campobaeza

Works and Projects

with an essay by Antonio Pizza

Antonio Pizza teaches History of Art and
Architecture at the Escola Tecnica Superior
d'Arquitectura in Barcelona. He writes for several
international magazines. His publications include
Guida all'architecttura del Novecento. Spagna
(Milan, 1997), Josep Lluis Serf i la Mediterrania
(Barcelona, 1997), Paul Scheerbart, La arquitectura
de cristal (Murcia, 1998), Londres- Paris. Teoria,
Arte y Arquitectura en la cuidad moderna
(Barcelona, 1998) and Arte y Arquitectura
moderna. 1851 -1 933 (Barcelona, 1999).

Editorial Gustavo Gili, SA

08029 Barcelona. Rossello. 87-89
Tel. 93 322 8161 - Fax 93 322 9205
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.ggili.com

- ^
 with an essay by Antonio Pizza

Alberto Campo Baeza

Works and Projects

GG ®
Original title: Alberts Cnm-po Baeza
English translation:
Paul Hammond,Stephen Thome

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright

herein may he reproduced or used in any form or by any means
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representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of
the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal
responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be
made.

© Electa, Milano. I'M)

r;iemond Editori Associati
for i he English version
Editorial Gustavo ihli. S.\. Barcelona, t999

ISBN: 84-252-1781-4
%1in
i Italy
 Contents

7 The Quest for Abstract Architecture: 86 Garcia Marcos House. Valdemoro, Madrid
Alberto Campo Baeza 92 Extension to a secondary school, Velilla de San
Antonio Pizza Antonio, Madrid

96 Four villas, Spanish Embassy. Algiers

Works and Projects !)!) 'Janus" House, Reggio Emilia. Italia
20 Festival Hall, Santander 100 Caspar House. Zahora. Cadiz
27 Parador Nacional, Cuenca 104 'Drago' school, Cadiz

28 Garcia del Valle House. Ciudad Santo Domingo,

M0( Public library, Orihuela, Alicante
Algete, Madrid 114 Cultural center, Villaviciosa de Odon, Madrid

30 Fominaya House, Ciudad Santo Doniingo. Algete. 116 Phimarmonic Hall, Copenhagen
Madrid
118 Public housing. H'iza
31 T'i<Sessional Training Center, Vitoria 120 Extension to a school. Loeches. Madi'id
32 Professional Training Center. Pamplona 122 Bullring. Villaviciosa de Odon, Madrid
33 Pn ifessii >nal Training Outer. Salamanca
t$$ Main Library. Universidad de Alicante, Alicante
36 Balseirn House, Ciudad Lineal, Madrid
126 Public school, Chatillon, France
37 Colegio Oficial rle Arquited iis, Seville
128 Centre Balear de Innovation Tecnologica, Inca,
38 Universidad Laboral. Almeria Majorca
4(» Cathedral square, Almeria 135 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Madru I
42 Town Hall. Fene, Fa Corona 1M6 Classrooms and laboratories. Universitat Pompeu
Fabra, Barcelona
-15 Cultiu*al center. Guernica, Vizcaya
1:18 Elsa Peretti Museum, Sant Marti Veil, Girona
46 Nursery school. Aspe, Alicante
51 Nursery sciu >ol.( 'revillente, Alicante 140 Public housing, Falcinelo-Carabanchel. Madrid
52 Nursery school, Onil, Alicante 142 Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium, Majadahonda,
Madrid
54 Gymnasium, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid
144 Porta dei Fiori, S. Dona di Piave, Venice
56 Public school, San Sebastian de los Reyes. Madrid
146 South Tenerife Airport, Tenerife
59 Nursery school, San Sebastian de los Reyes. Madrid
152 National Museum of Maritime Archaeology,
62 Extension to a school, Aluche, Madrid Cartagena
64 Public school, San Fermfn, Madrid 156 Pino House, Vicalvaro, Madrid
70 High Performance Sports Center, Las Rozas, 158 Junta de Andalucia Offices, Almeria
.Madrid
160 Caja General de Ahorros, Granada
71 Public housing. La Vina, Vallecas. Madrid
72 Turegano House, Pozuelo, Madrid
Appendices
7N -.Iestis del Pozo' store. Madrid
SO Public school. Loeches, Madrid 168 Biography
170 List of works
Extension to the Escuela de Arquitectura de
Madrid, Madrid 171 Bibliogi'aphy

84 Dalmau House, Burgos 173 Collaborators

85 Arco, Madrid 173 Photo credits

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The Quest for Abstract Architecture:
Alberto Campo Baeza
byAnlxmio &ia&a

