Architecture and politics: basis for social transformation

Architects and politics: basis for social transformation Rationalist period in Bilbao (1929-1947)

Royo Zabala, Peio - 4582594 Architectural History Thesis - AR2A010 prof. Marie-Thérèse van Thoor - TUDelft 1

Index 1. Introduction

3

2. Political revolution in Spain (1909-31)

4

3. Modern style in Europe (1914-33)

6

4. Bilbao experience (1931-36)

10

4.A. Housing block in Zumarraga square, Solokoetxe (1931)

14

4.B. School in Iturriaga street, Santutxu (1933)

19

4.C. Housing complex in Indautxu square, Indautxu (1934)

23

4.D. Housing and office building in Albia gardens, Abando (1934)

28

5. Post-war period (1939-50)

30

5.A. Housing complex on the edge of Indautxu square, Indautxu (1943)

33

5.B. Office and workshop in Rafaela Ybarra street, Deustu (1943)

36

5.C. Housing development in the margins of the river, San Inazio (1945)

43

5.D. Office building in the Main Street, Abando (1950)

50

6. Conclusions

54

7. Acknowledgements

57

8. Bibliography

58 

2

1. Introduction The interwar period in Europe (1918-1939) led to a society which made big progresses in democratisation and industrialisation. This progress, though, carried several hygienic concerns about the living conditions of the poorest strata of European society, the working-class. Architecture, as a part of the liberal society that was being settled in central and western European democracies, tried to give an answer to those social issues with its designs. Some architects, thus, felt the need to get involved too in politics, so that they could help to improve the life-quality of labor from their position as technicians in hygienic issues.

In Spain, modern architecture represented the image of the renewal of the country.

It had been ruled by a monarchy that had supported dictators and was not willing to end with the existing oligarchic economical system, sustained by the electoral fraud promoted by large estate landlords, who had bought the votes of their peasants. Therefore, architects aligned themselves with the progressive republicans and socialists, so that the regime could effectively change and the architects’ concerns on improving the living standards of society would be guaranteed. Bilbao, main city of the Basque provinces and economical and industrial hub in the north of Spain, experienced this collaboration in first hand, when the citizens elected as deputy major the architect Tomås Bilbao and he worked with the Spanish architectural vanguard GATEPAC and the local architects from Bilbao so that the city could benefit from both architectural and political revolutions that was living the country.

The aim of this thesis is to reflect whether the discipline of architecture could have become into the expression of political changes during the interwar period in Europe, specially focused on the local experience of the city of Bilbao. In order to defend the research, the thesis will be structured into three main topics: first, an artistic and social contextualisation in Europe and Spain; second, a deeper architectural and political analysis on what happened in Bilbao during the republican regime (1931-1937) and the early years of the dictatorship (1937-1947); and finally, some conclusions on the research topic. In order to collect data for the thesis, contacts have been made with municipal and foral or regional archives, so that original documents, such as construction budgets or plans, could be attached to the research, and an interview with the former mayor of Bilbao between 2014 and 2015, mr. Ibon Areso Mendiguren, was set on April 10th 2017 so that he could share his knowledge on the topics, both as an architect and a politician with public responsibilities (such as the urban regeneration of Abandoibarra).

3

2. Political revolution in Spain Spain had been ruled by the Borbon family since 1714, when the Utrecht Treaty ended the Succession War. The monarchies, though, had not been able to bring stability to the country: three civil wars, seven radically different constitutional texts, six national bankrupts and a proclamation of an 11-month lasting republic in 1873. The credibility of the regime was under question.

The last constitution of the Borbonic regime was signed in 18761. It created a bipartisan oligarchic parliamentary system that brought for the first time social rights requested by progressive political parties since the first constitution in 1812, which included abolition of slavery, male-universal suffrage and the beginning of social welfare.

Even though, the aristocratic regime had difficulties to deal with the demands of the working-class, not represented in the national parliament. Months-lasting strikes were held by anarchist workers and violence was encouraged by both employees and employers by the beginning of the 20th century.

The decay of the previously imperial monarchy was obvious. The last Caribbean and Pacific colonies had been lost to the United States during the war of 1898, so the army focused its ambitions in Africa, where the military fought to defend the colonies in the north of Morocco. Thousands of young workers were forced to join the army. Since the working-class did not understand the purpose of sending their siblings to a colonial war, revolutionary trade unions (socialist UGT and anarchist CNT) called to constant rebellions and made the parliamentary system weaker than ever before2 .

In order to stabilise the constitutional regime, a nationalist dictatorship was established by general Primo de Rivera in 1923, which imprisoned the opposition to the corrupted bi-partisan system, mainly republicans and socialists (fig. 1). As the repression against the opposition became tougher, those political parties that remained underground began to cooperate so that the dictatorship could fall as fast as possible. The republican

1

After the decay of the first Spanish Republic on 1873 after a coup d’êtat organised by the monarchist general Martínez Campos, the Borbonic dynasty turned back to Spain and signed the constitution of 1876, which stated that the country would into a parliamentary monarchy and the executive power would be shared by the two monarchist parties, conservatives and liberals. For further information, see: CARR, RAYMOND: “Spain: A History”, Oxford, 2001.

2

As an example of the riots, 75 workers died and over 2000 were imprisoned during the Tragic Week in Barcelona between April July 26th and August 1st 1909, during massive strikes in order to improve the living standards of the working-class and to protest against the War in Morocco. Fur further information, see: MOLINER PRADA, ANTONIO (ed.): “La Semana Trágica de Cataluña”, Barcelona, 2009.

4

leaders contacted with some air military that gave a failed coup d’êtat by 1930 that hardly damaged the ruling regime.

The dictatorship of general Primo de Rivera was substituted by the regime of general Berenguer. Even if democratic rights had not been recognised yet, political prisoners were released and anti-monarchist political parties were able to negotiate for creating larger coalitions3. As the transition to reestablishing the previous parliamentary system was not going as fast as the king wanted, general Berenguer was substituted by general Aznar, who called for municipal elections on 12th April 1931. They were going to be the first elections since the general elections in 1923, prior to the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Progressives went on polls with the will of showing that the monarchy did not have the popular support.

Fig. 1: royal dispatch in 1923: king Alfonso XIII with general Miguel Primo de Rivera

Fig. 2: proclamation of the Catalan Republic

by Francesc Macià on 14th April 1931

The recount lasted for two days. Monarchists won the elections with more than half of the city councillors nationwide, but they were defeated by republican-socialist coalition in province capitals. By the 13th April, when first provisional results were released, republican supporters occupied the cities, claiming their victory and yelling for “the republic, social justice and the revolution”. The king Alfonso XIII was expected to exile in Marseille, France.

The next morning, the proclamation rallies began throughout the entire country.

Before final recount was published, a newly-elected city councillor from Eibar (Gipuzkoa) proclaimed the republic. In Barcelona (Catalonia) and Gernika (Basque Country), Catalan

3

In order to create a shared political platform for progressives and republicans, some political leader met in Donostia on August 17th 1930. There, the basis for a future republican-socialist coalition were settled and a timetable for proclaiming the Republic was organised, including nationwide strikes and a military uprising.

For further information, see: JULIÀ, SANTOS: “La Constitución de 1931”, Madrid, 2009

5

and Basque free states where proclaimed by nationalist politicians (fig. 2). This made the monarchist government resign and a coalition of moderate republicans and socialists took office, proclaiming the Second Spanish Republic and calling the citizens to constitutional elections to the Congress. Meanwhile, republican city councils were running their cities for first time in history. They began to run a social agenda in their policies such as education, healthcare and housing, to face the challenges that a society whose hopes of changes in institutions was facing.

