GATCPAC - Arquitectura Catalana .Cat

Memory

El GATCPAC (Grup d'Arquitectes i Tècnics Catalans per al Progrés de l'Arquitectura Contemporània) va ser un moviment arquitectònic català, que durà de 1928-1939, coincidint en gran part amb la Segona República Espanyola.
Va ser un moviment radical i gran exponent del racionalisme al nostre país, portant el coneixement de les avantguardes europees, Le Corbusier, Gropius i la Bauhaus, Mies van der Rohe, i el grup TECTON entre d'altres.
El grup es va formar exactament el 1929 a Barcelona, incorporant un local pel grup el 1931 ubicat al Pg. de Gràcia, 99.
Els socis principals van ser Josep Torres Clavé, Josep Lluís Sert, Antoni Bonet Castellana, Raimon Duran i Reynals, Germà Rodríguez Arias, Joan Baptista Subirana, Sixte Illescas i Mirosa, Cristòfol Alzamora i Abreu, Josep Soteras Mauri, Pere Armengou i Torra, Lluís Riudor, Manuel Subiño i Ripoll, Ricard Ribas Seva, Marino Canosa Gutiérrez, Jaume Mestres i Fossas, Josep Maria Martino Arroyo, Josep Claret.
L'activitat intensa del grup en un curt període de temps es plasma en l'edició de la revista AC (Actividad Contemporanea), de 1931-1937, així com els lligams amb grups internacionals com el CIRPAC i participant als congressos del CIAM, i com no el GATEPAC.
L'obra més representativa serien el dispensari anti-tuberculós, la casa Bloc, estudis tals com el Pla Macià o la Ciutat de Repòs i Vacances, o debats públics com el problema escolar o la degradació del barri de Ciutat Vella.

Source: Arxiu Històric del COAC

Works (31)

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Constellation

Chronology (31)

Casa Sert

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert
Vilaró House

GATCPAC, Sixte Illescas i Mirosa

Casa Vilaró is one of the first rationalist buildings in Barcelona, built by a Sixte Illescas who had not yet turned thirty. It is, therefore, a building created by one of the founding members of GATCPAC in its early days. The house is located on an extraordinarily steep hill on which Coll del Portell Avenue winds to save its slope, twisting on itself to the point that the plot where it sits is served twice by the same street. The building is very hard to see from the street. The back is covered by a fence of about three metres, and the front by the overgrown vegetation that the owners have kept in the garden. It has only a wall facing the street, with the garage door. It relates to the distant views over Barcelona and creates its own outdoor spaces through the terrace that follows the continuous and curved perimeter that forms its characteristic profile. This terrace is covered by an eaves of the same width, supported by six metal columns of minimum section. The appearance of the building resembles that of a ship and is ascribed to the "naval" current of the first Modern Movement. The house is organized with the living spaces on the first floor, served by the terrace, facing the view, and a ground floor that contains the rooms, illuminated zenithally by a long and narrow window, located just in contact with the ceiling, of singular design, that contributes to create the illusion that the living area floats on the terrain. The house is for private use and the interiors contain furniture designed by Illescas himself. On the west side there is a fully stepped passage from which it is easy to get a close view of the house.
López House

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert

It constitutes a personal interpretation of the housing concept inherited by Le Corbusier. The houses are organised on two levels, with independent accesses. On both floors, a small central distributor gives access to all rooms. Downstairs there is the living room, dining room, kitchen, a bedroom and the restroom areas. The rest of the bedrooms are upstairs, plus a gallery that surrounds the living room and leads to the small balcony in the corner. The organisation in duplex housing is reflected in the façade, which alters the conventional scale and proposes a more dignified image of urban housing.
Via Augusta 61 Apartment Building