A .Iberto Cain])!) Baeza graduated feoim the

Escuela de Arquiteetura de Madrid in 1971. He belongs to that group of Spanish architects
which hail the good fortune to experience first-hand the gradual though decisive period of
transition -most notably in the political sphere- which led to the reinstatement of democ-
ratic, non-military government in Spain after the period of autarchic, dictatorial rule thai
ended with the death of Franco in 1975, a historic event that has since been Interpreted in
widely differing ways. From the very beginning. Campo Baeza's architecture has been one
of transition, a gradual shift from early exercises reflecting -for better or worse- stubbornly
localist architectural concerns, towards a form of abstraction based on a 'disregard' for the
spa! ial. temporal, social and cultural contexts of architecture.
Recent historical studies of Spanish architecture have tended on the whole to be taxonomic.
Thus. 1970s architecture in Madrid -a city then coming to grips with a burgeoning demand
for housing, and anxiously intent on building a new political identity to counteract the dan-
gerous centra&t tendencies of the Franco era- is usually defined as eclectic, an amalgam of
diverse 'rationalisms' and 'realisms' and their respective 'neo-' and 'post-' variations.
As always, it is difficult to see the critical value of labels like these. -^^ while it seems point-
less to insist on the already overworked notion of parochial rivalry between Barcelona and
Madrid, attempts to determine the exact percentages of borrowed styles in the more or less
efficacious persona] mix of any architect you care to choose seem equally unhelpful for the
purposes of this present study. In the end. approaches of this type merely generate tedious
lists whose only usefulness is to please critics obsessed with origins, influences, alignments
and divergences. As serious critical tools, they are virtually worthless.
However, genealogical approaches can be a good deal more productive in reconstructing the
unique background of an architect, and in defining the nature and extent of his idiosyncrat-
ic engagement with a specific architectural context and culture.
Really outstanding teachers were few and far between when ( Jampo Baeza was at universi-
ty. His memoirs are virtually silent about his own teachers, though he does mention Rafael
Aburto - architect of the former head office of the Pueblo newspaper in Madrid (1958-19.")!))
and, with F. de Asis Cabrero, of the Trade Union Building, also in Madrid (1949-1951) - un-
der whose supervision he graduated brilliantly at the end of his course. More important were
the elective masters of his apprentice years, who had a stronger and more enduring influ-
Alberto Campo ence on Ins early career. These figures provide a more likely starting-point for any attempt
. Public school to define and contextualize his work, and to trace the process that gradually led to the dis-
(project^, Loeehes,
Madrid, W9& tillation of his unique personal style.

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Many iliustci- .us names have figured in Campo Baeza's crowded life -the influences he him-
self has cited range from Le ('orbusier and Mies van der Rohe to Barragan and Tadao Ando-
but I think he learned more important things from a select band of twentieth-century
Spanish architects whom he personally knew and sometimes even worked with: Javier Car-
vajal, Francisco Javier Saenz de Oiza. Alejandro de la Sota and Julio Cano Lasso. Carvajal -
the architect, with R. Garcia de Casiro. of one of postwar Spanish architecture's most em-
blematic buildings, the School of Alts Estudis Mercantils in Barcelona (1954-1961) - is most
admired by Campo Baeza for his "extreme musicality." "Carvajal," he says, "shows a sur-
prising ability to articulate space, the same mastery of sequential spacing you find in the ar-
chitects of the Alhambra, a building he much admires. His plans, elevations and sections de-
velop so fluently that his buildings seem the most natural things in the world. Everything
translates into forms of great power, though not into form for form's sake. His kind of form
is a distillation of the circumstances and constraints that determine architectural necessity.*'
1'orvajcU,-,//, Significantly, at a recent conference in Pamplona (1998) on Carvajal's professional and teach-
R, Garcia<kCastro, . _,
the School oj \ /> m S career, ( ampo Baeza made a detailed analysis of the Barcelona building, drawing atten-
/^'"t,;!^ '""''''*' tion t0 its evident linearity (dictated by its siting parallel to the Avenida Diagonal), the di-
tm~tm. alectic between the rather compact podium that roots it to the ground and the light, trans-
parent classrooms rising above it, and the
importance of the frame, which, apart from
its purely structural function, makes evident
the spatial and iconographic rhythms of the
ensemble "by transmitting not only the
weight of gravity to the ground, but also a
sense of order to space." In Campo Baeza's
view, the regular, box-like prism is the most
representative achievement of one of the
few master architects of his general l<m.
The next architect on the list, FJ. Saenz de
Oiza -a "volcanic personality" and creator of
"passionate, cosmic, telluric" architecture-
Francisco Jen
<n, m de I I
Torres Bkmeas,
Mo. Iml. 1961
and Banco dt
Biblao a \'r
Madrid. 1971-WS1.