In Bilbao, moderate nationalist PNV won more seats in the city council, but a coalition of republicans, socialist PSOE and radical nationalist ANV won the majority, with a minority group of monarchist councillors. The coalition could run the office from its majority, but worked with the major opposition to improve the life-standards of the city. As the city had been ruled mainly by moderate monarchists who focused on the developing of the annexed Abando town into the new city centre, with private housing for the ruling bourgeoisie, the old town citizens and immigrants coming to work in factories were living in unhealthy conditions.

For those tasks, republican mayor Ernesto Ercoreca trusted on his nationalist deputy mayor Tomás Bilbao’s knowledge as an architect in order to appoint him as chief of the municipal housing council. From there, mr. Bilbao began to work with local architects and more nationwide architects aligned to his architectural reflections on hygiene and modernity.

3. Modern style in Europe European eclectic architecture of the 19th century was in decline. For the last century architects had mixed historical references of the ancient classic cultures and the Renaissance, while introducing some technical developments on the field of construction.

Even though, the architects had not been able to overcome the style imposed by neoclassicist architects as Étienne-Louis Boullée or Karl-Friedrich Schinkel4 . In addition to that, the social elites that were ruling the economies of European countries did support this style. The conservative bourgeoisie engaged the insertion of various historical references, mixing the image of the ancient Greece with ornamental references to China and Egypt, in a time when the transnational trade opened the doors to cultural exchanges.

4

According to archaeologist and art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), classical artistic models were repeated and conventionalised, so that the original abstraction of the classical art got banalised. For further information, see: BENEVOLO, LUDOVICO: “History of modern architecture”, Massachussets, 1977.

6

A “modern” vocabulary was first formulated during the first Universal Exposition in London, in 1851. Joseph Paxton, a greenhouse engineer, was asked to build a massive pavilion that would show the evolution of the society. In order to do it, he designed a prefabricated building composed by an iron structure and a glass-panel envelop. It was the first time that the industrial language was used in architecture for a global public.

The industry became part of the society of the early 20th century. From the Industrial Revolution on, its rational approach created a large debate on the artistic disciplines, industrial concepts as dynamics or serial production were discussed. There had been an early rejection to the industry, mainly by neo-gothic revival movements such as the British Arts & Crafts or the French Beaux-Arts, focused on the decorative arts. Its recognition, though, did not arrive until the society became as fascinated with the industry as some artists did. First artworks coming from the outside of the academic institutions showed the new industrial society, from the early figurative representations to the more abstract and plastic compositions. During the decade of the 1910s many artistic movements were created, the different vanguards from every country; French cubism, Italian futurism, Dutch neoplasticism (fig. 4) or the Russian constructivism were some of the “-ism” representing the evolution of European society.

Fig. 3: The Kiss, Gustav Klimt, 1907-08

Fig. 4: Composition no. II, Piet Mondrian, 1920

This evolution of the society also required new typologies for the cities. Industrial society brought massive immigration to the industrialised areas, where the first urban slums were built for the working-class. Those slums, built in unhealthy conditions, were kept into marginal conditions, where more than two families had to share an only apartment. This situation led to a series of epidemics such as the measles and the smallpox, which killed hundreds of people in every overcrowded city. There was a large concern in the politics and architecture became a tool for hygienists to improve the living standards of the labor.

7

By the beginning of 20th century, eclectic architecture was on decay5 . Institutional architecture was repeating existing models for the economical elites, focusing on the aesthetic values and the composition of the facade, while no answer was given to the social emergency of the working-class. Industrial development, though, brought a new concept to the young, enthusiastic architects working in the major firms (Otto Wagner, Peter Behrens, Hendrik Petrus Berlage, etc.): serial production, which became a major issue for design. In fact, it encouraged the first tries of expressing the artistic principles of the vanguards in the field of architecture, as happened with two revolutionary design schools were created during the 1920s, the German Bauhaus and the Russian Vhkutemas, where the students were taught about all the disciplines, so that the final design was reached from every artistic perspective. Furthermore, some early housing designs of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier introduced the technical innovations in their designs, so that they could design housing projects where the artistic principles of their artistic influences could be displayed.

From the first tries in central Europe where minimal living standards were introduced in massive housing blocks, such as the Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna by Karl Ehn, hygienic dwelling had become a common topic for the architects. The implementation of modern techniques in construction as prefabricated components and refined concretepouring on site accelerated the processes for building technologies and allowed the first expressions of modern architecture. Notions as cross ventilation or sun orientation, more related to traditional constructions, were implemented as design tools.

As some artistic vanguards did before, those architects who claimed to be the representatives of modern architecture created an ideologic literature where they could express their visions on how the architecture had to move on in order to give an answer to the concerns of the era: hygiene and contemporary construction. Le Corbusier proclaimed himself spokesman of the movement, first by his manifesto Vers une architecture in 1923 and afterwards when he stated his Cinq points sur l’architecture moderne, where the basis for modern architecture were settled: reinforced concrete columns replacing load-bearing walls, free design of the floor plans, free design of the facade, horizontal windows and green roofs6 .

5

Eclecticism became into a dismissed discipline, due to the contradictions and lack of design coherence in which it was displayed. For further information, see: BENEVOLO, LUDOVICO: “History of modern architecture”, Massachussets, 1977.

6

Le Corbusier published a booklet in which he exposed with historical comparisons how the industrial production was to be the guideline for the discipline, as the classical references were for the ancient Greek.

For further information, see: JEANNERET, CHARLES-ÉDOUARD: “Vers une architecture”, Paris, 1923.

8

In 1928, the International Congress on Modern Architecture, better known as CIAM, was created in a meeting handled by Le Corbusier and architecture historians as Siegfried Giedion in the château de La Sarraz in Switzerland, where a first architectural debate was settled, where an intention of repeating periodically this meeting in order to introduce further topics was formed. In addition, the Deutscher Werkbund exposition of 1927 in Stuttgart created a common ground where several European architects, guided by a masterplan of Mies van der Rohe, designed the Weißenhofsiedlung following the principles stated by Le Corbusier in his five points. Therefore, modern architectural ideology was created, accepted and expanded.

As has been said previously, Spain had been culturally and economically underdeveloped in comparison to the rest of European countries. Between 1923 and 1931, several generals had been running the government. They restricted basic civil and political rights, so that some opposition politicians (mainly republicans, communists and anarchists) were arrested and sent to jail. In order to scape from the government’s harassment, several intellectuals of diverse fields of the arts (for instance, architects, philosophers or literates) went to the exile in order to develop their skills in a democratic background, as it was the case of Josep Lluís Sert, a Catalan architect who worked for the atelier of Le Corbusier in Paris.

Some technical developments had arrived at Spain in the field of construction during the late 19th century, such as concrete first and its reinforced version afterwards7. Its appliance, though, did not have a correspondence on the image that the reinforced concrete architecture was showing, as eclectic as it was with the load-bearing wall structure: the concrete and the iron were useful to build an interior structure and flooring, but the ornamental work of the facade was still the main principle for the design, as it was the case of the Atocha station in Madrid by Alberto de Palacio.