GATCPAC, Germán Rodríguez Arias

Following the GATCPAC’s precepts, Rodríguez Arias proposes the construction of homes with good surface and comfort standards at very low costs, thanks to the construction procedures used. The structure is mixed, of brick and upright iron feet, to favour the wide spaces and not subject the layout to the bearing system. The roofs are made of clapboards. The floors are made of hydraulic mosaic, and the doors and windows adopt the models standardised by the GATCPAC itself. The building has central heating, and all the equipment in the kitchens and bathrooms adopts the most innovative technology of the moment.
Projecte d'Urbanització de l'Avinguda Diagonal

GATCPAC
MIDVA (Mobles i Decoració de la Vivenda Actual)

GATCPAC, Germán Rodríguez Arias
Sant Joan de Déu Sanatorium

GATCPAC, Germán Rodríguez Arias

El sanatori està destinat a uns 35 nens raquítics, pretuberculosos i de mal de Pott, que és el que permetia el pressupost assignat a aquest efecte. Per això és situat en el punt més alt de la ciutat, permanentment airejat i amb una magnífica vista a tot el voltant. La planta segueix una traça lineal trencada per un angle obtús, i la bisectriu d’aquest angle segueix exactament la direcció nord-sud, per al màxim aprofitament dels raigs solars a la galeria, que és l’estança més important. Una part de la galeria rep els raigs del sol naixent, i l’altra part rep els raigs de ponent, la qual cosa garanteix el màxim temps d’exposició solar dels malalts.
GaloBart House

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert
Prototip per a Noves Parades de Floristes a Les Rambles

GATCPAC, Francesc Perales Mascaró, Ricard Ribas Seva
Estudi Josep Lluís Sert

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert
Grup d'Habitatges Experimentals del Comissariat de la Casa Obrera

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert, Joan Baptista Subirana i Subirana, Josep Torres Clavé
Projecte de Distribució de la Zona Edificable en una Mansana de l'Eixample

GATCPAC
Apartment Building and Astoria Cinema

GATCPAC, Germán Rodríguez Arias

The building consists of six homes per floor, three of which face París Street and the other three face the inner courtyard of the block of houses. The houses on the top floor are duplexes, with external staircases of communication between both levels, as well as the interior. The supporting structure contemplates the fact that there is a cinema on the ground floor, and it is solved by means of metal base with a minimum section, which are unloaded at the bottom. The housing distribution reflects the contradictions between the GATCPAC’s housing aspirations and the permissiveness of municipal ordinances with respect to land use.
Plà de Sanejament del Casc Antic de Barcelona

GATCPAC
Roca Jeweller's

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert

During the 1930s, Barcelona was carrying out a process of internationalisation of Catalan culture and Passeig de Gràcia was becoming the most elegant and prestigious promenade of the moment. Rogeli Roca, who was a jeweler very interested in contemporary design and avant-garde movements, decided to move the family jewelry store that was located on Les Rambles, in front of the Liceu Theatre, and take it to the corner of Passeig de Gràcia with Gran Via. He was a friend of Sert's and entrusted him with the project. This is a good example of how to intervene courageously in an existing building, although current regulations would not allow such an action to be proposed due to the protection of the Eixample. Sert's proposal is radical and consistent with the possibilities offered by the metallic structure of the building, which remained hidden under the neoclassical façades of the Eixample. The new façade is completely freed from the restrictions of the load-bearing walls and is conceived as a light enclosure. A translucent skin, executed with polished and reflective materials, which radically contrasts with the matt texture and opacity of the render. This façade caused much controversy in the society of the moment.
Barangé House

GATCPAC, Ricardo de Churruca Dotres, Germán Rodríguez Arias

Churruca uses the best rationalist rhetoric at a peculiar location: a square located on the bridge of Vallcarca, with one of the façades that collapses on the street under the bridge. The villa assumes the radically flat character of the side façade, while the main façade unfolds by means of a series of elements that give depth to the garden: a grandstand, a curvilinear eaves in the corner, and a second eaves separated from the main plan. Churruca intensifies the interest of the object from all points of view thanks to his formal treatment of one of the corners.
Torre Eugenia