is admired by Campo Baeza not only for his persuasive radicalism, which he sees as organic
in the Torres Blancas (Madrid, 1961-1968), and technological in the Banco de Bilbao y Viz-
caya Building (Madrid, 1971-1981), but also for the magnetism of the auditorium in San-
tander (1984-1991). and the stark walled enclosure of the residential complex on the M30
(Madrid. 1986-90).
Campo Baeza's indebtedness to Alejandro de la Sota is more evident, both formally and con-
ceptually. I think two works in particular were most influential on Ms stylistic and more gen-
eral cultural development: the Colegio Maravillas gymnasium (Madrid, 1960-1961) and the
Gobierao Civil in Tarragona (1954-1957). The gymnasium is an object lesson in how the in-
spired repetition of a set of expressive and other compositional modes can instantly convey
an architectural idea. De hi Sota's own sketches demonstrate with the utmost clarity how
eloquently its generative principle is revealed in the design of the section, which effortless-
ly transforms site constraints into the raison d'etre of the entire building. Similarly, the big
metal frame unifies the composition by, on the one hand, solving the problem of the roof and
providing support for the tiered classrooms fitted into the profiles of the reticular beams,
and on the other, by using a characteristically urban facade to resolve the difference of level
between the existing school and the road. De la Sota's unusual deployment of structural el-
ements is also symbolically charged: though clinically objective -it is placed on view without
superfluous comment- the frame in fact makes a complex emotional statement in which
light, texture and color enhance perceptions of ambience and space.
In the Gobierao Civil in Tarragona, designed at a time when Modernism seemed to rale out
the use of 'quality' materials, De la Sota's structural and sculptural uses marble to have an
explicitly emotional intent that seems wholly symptomatic of his architecture. The stereo-
metric basis of the design -the absolute geometry of the cube- is both emphasized and nul-
lified by the building's dual institutional and residential role. The continuity of the long split
marking off the institutional section is mitigated by the informal, off-axis sequencing of the
three voids corresponding to the balconies of the dwellings, all of which subverts the rhetor-
 Francisco -; ical organization of a conventional 'official' facade. It is easy to see why Campo Baeza be-
Sd* ns eft "...
nlial lieves that De la Sota's "extreme elegance of gesture, and exactness of phrasing bordering
ht
. Madrid,
on silence" stands comparison with Mies van der Rone's mature style.
990 Campo Baeza's relation with Julio Cano Lass., was much more direct. Having taught him
architectural design at the Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid, Can.. Lass., employed him
Soto, Mttravillas
scliaol
as his assistant while he was still a student. Their professional relationship culminated in the
gymnat design and construction (1974-1976) of a group of major educational complexes - three voca-
d\ 1960-1961.
tional training centers in Vitoria. Salamanca and Pamplona (all 1974), and the Universi.la.l
Laboral in Almeria C1976),
The three vocational centers are similar in layout and functional design, and have a kind of
rarefied austerity wholly appropriate to buildings which are, in effect, factory and school
rolled into one. They were also designed to take a lot of wear and tear: the basic material in-
side and out is brick -Cano Lasso much admired both its tectonic adaptability and its time-
less appeal across centimes and cultures- combined with ceramic lacings and reticular met-
al beams whose rhythmic sequencing, enhanced by tall windows, creates a powerful sense of
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In the Universidad Laboral de Almei-fa. some of the influences on Campo Baeza's later de-
velopment are rather easier to recognize. The plan of this inward-looking university citadel
Julio Cano Lasso is rigorously modular -two orthogonal axes intersect in a large porticoed plaza which is both
and -\lhi yin
Cum /i<>Baeza,
a circulation hub and a social rendezvous conveniently sheltered from wind and dust. Chess-
professional board layout and bright white lime plaster enhance the impact of its starkly unadorned vol-
ma. cent* >:
Salamanca, 1975, umes, which are blind on the outside but give inside onto internal oasis-like courtyards open
and i 'niversidad
to the sky or illuminated from above with skylights. As Lasso says in his own report, the
Labored,, Aln
1976. solids of the markedly sculptural composition stand starkly aloof like purposeful landmarks.

ll
 spafHil events, in the stony, almost desert-like landscape: "We wanted to graft something au-
thentically rational onto the roots of Andalusia's Mediterranean tradition. We thought it im-
1><
-riant to demonstrate that both the principles and the characteristic features of popular ar-
chitecture can be used to create totally modem, functional buildings that are much better
suited to many of our environments than imported highbrow architecture."