Since the use of concrete was extended, some architects decided to research on the possibilities that the material could bring, not just in a technical sense but by its expressive qualities too. The research was guided by two architects working in Madrid, Fernando García Mercadal, who had participated in the first CIAM meeting in Switzerland, and Casto Fernández Shaw. The demands for a renovation on the architectural language was extending in Spain, so that the first modern references were built in Spain in 1929: the German Pavilion by Mies in Barcelona (fig. 5) and the Sailing Club by José Manuel 7

The first reinforced concrete construction was built in Puigverd de Lleida, Catalonia, 1893, by the army engineer Francesc Macià. For further information, see: BURGOS NUÑEZ, ANTONIO: “Los orígenes del hormigón armado en España”, Madrid, 2009

9

Aizpurua and Joaquín Labayen in Donostia (fig. 6). As the basis for modern architecture had been settled, a movement of young architects was created, the GATEPAC (Grupo de Arquitectos y Técnicos Españoles para el Progreso de la Arquitectura Contemporánea). It was the first time that a group of Spanish architects, divided into three zones (Centre group formed by architects from Madrid, East group from Catalonia and North group from the Basque Country), reached a consensus and had a common position on how the architecture had to develop and what had to be the architects’ position towards the situation that their country was living.

Fig. 5: pavilion of the German Republic at the Universal Exposition in Barcelona on 1929

Fig. 6: Sailing club of Donostia-San Sebastian on 1929

4. Bilbao experience After the municipal elections of 12th April 1931, a republican-socialist coalition took office in Bilbao. The newly-elected mayor, republican Ernesto Ercoreca, chose his deputy mayor, the independentist Tomás Bilbao, to rule the municipal housing council, the institution responsible for public housing real estate. Tomás Bilbao was born in Bilbao in 1890 and graduated in architecture in Madrid in 1918. He had built years earlier cooperative housing complexes for working-class people. He was concerned on the hygienic agenda on dwelling policies, and worked along with Pedro Ispizua, chief architect of the municipality, in order to create a regulation that could settle the basis for a better quality public housing in the future. It was an ambitious plan based on the proposals made

by Walter Gropius in a lecture that the former director of the Bauhaus academy gave in the Carlton Hotel in Bilbao on 10th November 1930. There, he spoke about functionalism linked to the vernacular tradition, standardisation and the advantages of new construction

10

techniques and materials8 . That conference, according to the media, had the recognition of the audience and a large acceptance between the local architects.

This acceptance, indeed, had been worked out years before by the early conferences of Fernando García Mercadal and after his assistance to the first meeting in La Sarraz (fig. 7). The architects gathered on the Swiss castle agreed to treat the CIAM meeting as forum where the representatives of every country participating could show their developments and a greater debate could be engaged around the topic chosen for each meeting. García Mercadal decided that a national structure of rationalist architects had to be settled in order to discuss the developments of modern architecture and share their designs and researches so that the knowledge could be expanded9 . As rationalism had had a bigger impact in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao and Donostia, García Mercadal spoke to the local architects so that the national group would be created. In the meanwhile, Basque architects José Manuel Aizpurua and Luis Vallejo assisted to the CIRPAC meeting in Basel in 1929 where the topic of functional housing was chosen for the second CIAM meeting in Frankfurt in 1929. Afterwards, Vallejo himself could explain his design with Juan de Madariaga and Joaquín Zarranz for the National Minimal Dwelling Competition (second entry) and the project was published on the catalogue of the CIAM. Bilbao, as an economic centre, was the residence of a progressive bourgeoisie that felt interested in the concepts exposed by the functionalist masters. Therefore, the architects working in Bilbao, who had studied in Barcelona or Madrid, could begin to design in rational patterns for private real estate promotions. The clients refused to ask for artistic and ornamental solutions for their dwellings in order to achieve a greater benefit due to the rationalist style of the designs. Since the success of the proposal of Basque architects in national contests was increasing, the interest of the local architects on the issues presented by their colleagues expanded. This new architectural paradigm made locals move from regionalist interpretations for cheap housing, as Pedro Ispizua did for the journalist cooperative in Ciudad Jardín in 1922 (fig. 8), or art-nouveau approaches on representative building, as Tomás Bilbao did in La Unión y El Fénix building in 1927.

8

For further information of the visits of Walter Gropius to the Basque Country, see the text of MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, FRANCISCO JAVIER: “Presencias y ausencias de Le Corbusier y Walter Gropius en el País Vasco”, p. 457-464 of the book COLOMINA, BEATRIZ: “Viajes En La Transicion de La Arquitectura Espanola Hacia La Modernidad”, Iruñea, 2010.

9

For further information of the creation of GATEPAC team, see the text of CIMADOMO, GUIDO and MARTÍNEZ, PILAR: “Un acercamiento a las vanguardias artísticas”, p. 120-127 of the book of TORRES ALEMÁN, JUAN: “El GATCPAC y su tiempo. Política, cultura y arquitectura de los años 30. Actas V Congreso DOCOMOMO Ibérico”, Barcelona, 2005

11

Fig. 7: CIAM I meeting in La Sarraz, 1928; F. García Mercadal sitting on the left

Fig. 8: Garden city of Bilbao, Pedro Ispizua, Loruri, 1922

As said before, the republican city council decided to invest its efforts on improving the living standards of the poorest people and expanding the access to education to every child. In order to that, the municipality had to build houses and schools in a systematic way that the demands of the society could be rapidly responded, so that a regulation was settled to broaden the hygienic requirements to every new construction (in terms of daylight, minimal sizes, relation with the public space and ventilation). As the new regime showed itself democratic, Tomás Bilbao opened a competition on the first rational dwellings in Bilbao in Solokoetxe neighbourhood. The conditions proposed for the competition were fitted in order to facilitate the participation of GATEPAC members and local architects, so that the results could be useful for further design of the group members.

In the field of education, Bilbao was in an advantaged position, due to the hard work done by previous city councils, that had built an average of a large educational equipment every three years. Even more, the republicans decided to go further and two initiatives were taken. First, as the demands for an institute in Santutxu were increasing, the chief architect of the municipality Pedro Ispizua designed a school that followed the principles of rationalism. In fact, it became a reference for the second initiative of the council, that opened a competition to build a large educational equipment in San Francisco neighbourhood10. Again, the competition was driven by the chief architect following the same principles as the competition for minimal housing, but the winning entry had not been totally built because of the political turmoils of the democratic regime.

10

For further information on the process of the municipal competition for the design of the school in San Francisco, see: MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “La escuela para la democracia. Arquitectura escolar y IIª República”, A Coruña, 2012

12

In fact, the progressive era of the republican government (1931-33) was replaced by a conservative biennium after the general elections of 1933, in which the monarchists and moderate republicans won. They had a belligerent position towards progressive local governments, which made them suspend the city council of different province capitals, as it was the case of Bilbao. The new conservative council decided to stop all the projects developed by the Bilbao-Ispizua tandem that had not been accomplished and those which had not began to be built yet were suspended. The city council was not going to be responsible for the development of the city. As a consequence, it became the time for private real estate.

Fig. 9: Elejabeitia house, Diego Basterra, Deustu, 1933

Fig. 10: house block, Anastasio Arguinzóniz, Indautxu, 1934

As the progressive government focused its efforts on the working-class neighbourhood, the conservative government engaged the private investors to build on the Abando expansion, where first plans of Alzola, Achúcarro and Hoffmeyer had been fulfilled but the second expansion by Ugalde had not been totally accomplished. Some housing complexes where built, restricted to the regulations dictated by the deputy mayor Tomás Bilbao, and the typology of mixed-programme buildings, where private housing was added on top of commercial surfaces and office floors. The main achievement of the rationalism was then realised, because the private investors promoted a progressive language of architecture restricted to progressive building regulations, so even if the conservative government tried to end with the scientific architecture, it was effectively expanded to bigger strata.