GATCPAC, Ricard Ribas Seva
Pla Macià

GATCPAC, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris (Le Corbusier), Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé
Projecte de Ciutat de Repòs i Vacances (CRV)

GATCPAC
Josep Maria Folch i Torres School

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé

The Republican Generalitat was very sensitive to the GATCPAC proposal to define new standards that would facilitate the massive implementation of schools throughout Catalonia and some prototypes that responded to this objective began to be promoted. This is the case of the Folch i Torres School Group, which had been proposed as a prototype for early childhood education schools: it was conceived from a functional and repeatable module that allowed the schools to be sized and expanded depending on the number of students. This group was made up of two modules (two schools) that, anticipating a possible expansion, were built at one end of the site, leaving the sides free for the future connection. In the 1950s, an extension was made to the west façade, without respecting the original system of identical modules. The GATCPAC promoted a series of architectural concepts that had to be taken into account when building a school: space and furniture proportionate to the dimensions of the child, good orientation and easy connection of the classrooms with the outside, good ventilation and maximum lighting. The schools of Palau were built with these premises.
Rosales House

GATCPAC, Ricardo de Churruca Dotres

Detached rectangular building located in the Bonanova neighbourhood. It consists of a semi-basement, ground floor, two floors and a flat roof; on the roof there is a small one-storey building with a double-sloped roof, which is not visible from the street. Inside there were two identical houses per floor, the distribution of which was made around the living-dining room space. The openings on the four façades, all rectangular and without decoration, are organised according to longitudinal axes. On the long sides there are the entrance doors which are accessed from a flight of stairs that saves the space occupied by the semi-basement; on one of these façades there is a balcony per floor, which takes up the space of two openings. In the two narrowest façades, the central part of each floor is occupied by a large window that gives way to a work balcony and a window on both sides. The facing is plastered and painted cream except for the walls of the balconies, which are painted an earthy colour that makes them stand out. This building is the result of the transformation of a single-family villa into a house of flats for rent. Of the original house, only the garden, currently transformed into a parking lot, a small annex building, the entrance door and the exterior gate of the property decorated with tiles are preserved. The promoters of this work were Ignacio Rosales Fernández de Castro and his sister-in-law Manuela de Arquer, widow of José Rosales. In 1954 the architect Joan Baca i Reixach carried out a refurbishment to adapt it to the Dexeus Clinic dispensary. Currently (2018), it houses the Milenium Iradier de Sanitas medical centre.
Glass House

GATCPAC, Sixte Illescas i Mirosa

The standard floor accommodates three flats per landing, although an attempt has been made to place the maximum common services on the ground floor, and a special character is given to the two last floors. The houses on the fifth floor have a garden terrace above, which is accessed vertically from the dining room. The top floor is occupied by four studios, also with their own garden terrace. The building is a reason for experimenting with new construction procedures, which should be used to give the minimum thickness to the flat roof, or to allow the slabs of the stairs to be self-supporting.
Edifici d'Habitatges Balmes 166

GATCPAC, Ricard Ribas Seva
Weekend Houses

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé
Projecte per a la Urbanització de la Part Baixa de Montjuïc

GATCPAC, Cristòfor Alzamora i Abreu, Francesc Fàbregas i Vehil, Josep González Esplugas, Francesc Perales Mascaró, Ricard Ribas Seva, Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé
Bloc House

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert, Joan Baptista Subirana i Subirana, Josep Torres Clavé

It is a recreation of the proposal for à redent housing, formulated by Le Corbusier in 1922 for an urban fabric with a density of 300 inhabitants per hectare and luxurious housing. The GATCPAC project, aimed at social housing, also places the complex in a north-south direction, so that housing is always oriented to the south and east. Each home is accessed via a long, covered corridor that is always on the north and west side. The blocks, long and narrow, are solved with a metal structure of two passages. The ground floor has a covered terrace in front of the living room. Upstairs, each pair of bays has three bedrooms, so the central bedroom is compensated. The resulting density is 1,140 inhabitants per hectare, much lower than that of traditional urban fabrics on closed house squares.
Els Convents School Group