Of De la Sota's many influences on Campo Baeza. the most important - and the most evident
in his projects over subsequent years - has been the 'idealization' that has driven him ever
more obsessively towards an architecture in which forms, functions, volumetrics and other
standard components of architectural design are synthesized and therefore sublimated in a
unified statement charged with theoretical implications. And yet, the actual ami,,,! of the
statement is neither an erudite historical and/or critical sui-vey of architectural typology, nor
a pointlessly self-regarding intellectual exercise, but an intrinsic feature of the construction
itself which identifies, communicates and authenticates the quidditas of what the architect
intends to achieve.
Campo Baeza makes the point clearly enough in the introduction to the anthology of his most
important writings, La idea construida. La arquitectura a la he: de las />,</,,1,,-a.sK'olegio
Oficial de Arquitectos. Madrid, 1996; 1998), from which the quotations in this essay are tak-
en. "Architecture is idea expressed through forms ... idea in constructed form. Far from be-
ing a history of forms, architectural history is really a history of constructed ideas. Forms
are destroyed with the passing of time; ideas remain and are eternal."
Gravity and hyht are the key concepts that translate poetic insight into physical reality in
( 'ampo Baeza's architecture. "Gravity constructs space; light constructs time, makes time
meaningful. The central concerns of architecture are how to control gravity-, and how to re-
late to light. Indeed, the very future of architecture depends on whether a new understand-
Alberto Campo
Boa'-%pro,
'. ing of these phenomena can be achieved." For the architect, homofaber's ultimate aim in un-
' a
si/iiiiv. .1/
dertaking this daunting task can only be the creation of a 'beauty' necessarily located 'out-
1978. side' time and space, a yearning for a kind of classical perfection or ideal knowledge limited
only by the epistemological constraints of the
architectural model itself. Significantly, Cam-
po Baeza locates the ration d'etre of architec-
tural process and product in transcendental
values that lie in the world of the beyond, and
whose physical materialization therefore
transcends the geographical and temporal
constraints of chronological history. "Archi-
tecture must offer human beings that myste-
rious yet tangible 'other' which is beauty.
The intelligent kind of beauty that emanates
from constructed ideas. This is something
much, much more than construction in the
normal sense."
Since gravity -an invisible static force- and
light -the invisible electromagnetic radiation
12
that makes objects visible to the human eye-
 ito Campo
Bat
school in Asp .
Mica,,

have by definition almost no contingent attributes in the philosophical sense, Campo Baeza
tends to see them as absolute, eternal values. So we must now try to see what these 'supe-
rior categories' mean in relation to historical events and places, tin- specificities of time and

space.
Campo Baeza himself gives some idea of their meaning when he says, for example, that mod-
ern inventions like plate glass and metal framework are directly related to gravity and light.
The fact that plate glass can make the upper horizontal surfaces of buildings transparent,
while steel frames can separate the skin of a building from its structural support, suggests
new tectonic solutions to the problem of gravity.
In other words, Campo Baeza's kind of architecture is by definition incluswe of inescapable
realities like context, function, composition and construction, but claims to be exclusive in
formal terms; or as he himself puts it, it is "essential" but not "minimalist''. Minimalism is
just another *ism\ whereas essentiality -a more conceptual notion in that it suggests both sim-
plification and purification, an expression of essence- is what bodies forth the "constructed
idea" and determines the poetics of its formulation. Paraphrasing Mies van der Robe's less
is more, Campo Baeza demies his concept of "more with less" (mds con menos) as "... a more
which keeps human beings and the complexity of then- culture firmly at the center of the cre-
ated world, at the center of architecture. And a less which, leaving all questions of minimal-
ism aside, distils the essence of a design by using a 'precise number of elements' to translate
ideas into physical reality."
The radicalism implicit in all this is already evident in Campo Baeza's competition project
(1978) for the redesign of a public square in Almeria, which creates an "architecture without
buildings" oft went y-four palm-trees planted to resemble the nave of an imaginary cathedral
whose roof is the sky. The sunlight entering the enclosure is filtered and spiritualized not by
high windows and Gothic columns, but by palm fronds and tall trunks that create an unmis-
takably 'architectural' effect.
From the early 1980s, the formal restraint and volumetric simplicity of buildings like the
Town Hall in Fene (1980) and the nursery school in Aspe (1982) began to cohere in a recog-
nisably personal language. In the nursery school, the ostentatious 'purity' of what is an es- 13
 I ampo sentially inward-looking structure forms a marked contrast with the general dereliction of
the context, while volume has been carefully pared down by bending and excavating the
IMS.
walls to produce articulated sequences of Spaces, The brilliant white surfaces -another ele-
ment in the separation from context- are offset by the natura] hues of the slender palm-trees
in the two courtyards. The increasing assertiveness of these early 1980s buildings lias been
described by some critics as 'neo-rationalist".
The San Sebastian de Los Reyes public school (Madrid, 1983). a linear arrangement of free-
standing prisms along a connecting axis, was followed by the San Fermfn public school
(Madrid, 1985), winch reshuffled the same basic elements to produce a north-facing, win-
dowless brick wall and open, south-lacing classrooms. The cylindrical stairwell is jointed on-
to the main structure as a lightwell. a sort of radiant crystal which allows light to penetrate
the tectonic solidity of the building.