In order to identify the common elements of the buildings constructed in the rationalist period, four buildings are proposed to be analysed with further detail:

13

A. Housing block in Zumarraga square, Solokoetxe  

Fig. 11, 12 and 13: basis of the competition for the Solokoetxe housing complex, 1931 (the previous quote about the conditions for the entry have been extracted from this document)

14

Fig. 14: view from the Zumarraga square

Fig. 15: view from the backstreet

As soon as Tomás Bilbao took his office in the municipal housing council in 1931, he decided to engage a new hygiene regulation on the field of construction, so that the future housing and public buildings could guarantee a high level of living quality, in rational terms as daylight and ventilation. In order to apply those principles for the first, he opened a competition that pretended to draw the direction of the rationalist architecture during the following years. First, the deputy mayor inserted some of the conditions of the Existenzminimum (minimal living) exposed at the CIAM II meeting in Frankfurt at 1929, such as: “3rd. The aim pursued on this contest by the MUNICIPAL HOUSING COUNCIL OF BILBAO, is the creation of a type of rational housing oriented according to modern trends, so that it fulfils an essentially social purpose in its dual technical and health aspect, since in the same it is not pursued like main objective a material or economical profit, but to provide Bilbao with housing of the economic type that meets the highest conditions of hygiene and comfort, and as a model or initiation of the constructions that of this sort must be raised in the City, for which it is understood that if these bases are complied with, the Municipal Ordinances in force are not violated.”

As the basis of the competition has a clear positioning, the municipality, in agreement with the GATEPAC, convinced Walter Gropius to be part of the jury during the CIRPAC meeting in Barcelona in 1932. Unfortunately, the meeting was delayed and his seat was taken by a the local Joaquín Zarranz, that was along with Tomás Bilbao, Pedro Ispizua and Manuel Ignacio Galíndez. Several proposals of different GATEPAC teams were submitted and two of them were rewarded: the second prize was for Juan de

15

Madariaga and Luís Vallejo and an accesit prize was given to José Manuel Aizpurua and Joaquín Labayen.11 The winning proposal was made by the local architect Calixto Emiliano Amánn, who optimised the distribution of programme inside repeated bays. This systems guaranteed that every room had direct ventilation to the exterior and that the living room, placed in the same bay as the kitchen and the dining room, would be cross-ventilated through the two facades (fig. 18). This standardised system was repeated throughout the entire U-shape of the block, so that the was an unique detail to be materialised (fig. 16). The facade, totally plane with the exception on the living room galleries, had been chromatically designed in two stucco tones, one contained between the windows and the other contained in the height of the windows (fig. 17). Finally, as the dwellings had a double facade orientation, all of them were designed to have daylight during the entire day.

Fig. 16: view from the inner courtyard

Fig. 17: view from the side street

11For

further information on the Solokoetxe housing contest, see: ARES ÁLVAREZ, ÓSCAR MIGUEL: “La cuestion de la emulación y la importación formal en el GATEPAC. El concurso de viviendas de Solocoeche”, Sevilla, 2012

16

Fig. 18: detail of typology




17

Fig. 19: dwelling floor and section C: kitchen; D: bedroom; S: gallery; V: entrance

 

18

B. School in Iturriaga street, Santutxu As has been said before, education had been a major concern for the republican city council. During the last 15 years, former mayor had approved the construction of school in Iturribide (1915), Zazpikaleak (1918), Indautxu (1918), OllerĂ­as (1922) and Atxuri (1928) and the commercial institute in Indautxu (1926), but the needs of the growing population required to go on with the previous city councils efforts. In 1932, Pedro Ispizua, chief architect of the municipality, opened a competition to build a school in San Francisco, where again the GATEPAC members were called to participate, focusing on the research of the relation of the rooms with the courtyard, in addition to the functionalist basis. Based on those principles, Ispizua itself was asked to design a school in Santutxu, within the same principles of rationalism. Ispizua had earlier built the schools of OllerĂ­as and Atxuri, where advanced hygienic conditions had been proposed, so he had to adapt his knowledge to a modern vocabulary.

Fig. 20: view from the nearby square

Fig. 21: view from the courtyard

Fig. 22: frontal view

Fig. 23: view from the back street

19

He designed a linear block in one extreme of the lot, so that the courtyard would be positioned as the entrance for the neighbourhood square (fig. 20). The facades of the building, protected by large cantilevers, had been orientated on the East-West axis, so that the rooms, disposed through the entire facade along with the library, would have natural daylight throughout the entire day (fig. 21).

The length of the building in order to fit the entire programme of the school was excessive, so the architect designed an intermediate circular volume, breaking the regularity of the building and from which it would rise the tower where the management of the institute had been disposed (fig. 22). This central element gave both recognisability in the neighbourhood, as this artistic column could be seen from the entire Santutxu suburb, and functionality, because it also helped to distribute the exterior space of the school, as an entrance courtyard was disposed separated from the sports courtyard.

The programme of the building is split into two different levels, each one containing two heights. The lower two levels included the common programme as the canteen, the library, the sport facilities related to the courtyards and the kindergarten classes with direct sunlight (fig. 24). The two highest floors contain the main lecture room and classrooms for primary and secondary school, all of the positioned throughout the facade (fig. 25).

In addition, this building established a system for facade design, with a tridimensional approach in which the two plans of the facade are linked by circular elements, creating a softer transition from the first opaque plan to second one by the curved cantilever. 

20

Fig. 24: ground floor




21

Fig. 25: first floor




22

C. Housing complex in Indautxu square, Indautxu

Fig. 26: actual state of the facade

Fig. 27: composition of the building with the later constructions

After the conservative coalition took office on the city council in 1934, Tomás Bilbao went back to his studio12 . He had built a narrow housing block in Ripa quay with a rationalist design of the same year and afterwards was asked to build a block in the centre of the second expansion of Bilbao, Indautxu. The site proposed by the real estate investors was in the central square, with its southern facade orientated to the plaza. It became into the most representative image of the building, where Tomás Bilbao exposed to characteristics of the local interpretation of the rationalism.

Tomás Bilbao had the choice of applying the regulations that he developed as the chief of the municipal housing council. He advocated for a large inner courtyard, big enough to ventilate both rooms and kitchens, so that the dining and living rooms would be orientated to the street facade and the rooms to the quiet courtyard (fig. 30). The interior distribution of the dwelling was facilitated by a corridor running along the sidewall of the nearby building.

The architect transformed the facade into a tridimensional object where two plans could be distinguished: half of the facade had been pulled off to create a balcony (fig. 29).

In order to give continuity from the plane facade with the only window-opening model to the balustrade of the balcony, a curve was generated on the edge of it, so that the addition of the two facade elements generated an only component that had been repeated throughout the entire facade. In addition, this facade’s tridimensionality is also expressed

12

Tomás Bilbao, with the rest of republican councillors of Bilbao, was imprisoned in 1934 due to the opposition of the city council to accept a bill coming from the conservative government. For further information on the topic, see: GRANJA SÁINZ, JOSÉ LUIS DE LA: “1934: Un año decisivo en el País Vasco.

Nacionalismo, socialismo y revolución.”, Bilbao, 2004

23

by the setbacks in the highest levels (6th and 7th floors), generating again exterior balconies orientated to south (fig. 31).

