foundations for the profound urban transformations of the 1980s and it helps to explain the amazing architectural climate in Barcelona in the pre-Olympic years, as well as the widespread international attention and admiration it received. In this sense, the Barcelona School was just that: a space for collective reflection and generational transmission and continuity, both in the academic realm and in professional architecture studios.

To see images of buildings of the Barcelona School and locate them on a map click here

Escuela Thau

Casa Puig

Edificio Walden-7, Richard Bofill

Golf Platja de Pals apartment group

36 dwellings in San Andrés