N/

1!
 mpo
Bat .". Tur4gano
Housi . Pozuelo,
Madrid, tS88.

The Turegano House (Madrid 1988) is an outstanding example of how -in defiance <>l'stylis-
tic orthodoxy- the control of light, can become a major factor in determining the nature and
geometrical impact of space. As one of the supreme structuring principles of architectural
space, light in all its manifestations -horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zenithal- had by this
stage become not so much an obsessive theme, as the founding principle of Campo Baeza's
architecture. Significantly, he points to the Pantheon as a prime example of what he was try-
ing to achieve: "If the new mayor of Rome decided to close up the bull's-eye in the roof -it is
almost nine meters in diameter- to keep out the rain and cold, many things would happen
... or rather, many things wouldn't happen. Nothing of that perfect, construction, that mar-
vellous composition, would be altered. The building would still convey its universal message,
and the venerable landscape of Ancient Rome would not reveal all its secrets (at least not on
the fust night). And yet, no trace would remain of that miraculous sun-trap devised by hu-
man beings to ensure that light from their friendly star would rain down inside the building
every single day of the year. The Sun would mourn its passing, and so would Architecture,
because they are more than just friends."
Though the Turegano House exemplifies several basic features of ( 'ampo haeza's method.
the most noticeable thing about it is the stress it lays on the theme of the 'house', or rather,
the archetypal dwelling, which in its primitive, unadorned state formalizes a set of architec-
tural values that can be transferred to other functional contexts. In this particular case,
Campo Baeza's repertoire of compositional motifs translates into primary geometrical con-
figurations, while the archetypal "cube' of the primitive hut achieves greater prominence
through a carefully balanced contrast between cool expanses of glass and brilliant white
cladding. The same principles arc also at work in the sequence of detached houses that fol-
lowed - the Garcia Marcos House in Madrid (1991), the four villas in Algiers (1992)* and the L5
 Aihi rto ( 'ampo
Baeza, villasfor
Spanisli Embassy,
998

Gaspar House in Cadiz (1992) -whose graphically etched volumes at last stand alone in
splendid isolation. These eloquently introverted clusters of sun-drenched solids are so pow-
erful precisely because they convey a sense of total separation, irrevocable detachment from
the 'other'. Differences of level, self-contained courtyards, volumes delimited by boundary
walls- everything is totally and systematically decontextualized. And yet. what looks like a
Starkly delineated set of closed, box-like prisms is, in fact, open to the sky.
What I have elsewhere called a "state of alienation" is more than evident in the much-pub-
lished photographs of the Gaspar House patios, in which treetops -traces of external reali-
ty- crowd the borders of a 'sacred compound' like abstract presences forming the static
backdrop to a sophisticated stage design. Inside the courtyards, brilliant surfaces sculpted
by reflected light encircle, subjugate, enfeeble, reduce to simulacra the concrete manifesta-
tions of a physical world excluded from the Initiatory rites that place the house apart from
everyday reality. Trees, mirror pools, even some of the masses themselves, have a ghostly
lack of solidity, while the natural landscape seems weirdly de-natinvd, subtly recontextual-
ized and aestheticized as a decontextualized visionary setting for the house. The sense of
solitude is heightened not only by this explicit segregation of attendant pseudo-natural ref-
erences that serve to introduce the development of the architectural setting, but also by the
isolation of the human figures who inhabit the house. Significantly, Campo Baeza s drawings,
models and photographs are peopled by solitary human beings. One in particular -a sketch
of the Garcia Marcos House in which weirdly elongated human figures seem positively <ria
16 comettian in their isolation- shows how central the notion of erosion, excavation, removal.
Albert
% r.,1

Marcos !!>%
rr&,Madrid,
1991.