In order to create an identity for the building, Tomรกs Bilbao decided to change the materialisation of the building. The local architecture had had a long tradition of limestucco facades so that the masonry behind would be hidden, because the brick was not considered as a noble material. The architect decided that in order to show with clarity the construction methods, no stucco was required and he designed one of the only brick facades in the expansions of Bilbao (fig. 27).โ ฉ

Fig. 28: drawing of the facade by Tomรกs Bilbao, 1934

24

Fig. 29: ground and dwelling floors




25

Fig. 30: setback floors




26

Fig. 31 and 32: elevation and section

 

27

D. Housing and office building in Albia gardens, Abando

Fig. 33: view of the corner point

Fig. 34: view of the square facade

In 1934, a local insurance company called La Equitativa decided to build its new headquarters in a corner lot of the Albia gardens, the only urban park of the first expansion of Bilbao in the nearby Abando. It was a privileged lot in the new urban tissue of the city, close to the historical city centre and in the core of the first expansion, surrounded by notorious representative buildings, such as the headquarters of the Bank of Bilbao, neoclassical building designed by Pedro GuimĂłn in 1919. The insurance company contacted with a young architect called Manuel Ignacio GalĂ­ndez, who had earlier designed the headquarters of another real estate company in the centre of the expansion, the Elliptic square. In order to fund the construction, the architect was asked to design a commercial ground floor and the offices the insurance on the first floor, with housing programme on the upper floors (fig. 36) While the floor plan did not have special relevance for the research (the dwellings ventilated through the street facade or the inside courtyard where the staircase and the elevator were inserted), the treatment of the facade showed a great understanding of the urban environment and a rational application of its components. As the lot was situated on a corner, the building generated two distinctive facades, one orientated to a minor street where a large curved balcony was disposed every floor, and the other one orientated to the Albia gardens, much more monumental, so that it had to be covered and more representative (fig. 33). In order to that, the balcony of the private street was transformed into a gallery on the public square (fig. 35). In addition, all the facade details as the carpentries had been resolved with a unique solution in wood.

As the two facades differ and generate a misbalance, the union point between the two of them had to be representative, an interesting issue for promoting the owner of the 28

building, La Equitativa. For that, Galíndez designed a tower at the corner, so that it could be recognised from every point of the gardens, but as the facades were not equals, the two facades of the tower had to be different. Therefore, the architect decided that the tower would be divided into two, one of that became into an orthogonal body related to the park facade, and a rounded corner volume that encouraged to introduce the curved elements on the private facade. In the top of it, he added a clock, a mast and an artwork of the Basque sculpture Joaquín Lucarini, who built a 2,35 meter granite allegory of the justice (fig. 34). 

Fig. 35: side street elevation

Fig. 36: dwelling floor plan

29

5. Post-war period On 17th July 1936, some nationalist military had risen against the democratic government and some days later the Spanish Civil War began. Bilbao had fallen into fascist power on July 1937. Biscay had been devastated by the airstrikes of German and Italian allies and entire cities had to be rebuilt. As the efforts of nationalist provisional government were to end the conquer of the remaining republican territories, cities as Barakaldo, Durango or Gernika, where hundreds of people died, rested in ruins. Those who fought to defend the republican regime, if not executed, were forced to work on the demolition of the legacy of the war, so that they could afterwards work on the reconstruction of the old cities.

The case of the city of Bilbao (as many other cities during the civil war) was significant in terms of destruction. Whereas the industrial periphery of the city had been untouched by the rebels, the urban core of the city was devastated. The airstrikes, consisting on explosive and fire bombs combined with machine-gunshots destroyed several houses of the old town and the first expansion. Moreover, the Basque government decided to blow up the bridges of the city (fig. 37), so that the progress of general Mola’s troops could be slowed down and the gudaris, soldiers loyal to the Basque government, could retreat and continue the defence of the republic from the West in Santander.

The citizens suffered the misery after the defeat. Five months after Madrid had fallen into fascist power, Germany invaded Poland. Even if Spain had declared itself nonbelligerent, the fascist regime of general Franco supplied military and logistics during World War II, so that the material to rebuild urban environment was almost inexistent.

Entire neighbourhoods were living in the few remaining buildings and lived from food rationing coupons. As the Allies troops were defeating the Nazi regime, Franco stopped sending supplies to the German troops in order to whiten its image as a neutral regime towards the global conflict, but it did not work because Spain had been excluded from the United Nations, where the Basque government had sent a representative until 1951, and the creation of the process of European construction13.

The isolation of the francoist Spain from international funding forced the regime to develop an autarchic agenda where the remaining industries from the civil became the

13

The president of the Basque Autonomous government, lehendakari José Antonio Aguirre y Lecube, participated in The Hague Congress in 1948 and was nominated as honorific vice-president of the Nouvelle équipes internationales (NEI). For further information, see the text: ARRIETA ALBERDI, LEYRE: “Red de relaciones europeas del PNV (1945-1977)”, p. 313-331 of the book: UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID “Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea, volumen 30”, Madrid, 2008

30

main engine of the economy. Bilbao’s metropolitan area had a long industrial tradition that had received tens of thousands of migrants who wanted to improve their lives. As the works for the reconstruction of the city had not advanced, the immigrants coming from the rural areas had to build themselves some provisional settlements in the skirts of the mountains surrounding Bilbao: Monte Caramelo and Uretamedi in Arraiz mountain, Otxarkoaga in Avril mountain and Arangoiti in Banderas mountain (fig. 38). It was prohibited to build without a government license, but the regime permitted their construction during the night, so that more labour could come in order to work for the industries.

Fig. 37: ruins of the Isabel II bridge, 1937

Fig. 38: barracks in Uretamendi slum, in the skirts of Arraiz mountain, 1940s

The isolationism of the regime made itself refuse any foreign influence on the culture, as far as it had been “purified by the Spanish crusade”. Intellectuals and liberal middle-class citizens had to exile in order to avoid the political repression and develop their knowledge abroad. That happened to many architects from the GATEPAC, mainly because they had supported the Republic from its very beginning, as it was the case, for example, of the deputy mayor of Bilbao, the architect Tomás Bilbao, who took further political responsibilities on the Basque government as secretary for infrastructure and building damage assessment and later became ambassador of the republic in Perpignan, France, and political minister of the Juan Negrín socialist government14 . This fact made the regime very reactive towards the rationalist movement and tried to build a new national image by taking back what Franco considered to be the very essence of Spain, a 14

A large republican colony was formed in Mexico, in which Basque architects Tomás Bilbao and Juan de Madariaga worked due to their implications with the democratic institutions during the Spanish Civil War. For further information, see the text: CUETO RUIZ-FUNES, JUAN IGNACIO DEL: “Presencia del exilio vasco en la arquitectura mexicana”, p. 11-44 of the book: EUSKO IKASKUNTZA: “Revista internacional de estudios vascos”, Donostia, 2008

31

mannerist revival up to the image of the palace of El Escorial. Even that, as the cities had begun to be rebuilt by private investors, the existing techniques of construction were limited to the ones used by the rationalists with a higher economical rationality, due to the scarcity of material. Ironically though, the first architectural models being built by the regime seemed to be rationalist as before the war (fig. 39). In order to differentiate the francoist constructions to the republicans, the artistic presence on the designs was eliminated and some ornamental additions were made.

As the geopolitical context after World War II shifted from the original fascismdemocracy duality to the capitalism-communism vision, the Franco regime began to be seen as a fierce anti-communist government, so the United States agreed to establish relationships with the dictator, Spain was accepted in the United Nations Assembly and France opened its border. As the first foreign currencies arrived, the regime moved its economical policies from the autarchy to a free-market capitalism with strategic nationalised sectors of the economy. The economical situation improved and permitted some kind of opening of the regime, without recognising basic civil and political rights; mainly it was focused on the image of the country, that had to attract tourists as an economical strategy. The devastated cities had to look cosmopolitan, so the buildings had to speak in the same language as the Western democracies, and that became the guideline of the regime: Spanish cities had to copy the models of American cities, dealing between the postmodern and the neoclassical architectures (fig. 40).