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert

In 1935, Sert designed two school buildings for Martorell Town Council: the Montserrat school group, in the Can Carreres district, and the Els Convents school group, in the orchard of the former Capuchin Convent. The Els Convents group has an L-shaped floor plan with the playground facing south, against the mountain. It is made up of three modules (three schools) linked by an L-shaped corridor that runs from one side of the building to the other, depending on the orientation. The volume has two floors and is supported by a large stone wall which serves as a retaining wall. Sert defended reinforced concrete as the basic construction material to meet the demands imposed by functionality, rejecting the gratuitous application of ornamental elements. At the end of the 1960s, the construction of the A-7 motorway damaged an important part of the open spaces of the Els Convents group and some subsequent modifications were made to the south side of the building. The caretaker's house, a work by Sert, was also demolished. They are one of the few remaining examples of Sert's school buildings, which gives them special importance and makes their recovery essential.
Can Xifré Segell Preventive Pro-Child School

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert

This school was built as an annex to the old Can Xifré hospital for children with tuberculosis, but it never functioned due to the Spanish Civil War. It is currently the headquarters of the Salvador Espriu Documentation and Studies Centre. The building is made up of two educational modules, separated by an access bay, with a distributor and services. Five corridors in total - each one is covered by a Catalan vault that no longer rests on load-bearing walls, but on girders, which increases the width of the space. It is a white building, with abstract and forceful volumetry, typical of the CIAM, which rests on a stone plinth. The classrooms open onto a terrace facing south, which is used for outdoor classes and is protected by a concrete slab that follows the aesthetics of machinery, like the wing of an airplane. The commission was carried out by the Segell Proinfància, an organisation created during the Second Republic, in 1933, which had the mission of raising money for the construction and maintenance of buildings dedicated to the prevention of tuberculosis. The money raised came from the sale of stamps during Christmas.
Pavilion of the Republic for the 1937 Paris International Exhibition

GATCPAC, Luis Lacasa Navarro, Josep Lluís Sert
Tuberculosis Clinic

GATCPAC, Josep Lluís Sert, Joan Baptista Subirana i Subirana, Josep Torres Clavé

The building, intended to cover a sanitary need that was very common at the time, does not meet the street alignments but is organised into two parallel bodies oriented from east to west and articulated in an L shape. You enter the enclosure through a semi-public garden that gives direct access to both bodies. The block on the north side contains the surgeries, laboratories and archives. The body at the bottom of the site houses the conference room and the library on the upper floors. The layout of all the rooms, the circulation system and the treatment of the façades respond to a rigorous monitoring of the program and the solar abacus, regardless of the constraints of the location. It is a model of inserting the concepts of rationalism into a fabric that is not taken into account, and which is implicitly criticised for the strict functionality of the building itself.
Diagonal Dwellings

GATCPAC, Ricardo de Churruca Dotres, Germán Rodríguez Arias

Set of five buildings between partitions projected as a unit which occupies half a triangular block of the Eixample district of Barcelona, including a corner. The municipal ordinances and the logical desire of the developers to make the most out of the buildability have determined the volume of the complex, which is remarkably compact and with a geometry that is difficult to solve. The distributions of each of the five buildings have had to be simultaneously adapted to the functional requirements of the program and the morphological characteristics of each site, which are very different. On one side of the block there is a large patio, which allows the perimeter of the interior façade to be increased, improving ventilation and sunlight in the houses. In addition, the opening of the patio makes it possible to correct the differences in level due to the slope of the street. The whole has been unified by means of a beige stone cladding and a uniform pattern of square windows. The solution of each elevation follows a different composition scheme to respond to each particular situation, generating some aesthetic effects of great compositional modernity: for example, at the corner of Diagonal Avenue and Enrique Granados Street, the terraces are cut into the volume and the interior is painted garnet to increase the sensation of depth.