reduction, is in Campo Baeza's later architecture. Though the stereotomic, almost lithoidical
nature of his buildings is never denied, the archetypal implications of mass are undermined,
emptied, pared down, lightened, yet never wholly obliterated.
All this is a long way from continuity with context. Open, penneable, multi-dimensional
space there certainly is -and it is very important- but it is all inside the building. Campo
Baeza's cult of the 'domestic' might seem Loosian in origin were it not for the fact that the
richness of experience it provides is created wholly -or prevalently- by light, and more par-
ticularly, by diagonal light cutting across sun-filled, hermetically-sealed, double and triple
height voids that both characterize and dematerialize the volumetric density of the build-
ings. "A good painter knows exactly how to use white surfaces to transmit light from the sun
directly into inner space. In architecture, white is much more than a pure abstraction. It pro-
vides a secure and effective base from which to work with light: you can capture it, reflect
it, etch with it. make it slide around. You control space by controlling light, by illuminating
the white surfaces that give it shape."
Obviously and inevitably. Campo Baeza's "mysticism of light' is nostalgic in intent. In the
harsh world of today, where every natural phenomenon has been irredeemably degraded
and corrupted, and finding -anywhere on the planet- a 'virgin' site to build on is simply
wishful thinking, what 'apparently' could be more uncontaminated than the sky? Certainly
not our countryside, our coasts or any other purely physical place, where human interven-
tion has left not only indelible scars but often terrible destruction in its wake. There remains IT
is tf *> . *+9-r
~%
 only our view of the sky, which for ("ami in
Baeza is literally the place where "our phys-
ical world penetrates a world beyond".
Although our atmosphere is suffering Hie
consequences of uncontrolled urbanization
and the air around us is often unbreathable,
the view front one of Campo Baeza's houses
-whoso interaction with theoutside world is
regulated by glass expanses trained by
white wall panels- can offer a comfortingly
sublimated perspective on life. In this sense,
his buildings convey a 'primal nostalgia' for
pre-historical existence and a Inst spiritual
plenitude, for a "paradise of identities'" car
denced by the primeval dialectic of light and
darkness, where the light of the sun. moon
and stars makes visible the abstract space of
possibility in all its power. Clearly, wo arc
speaking here of nothing less than the re-
deeming power of art. the ovation of an ar-
Aibi tificial, imaginary universe capable of restoring the harmonies which modern men and
. Ga&par women have lost in then* distorted relationships with the physical world. In an article in
. /(ilmn,.
A+U magazine (July L985), Campo Baeza says: "I feel emotion, therefore I exist. [...] but
then, isn't architecture all about emotion? We should tell i he w<aid that architecture is a syn-
thesis of rational construction and irrational emotion, precept and passion. This architecture.
which is made of and arouses emotion, will always be cultured architecture. Unlike today's
erudite architecture, which more often than not is unashamedly exhibitionist, cultured ar-
chitecture speaks a silent language which can sometimes be difficult to explain, but is always
easy to understand."
One of the most wonderful historical examples of light-redeeming* architecture is i he I ioth-
ic cathedral, whose very stone seems to emanate light. As Hans Sedlmayr say.- in Das Licit t
in semen h&nstlerischei) Mai/ifextafioneu (Mittenwald Maunder. 1979): "The light inside a
cathedral does not seem to come from the outside. To describe with any accuracy the effect
it has. one would have to say: light is propagated by the walls themselves, the walls gleam."
On the Other hand, sunlight filtering in through stained-glass windows draws architectural
detailing and tracery (e.g. the leading of the windows) on the walls opposite them which of-
ten cannot be seen in the windows themselves because they are so far away. ( 'ommenting on
one of the interiors of the Turegano House, Campo Baeza points to a similar effect in a paint-
ing by a disciple of Rembrandt. Man Reading at a Table tit a Lofty Room (c. 1631-1650), in
which an invisible window is made visible by the shadow ofits frame and leading on the floor,
and rays of sun streaming into the room contrast vividly with the darkness that surrounds
the scholar bending over his book. The projections that invade the interiors of Campo
Baeza's houses are much more clear and precise because the window frames are unusually
schematic in design, but this in no way diminishes their metaphorical impact. They become
signs -and dreams- of something else', so much so that, as in the Dutch painting, it would
19
 o Cdmpo
Baeza, Gai
Marcos Home,
VaM cfoii,