Fig. 39: Urquinaona skyscraper by LuísGutiérrez Soto in Barcelona, 1944

Fig. 40: España building by Julián Otamendi in Madrid, 1953

In order to follow the development of the post-war architecture in Spain, from the first post-rationalist buildings to the first post-modern constructions, four buildings are proposed to be analysed with further detail: 32

A. Housing complex on the edge of Indautxu square, Indautxu

Fig. 41: view of the corner

Fig. 42: detail of the facade meeting the corner

During the first years of the forties, the reconstruction slowly had begun. Even if the main efforts were destined to rebuild the bombed buildings, some private investors took advantage from the harsh social and political context for their own benefit because of their affinity to the new regime. As the private promotions succeeded, the first expansion of the city in Abando had been finished and the second was under construction. Those first promotions, though, were designed following the techniques that guided the architecture of the city throughout the republican regime, so that the final projects did not look like the way the regime wanted.

The architect Rafael Fontรกn was asked in 1943 to build a housing block at the intersection of Ercilla and Urquijo streets, on a sharp-angled lot that directly looked at the Indautxu square facing to it. He decided that, in addition to the south and west orientations of the facades, the sharp angle had to be key point of his design (fig. 41). In order to soften it, the architect used a common solution at the rationalist design, the double-depth facade with curved cantilevers and balustrades giving continuity to the facade plan, but in this particular case, the angle of the building itself would generate the curve (fig. 44).

Furthermore, a top volume was designed, without facade perturbations, standing on a controlling position over the square and breaking the volumetric unity with the surroundings, even if the main block respected the height of the nearby buildings.

In order to insert the block on the urban environment, Rafael Fontรกn decided not coat the facade with white stucco as some rationalist architects did years before, but to refer to the nearby building raised by Tomรกs Bilbao in 1934. The facade was completed in brick and the carpentries were designed so that they could fit on plane and curved surfaced. In addition, the carpentries were painted with the same green tone (fig.42).โ ฉ 33

Fig. 43: ground floor




34

Fig. 44: dwelling floor




35

B. Office and workshop in Rafaela Ybarra street, Deustu

Fig. 45: frontal view of the building

Fig. 46: view to the corner

As the industry had not been destroyed by the military during the Civil War, the steelwork and naval factories had began to operate in order to supply from steel the military industry. As a consequence, smaller manufacturers that produced the components for the machines used in the big industries and their replacements opened back their businesses, if they had not participated on the conflict supporting the republican regime, with a bigger market and smaller competence. Those new manufacturers had to expand their factories due to the demand (fig. 49, 50 and 51).

Correas El Tigre was an industrial belt producing company. It had in property a oneheight garage in the riverbank of the estuary of Bilbao, in the district of Deustu. The former municipal architect Pedro Ispizua was contacted in order to extend the building and increase the working space surface for higher production (fig. 53 and 54). The original floor plans principles were respected, with the courtyard in the sidewall so that the workshop would have crossed ventilation, but as the company bought the nearby building at the riverbank and the existing office space had increased, all the separation walls were torn down, so that the spatial feeling of the office space would be the same as the atmosphere in the working space. The height of the building was increased in three commercial floors and an attic (fig. 52 and 56).

As the value of the facade was inexistent, the architect decided to tear it down and build a new one with larger standardised openings for daylight and ventilation and a clear composition of the facade into two parts: the facade of the working space was covered brickwork without ornamentation whereas the office space was cladded with cream-colour stucco, as it was the ground floor (fig. 47).

36

Finally, as the building was positioned a privileged site in the riverbank, 500 meters away from the university and in the corner of a block, Ispizua decided that the building had to stand out from the rest of the constructions nearby. He spoke to his friend Joaquín Lucarini, who had designed the sculptures of the Club Deportivo of Bilbao built by the architect in 1929. They decided to transform the sculpture into an advertisement of the brand, because the artwork could be seen from every point of the riverbank, so Lucarini worked out a nine meter long concrete tiger for Correas el Tigre (fig. 48).

Fig. 47: view from the side street

Fig. 48: detail of the sculpture by Joaquín Lucarini

37

Fig. 49: original design of the building in elevation and sections

 

38

Fig. 50 and 51: original ground and office floors

 

39

Fig. 52: elevation of the street after expansion




40




Fig. 53: expanded ground floor

Fig. 54: expanded office floor

41

Fig. 55 and 56: expanded section and square elevation

 

42

C. Housing development in the margins of the river, San Inazio

Fig. 57: view of the exterior facade

Fig. 58: view of the interior facade

The post-war increased the ongoing housing demand of both native citizens that had lost their houses during the bombings and the rural immigrants escaping from misery and repression in the countryside. The skirts of the mountains constraining Bilbao were inhabited by auto-constructed houses in the slope, built with the ruins of the demolished buildings and leftovers of the industries, with constant danger of landslides due to the poor foundations and the rainy weather of the city. The first slums were built in Artxanda and Arraiz during the night, as it was not permitted by law to build without license during daytime.

In order to lighten the problem of housing, the Obra Social del Hogar of the ruling Falange movement asked the architects Germรกn Aguirre, Hilario Imaz and Luis Lorenzo Blanc in 1944 to design an entire neighbourhood of consisting in 1069 dwellings built in different blocks. The project also included the urbanisation of the surroundings, because the site had earlier been used for agriculture and industrial waste disposal on of the riverbank industries, six different typologies of housing blocks so that the neighbourhood would not be repetitive and several equipments, such as a casino, a church and a sports centre with football field and running track. In addition, some other public space interventions were proposed in some empty corners of the blocks, such as green surfaces with trees and small sport fields (fig. 59 and 60).

The standard A typology was an U-shaped five-storey high block with two dwellings by floor in each staircase (fig. 61). Every dwelling had all of its rooms ventilating from the facade and the house was organised through an small corridor in the centre, giving access to every compartmentalised space (fig. 62 and 63). The facade was a continuous plan interrupted by some accidental balconies on the corners and cladded with different tones of cream stuccos (fig. 57 and 58). The chosen roofing came back to the traditional pitched 43

roof covered with tiles, so that the image of the modern flat roofs would be avoided (fig. 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68).

As the periods of construction and the budget were running off, the variety of typologies decreased so that the design solutions would minimised to the minimal. This first housing development by the regime opened the door to fast building processes for reallocating working-class people living in the slums. Further developments, though, would increase the density of the neighbourhoods in harsher topographical situations as the neighbourhood of Otxarkoaga in the skirts of Monte Avril. 

Fig. 59: view of the inner courtyard

Fig. 60: view of the public space surrounding the blocks

44

Fig. 61: dwelling floor with repeated typologies and corner exceptions

 

45

Fig. 62: detail of a typology

 

46

Fig. 63 and 64: corner typologies and section

 

47

Fig. 65 and 66: long interior and exterior facades

 

48

 

Fig. 67 and 68: short interior and exterior facades

49

D. Office building in the Main Street, Abando

Fig. 69: drawing of the building by Manuel I. Galíndez, 1950

Fig. 70: view from the back corner

In 1950, as the economical conjuncture had improved, the Hispanic American Bank decided to expand its business to every province capital of Spain. The bank decided that they had to show the economic power of the company by their buildings, so that the representativity of it had to be clear, as if it were public institution. In order to achieve that goal, the bank spoke with the architect Manuel Ignacio Galíndez, who had years before built the headquarters of two insurance companies in the same district of Abando.

Galíndez decided to design a building that could be considered as a “temple of the money” (fig. 69).

The architect created an ornamental envelop for the facade, in which the classical and Renaissance references are the most notorious elements: rustic ground floor on a darker tone, a double-depth facade in the noble floors, where the window surface had been disposed behind some sculptural giant-order ionic pilasters and a more refined stone-cladding for the outer layer of the facade, and a stepped back attic where a Greeklooking sculpture and the name of the bank were disposed (fig. 72).

The interior of the building is organised around a central atrium that illuminated the atmosphere, so that it would contain the major circulations on its surrounding, while in the upper floors it would became the air-scape for the interior offices. It would include the majority of the entrances to the offices, placed on the perimeter of the building, that would be sunbathed by natural daylight. The vertical communications were disposed on the blind sidewall of the building so that no facade practicable space would be wasted (fig. 71).

To sum up, this building could be considered as the first modern monumental building in Bilbao, after an experience that had lasted for 20 years and has harshly survived after the Spanish Civil War. 50

Fig. 71: office floor




51

Fig. 72: elevation




52

Fig. 73: section




53

6. Conclusions The ten years prior to the Spanish Civil War had supposed a big transformation in the city of Bilbao. Even if the industry had transformed the urban landscape years before by the insertion of big steelwork factories and smaller industrial workshop on the riverbanks of the estuary of Bilbao and the industrial activity had reported to the wealth of the city, the working-class, who was the workforce of that industry, did not get any wealth back. In order to equilibrate the distribution of the wealth, the city council decided to provide minimal solutions for housing, education and health, even if they were not sufficient at all, due to constant rural immigration.

This exposed situation could also be referred to the architecture of the city. The building been constructed from the late 1890s on brought new materials, but that technical innovation did not suppose an aesthetic renovation. The developed design tended to develop repetitive solution for the interiors while the only design of the building was about the facade and the ornamentation of its elements: balustrades, sculptures, window-frames, etc. In those first tries of municipal housing and equipments, the chief architects of the municipality faced the challenge of introducing modern concepts as the reinforced concrete or the cross-ventilation while dealing with the ruling decorative movement.

Rationality adorned with ornamentation, purism mixed with the baroque.

As some of the first housing tries of the modernist showed, the art could be included in a rational design by the clarity of its elements and the volumetric composition of the building, rather than by adding some artistic objects, autonomous from the building and its design process. The art had to be inserted on the architectural process and not at the final result, as the floor plans of the Ville Stein of Le Corbusier show.

Fig. 74: Montero house, first building which was built on a concrete structure, 1904

Fig. 75: detail of a painted facade in Indautxu square, 1929

54

After decades of eclectic and art nouveau facade designs, rationalist architecture introduced a new image to the city by a reinterpretation of the facades, where its tridimensional composition and the curved connection of the different plans of the facade had become the major artistic consideration of the facades. Furthermore, a common vernacular construction element was introduced for the facade design, whereas it had being formerly used for interior walls and rural and industrial buildings.

This new style had been widely accepted by the local professionals, so that the image of the city gradually evolved during the years of the republic. The architects were confident on the rationalist techniques for designing, but as the regime changed and different traditions were imported, local architects kept their design methods, which built part of the second expansion of the city.

Rationalist architecture, though, became the expression of modernity for a regime in which the architects actively participated. Tomás Bilbao’s decisive commitment towards improving the processes and the quality of the architecture in terms of functionality and hygiene. The architect decided to participate in the political playground as other professionals had done before (architect Gregorio Ibarreche had been the mayor between 1907 and 1909, the same as Juan Arancibia who ruled from 1922 to 1923). In this particular case, as the architect was concerned with the modernist ideology, he worked together with the chief architect of the municipality Pedro Ispizua in order to introduce an hygienic agenda on the municipal building regulations, in addition to the municipal competitions on housing and educational equipment. As the architectural debate was driven by rationalist architects, who shared their experiences with other GATEPAC architects, local professionals enthusiastically assumed the modernist ideology in such a way that it was the case of Calixto Emiliano Amánn, a local architect, who better interpreted the functionalist basis of the Solokoetxe housing competition and not the modernist GATEPAC members. In addition, several private promotions within the rationalist style were raised by the local architects, that totally assumed the principles dictated by the architect involved in politics.

“Rationalism had been an exceptional period in the history of the architecture of Bilbao”, states Ibon Areso Mendiguren, architect and mayor of Bilbao from 2014 to 2015.

“It became into a symbol of an era, but the concepts within rationalism went beyond that era”.15 Mr. Areso had been responsible for Abandoibarra regeneration plan as municipal architect and would afterwards be commissioned for the Guggenheim museum

15

The transcription of the quote rationalism in Bilbao is attached in the Bibliography chapter.

55

competition as a city council representative. “I had the opportunity to work on a redevelopment plan of a post-industrial site (…) the fact that I have worked on the both sides of the project, first as an architect and afterwards as a politician made me understand the complexity of a discipline (architecture) that, even if it is artistic, it is strongly regulated by the public institutions”.16 Finally, he acknowledges the paper of the architect on public policy decision. “As the architecture has a public component and the politics are the tool to improve the life of the citizens in every sense, from their job stability to the urban environment where they live, it can be positive our participation (as architects) in politics in order to improve the ground conditions for a better city. It is obvious that we are more concerned than a lawyer on built environments and not just in parametric data”, he comments.17 Although it is true that the designs in which there has been complicity between the politicians and the architects the final result has had a better feedback by the society, it cannot be considered as an accurate fact that the political participation of the architects guarantees a better urban environment in every city. The case of republican Bilbao shows how the intervention of some architects on a certain period in which there was an architectural and a political revolution brought the best possible results to the city. As mayor Areso would conclude, “the rationalist architects showed a good method on how things can be done in architecture in order to benefit the citizens, we have to learn from that experience to develop future better designs”.18

Fig. 76: image of the riverbank of the estuary of the industrial Bilbao, 1970 16

Fig. 77: image of the riverbank of the estuary of the post-industrial Bilbao, 2017

The transcription of the quote about the Guggenheim process is attached in the Bibliography chapter.

17

The transcription of the quote about the implication of architects in politics is attached in the Bibliography chapter.

18

The transcription of the quote about the outcome of the rationalist period in Bilbao is attached in the Bibliography chapter.

56

7. Acknowledgments As this research deepens into the architecture and politics of the city of Bilbao, special thanks must be given to those who have facilitated general information for the thesis, specially the Foral Library of Bizkaia, which had shared the books attached on the reference list.

A consideration must be done to professors Marie-Thérèse van Thoor and Iris Burgers, who have guided the research and have facilitated the access to the referenced archives Special thanks must be given to the archive workers who have prepared the files included in this thesis, Felipe Pozuelo form the Foral Archive of Bizkaia, who facilitated the code references for the building expedients of housing complex in Indautxu square by Tomás Bilbao, and David Maroto from the Municipal Archive of Bilbao, who arranged a visit to the Municipal Archive of Bilbao in which he disposed all the archive files included in this thesis, in addition to some other complementary information about the buildings, such as the Solokoetxe housing block competition basis (attached) or an original budget and disposal of material from a San Inazio housing block.

Finally, an special acknowledgement must be done to the former mayor of Bilbao from 2014 to 2015, mr. Ibon Areso Mendiguren, for his patience and regardless to settle an extensive interview of over two hours, in which he exposed his view about different topics considered in this thesis and gave a wider view of the relationship between architecture and politics in the history of Bilbao.

Thank you all for the collaboration.

Eskerrik asko danoi zuen laguntzagatik.