come as no surprise to walk into a room and find a scholar absorbed in solitary meditation.
A genuine culture of the dcmus is also at work in Campo Baeza's public buildings, must no-
tably the 'Drago' school in Cadi/. (1992). Typologically it resembles a convent: the inward-
looking complex has the usual stereometric features and relates to the coastal scenery
through windows set in blind expanses of wall, which thus become framed views of the out-
side world. And although the building is organized around a square distribution courtyard to
remedy the unevenness of the site, all the communal spaces hug the inside of the west wall.
The only two windows in the main facade -eyes gazing at the horizon- are there to bring-
light to major functional areas. The Smaller one illuminates the triple-height entrance lobby.
while the larger beach-fadng one. which is twice the size, illuminates the library and cafete-
ria, adding a public register to the dazzling whiteness of the sea view. This is more than a
standard patio configuration with all the usual domestic connotations, them; it is also an as-
sembly of architectural feat n n-s semantical ly polarized to form a densely meaningful thresh-
old between town and house, public and private.
The concepts of 'stereotomic' and "tectonic" construction -they are borrowed from Semper,
and have been studied in some depth by Kenneth Frampton in StwtU s in T<ct<>uu-Culture.
The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth- and Tivenfieik-Century Architecture (1995)- are
central to the contrast between the inertia of mass and the leavening effects <»flight in ( 'am-
po Baeza's architecture. The two building methods they imply are exemplified in Campo
Baeza's project for the Dalmau House in Burgos (1990), whose ordinary domestic functions
are grouped in a hollow, whidowless base, while an upper glass volume provides a setting for
AUhrta ( 'ampo the intellectual activities the house also had to accommodate. This duality, which is also a fea>
% !>,;i,,,/
school. Cadiz, turo Hi'the competition project for the Philharmonic Hall in Copenhagen (1993), is virtually
1992. a paradigm of the process by which light can progressively dematerialize. both conceptually
and physically, the solid stone and almost total darkness of the primitive cave dwelling. And
it is literally a process of sublimation: the totally transparent volumes -pure, ethereal, crys-
talline boxes- offer vantage points over t lie surrounding landscape from inside the body of
the house.
The Caja General de Ahorros in Granada (1996), the most representative ol*('ampo Baeza's
reeent designs, turns the architectural concept of the 'light-trap' into a thoroughly monu-
mental statement. "The central courtyard, an authentic impluvium of light, gathers in solid
Southern Mediterranean light through rooflights and reflects it off alabaster cladding to en-

23
 to<'amipo
Baeza,competition
Philharmonic
Hall. Copenhagen,

i\
'&?"f 'Ay&i
|g~|gg -s^fi^r
;— =s — > — — - ^s^fc^^

nance the illumination of the public rooms [...] a stereotomic concrete-and-stone box cap-
tures sunlight to illuminate a tectonic box immersed in an impluvium of Kght, a diagonal
space traversed by diagonal light." Significantly and (so far) unusually, Campo Baeza has
listed many of the major influences on this particular design; they range from Owen
Williams' Daily Mirror Building and G. Perez Villalta's painting El mvegante interior to
Granada ( 'athedral, one of the most amazing interiors of the Andalusian Renaissance. Obvi-
ously, what these three examples have in common is the constnictioual effect of light, its
ability to sculpt space in a genuinely architectural way. In the Caja General de Ahorros
Building. Campo Baeza used his full repertoire of light effects to create nothing less than a
"a monument to the idea."
Although the word 'monument' is etymologic-ally related to 'memory', "permanence' and
'testimony', and monumentality is certainly an instance of permanence, any interpreta-
tion of permanence and time in modern culture has to reckon with the fact that these
terms are more restricted in meaning than they once were. In Campo Baeza's architec-
ture, time serves to delimit another meta-temporal dimension in which chronological
time is suspended in frozen eternity. Time is constructed by light "which slowly but sure-
ly eliminates the superficial trappings with which architecture is all too often bedecked."

Albtrto Campa
Baeza, I

Akorms, Granada,
1,996-199$

22
Alberto i 'wmipo
S ' tyja
11<lc
Ahonvs, Granada,
999

Architecture built of time and light is resistant to time and change, and aspires to clas-
sical permanence.
The project for South Tenerife Airport (first version. 1998) contains all these ideas. Though
aiiport design is one of the most complex and challenging tasks facing architects today
-physically and conceptually they epitomize those theories of •non-place' that equate even
architectural solidity with the hyper-technological abstractness of information systems-
Campo Baeza roundly rejects all such futuristic speculation in his declared intention to
"build an airport with thought rather than futile technologies that will sooner or later
disappear; an idea that can withstand the passage of time."
When seen as an attempt to raise architecture's few basic paradigms to the status of ab-
solutes, to extend the range and resources of abstract language, to reinstate the primeval
significance of human habitation, the enduring whiteness of Campo Baeza's buildings is
rather easier to comprehend. For him. "white is a symbol of permanence, of the universal in
space and the eternal in time. Hair invariably turns white as time passes. So do buildings."
Time, the Great Executioner, turns buildings white, but who does this time belong to exact-
ly? Ts it the time of the gods on high, or the time of earthbound mortals? No one would deny
that architecture is built on ideas, but isn't it about time that these ideas became physical
tilings, started dirtying their hands with the realities of the here and now? If the ultimate
aim of architecture is to attain Absolute Beauty, cannot this Beauty also be our Beauty-, or
must it always remain abs-traet f a t hing drawn apart from the thing itself? % >% >
.. *
Works and Projects
Festival Hall,
Santander. 1971

This design for the Santander Festival

Hall was the architect's final graduation
project, with which he won his first-
ever competition. Set beside the sea,
this piece of horizontal architectur
posited to have a single, very squat
mass containing all the facilities re-
quested in the program. As if floating,
a vast ami also emphatically horizontal
roofrestson this socle and accentuates
the serenity of the whole. The
•Mk'sian' starting point is delicately
nuanced by more Nordic intonations a
la Jaeobsen, with whom the architect
hoped to work in 1971 - the year in
which the Danish master died. The
plans of the various Boors are orga-
nized around different patios, and the
whole thing is resolved with a frame-
work and enclosures of steel and glass.