57

8. Bibliography References: • AZPIRI ALBÍSTEGUI, A.: “Urbanismo en Bilbao: 1900-1930”, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2000 • BILBAO SALSIDUA, M.: “Pedro Ispizua. Aportaciones a la arquitectura bilbaína de preguerra”, Bilbao, 2004 • GARCÍA TORRE, B. and F.: “Bilbao arquitectura”, Bilbao, 2009 • MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “Arquitectura racionalista en Bilbao (1927-1950). Tradición y modernidad en la era de la máquina”, Bilbao, 2011 • MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “Arquitectura racionalista en San Sebastián. Las conferencias de Fernando García Mercadal y Walter Gropius”, Bilbao, 2004 • MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “CIAM. Frankfurt. 1929. La exposición sobre vivienda mínima y el País Vasco: contribuciones e influencias”, Pamplona, 2004 • MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “Habitar las periferias urbanas: la gestión de la vivienda en los márgenes de la ciudad de Bilbao”, Bilbao, 2007 • MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “La contribución racionalista al problema de la vivienda. El grupo municipal de Solocoeche como modelo”, Bilbao, 2007 • MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “La vivienda de los años 30 en Bilbao. Las casa de vecindad y la Nueva Arquitectura, Bilbao, 2004 • SANTAS TORRES, A.: “Urbanismo y vivienda en Bilbao. Veinte años de posguerra”, Bilbao, 2007 • SANTAS TORRES, A.: “La vivienda racional en el Gran Bilbao”, Bilbao, 2004 • SANZ ESQUIDE, J.A.: “La tradición de lo nuevo en el País Vasco. La arquitectura de los años 30”, Barcelona, 1988 • SANZ ESQUIDE, J.A.: “El periodo heroico de la arquitectura moderna en el País Vasco (1928-1930)”, Sant Cugat del Vallès, 2004 Footnotes: 1. CARR, RAYMOND: “Spain: A History”, Oxford, 2001.

2. MOLINER PRADA, ANTONIO (ed.): “La Semana Trágica de Cataluña”, Barcelona, 2009.

3. JULIÀ, SANTOS: “La Constitución de 1931”, Madrid, 2009.

4. BENEVOLO, LUDOVICO: “History of modern architecture”, Massachussets, 1977.

5. BENEVOLO, LUDOVICO: “History of modern architecture”, Massachussets, 1977.

6. JEANNERET, CHARLES-ÉDOUARD: “Vers une architecture”, Paris, 1923.

58

7. BURGOS NUÑEZ, ANTONIO: “Los orígenes del hormigón armado en España”, Madrid, 2009.

8. COLOMINA, BEATRIZ: “Viajes En La Transicion de La Arquitectura Espanola Hacia La Modernidad”, Iruñea, 2010.

9. TORRES ALEMÁN, JUAN: “El GATCPAC y su tiempo. Política, cultura y arquitectura de los años 30. Actas V Congreso DOCOMOMO Ibérico”, Barcelona, 2005 10. MUÑOZ FERNÁNDEZ, F.J.: “La escuela para la democracia. Arquitectura escolar y IIª República”, A Coruña, 2012 11. ARES ÁLVAREZ, ÓSCAR MIGUEL: “La cuestion de la emulación y la importación formal en el GATEPAC. El concurso de viviendas de Solocoeche”, Sevilla, 2012 12. GRANJA SÁINZ, JOSÉ LUIS DE LA: “1934: Un año decisivo en el País Vasco.

Nacionalismo, socialismo y revolución.”, Bilbao, 2004 13. UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID: “Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea, volumen 30”, Madrid, 2008 14. EUSKO IKASKUNTZA: “Revista internacional de estudios vascos”, Donostia, 2008 Transcriptions (in Spanish, referred quote at the conclusions in bold): 15. “El racionalismo fue un periodo excepcional en la historia de la arquitectura de Bilbao. Se convirtió en el símbolo de una era, aunque su experiencia fue más allá. Fue la primera vez que un movimiento cultural, artístico, desempeñó semejante transformación.”

16. “Tuve la oportunidad de trabajar en un plan de regeneración urbana en un emplazamiento post-industrial, el Plan Director de Abandoibarra junto con Joseba Arregui del Gobierno Vasco y Juan Luís Laskurain de la Diputación. En mi caso, como representante del ayuntamiento y antiguo arquitecto de la Oficina Municipal, el hecho de que hubiese trabajado en las dos partes del proyecto, primero en el planeamiento urbano de la zona y después como representante político, me hizo entender mejor la complejidad de una disciplina que, aunque sea artística, está muy regulada por las instituciones.”

17. “Sí. Puesto que la arquitectura tiene un componente público y la política es la herramienta para mejorar las condiciones de vida de sus ciudadanos, desde la certeza económica relativa a los puestos de trabajo hasta el espacio urbano en el que viven, puede ser positiva nuestra participación en política para mejorar las condiciones para vivir en una ciudad mejor. Obviamente, 59

nosotros estamos más preocupados la calidad del entorno urbano que un abogado preocupado por los datos y las estadísticas.”

18. “El estilo racionalista desapareció durante la dictadura porque ningún estilo sobrevive, todos mueren en algún momento, pero los arquitectos racionalistas nos enseñaron una buena manera de cómo hacer una arquitectura al servicio de los ciudadanos, tenemos que aprender de esta experiencia para mejorar nuestros futuros proyectos.”

Images: 1. http://ep00.epimg.net/diario/imagenes/2012/01/11/cultura/ 1326236404_740215_0000000000_noticia_normal.jpg 2. http://unilateral.cat/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/macià-proclamació.gif 3. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/The_Kiss_-_Gustav_Klimt__Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg 4. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mondrian-no-vi-composition-no-ii-t00915 5. http://www.archa.gr/media-library/4f7204e149704.jpg 6. http://blogs.elpais.com/.a/6a00d8341bfb1653ef017c32436a00970b-pi 7. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aMVPJvnWTvM/U3TYXlMqhHI/AAAAAAAAFWo/ PQnmcXzj6CY/s1600/teamx.png 8. http://globalkultura.net/documents/P_ImageFull/550550_P_ImageFull_155.jpg 9. own collection; photography taken on 29th December 2015 10. own collection; photography taken on 25th December 2014 11. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA BASTIDA 604543 12. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA BASTIDA 604543 13. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA BASTIDA 604543 14. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 15. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 16. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 17. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 18. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA BASTIDA 604543 19. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA BASTIDA 604543 20. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 21. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 22. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 23. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 60

24. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1-6-29 25. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1-6-29 26. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 27. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 28. Foral Archive of Bizkaia, ref. ENSANCHE 0126/017 29. Foral Archive of Bizkaia, ref. ENSANCHE 0126/017 30. Foral Archive of Bizkaia, ref. ENSANCHE 0126/017 31. Foral Archive of Bizkaia, ref. ENSANCHE 0126/017 32. Foral Archive of Bizkaia, ref. ENSANCHE 0126/017 33. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 34. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 35. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 3-2-7 36. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 3-2-7 37. http://www.cinturondehierro.net/Portals/0/infografia/fotos/370619-3.jpg 38. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GvJ0foqveBs/TQP06Moe8rI/AAAAAAAAARo/dsGxt3tIXo/s1600/resized_027+Uretamendi.jpg 39. h t t p s : / / u p l o a d . w i k i m e d i a . o r g / w i k i p e d i a / c o m m o n s / 4 / 4 8 / Edifici_Fàbregas,_gratacel_Urquinaona_(I).jpg 40. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Edificio_España_-_05.jpg 41. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 42. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 43. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 4-5-31 44. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 4-5-31 45. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 46. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 47. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 48. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 49. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 50. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 51. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 52. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 53. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 54. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 55. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 56. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 1A-5-89 61

57. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 58. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 59. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 60. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 61. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 62. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 63. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 64. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 65. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 66. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 67. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 68. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO SB-1252 69. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 70. own collection; photography taken on 9th April 2017 71. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 45-5-57 72. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 45-5-57 73. Municipal Archive of Bilbao, ref. AMB-BUA AYTO 45-5-57 74. own collection; photography taken on 27th December 2014 75. own collection; photography taken on 25th December 2014 76. https://s30.postimg.org/v585foytt/1970.07.26_205-298.jpg 77. https://i2.wp.com/aboutbasquecountry.eus/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/1032-3188Abandoibarra.jpg

62