Architects sketch
and topandsidt
vit i'-s a/ model.
Parador National,
Cuenca, 1973
in collaboration with Julio Casio La
Miguel Martiii Kscanciano, Jose Miguel Sanz
and Antonio Mas Guindal

The prime position of the parador

(state-owned hotel), crowning the sky-
line oft he ancient city of Cuenca. strad-
dling the Kivers Jucar niul Huecarand
resting on the remains of its castle,
posed an enormously difficult problem,
one resolved with lucidity. An architec-
ture which, by understanding the Bite
and adapting itself to the scale and col-
or of tMngs. to the topography, did not
turn its back on being up-to-date. lb do
this, we choose the path of fragmenta-
tion for an architecture whose diversi-
ty of functions is served by a diversity
of volumes, the scale of which responds
to a continuity with the city skyline be-
ing completed there.
On the other hand, and also by learn-
ing the lesson of history in relation to
what already exists there, said vol-
umes rise up from the rock on which
they sit in material continuity with it.
The colossal concrete of goldish aggre-
gate with winch the building would be
realized appears, then, like fresh stone.
And between these fragments, the in-
terior and exterior spaces would be
continually conjoined, framing, in a va-
riety of ways, all of them interesting,
the beautiful surrounding countryside.

Model,sit* plan,
and ground-floor
plan.

27
 Garcia del Valle House, Ciudad Santo Domingo,
Algete, Madrid, 1974

This is the architect's "opera prima', al-

though the first .-ketches for it had
been committed to paper while he was
.still a student.
A deck-like architecture of a markedly
'Wrightean' kind is set out on a steeply
sloping, elongated plot with fine views
towards the north. As a result, the
house strives to bond itself firmly to
the terrain by means of a series of hor-
izontal planes which are staggered in
order to gain a purchase on the site.
This serene hurizontality has its coun-
terpoint in the vertical core of the
staircase and. above all, in the extre-
mely tall protruding chimney which
gives the house its identity. The planes
are subsumed by imposing breast-
works which further accentuate, if
such is possible, their horizontal char-
acter, one that is also emphasized by
the reduced height of the roofs. Ground-floor plan,
and mot

» &f

28 -
Tin roo) and
' overhangs.

flB^^M
Fominaya House, Ciudad Santo Domingo,
ek nation,
Algete, Madrid, 1974
grow %
plan and

Dating from the same period as the

previous house, the Fominaya House
displays greater formal restraint in the
brick volumes corresponding to its dif-
ferent functions. The living area, with
its large picture window open to the
north and a more tranquil and sober
patio looking south, already posits the
kind of horizontal continuity that will
become a feature of subsequent de-
signs. The structure is also simplified
here, with brick as the sole material.
Inside, the .-pace gradually changes
height, producing an interesting inter-
play of compression and expansion,
suitably underscored by the light.
There is certain influence of the works
of Julio Cano Lasso, with whom the
architect was collaborating at the time.
Professional Training Center,
Vitoria, 1974
in collaboration with Julio Cano Lasso

The program includes, along with

classrooms and offices, seam-industrial nnn
workshops. It is based on a linear sys-
tem of corridors which link up the
teaching areas around a reel angular
central courtyard. The offices are also
organized around a small square court- ''% V-: . . % »:
yard. Moth systems converge in the !
• >: % •*
::% :% :
. tiili
main entrance hall, which accommo-
•v':. fCa s^ i]
dates the double height of the two I
Boors of classrooms. Access from out- ?1.. | ,, 5=
side to this more vertical spare is via a
more compressed, low-ceilinged porclr-
way. The living quarters and a large
storeroom are resolved as indepen- % %

dent volumes tautening the open space

between them.
Constructional!? speaking, the build-
ing is of great simplicity, with an ex-
posed metal structure of honeycomb
beams which accommodate the ser-
vices, and main walls of brick, left bare
inside and out to help emphasize the
feeling of spatial continuity.

Ml
 Professional Training Center,
Pamplona, 1974
in collaboration with -lulin Cano Lasso

Undertaken in parallel with the previ-

ous project in Vitoria, and with a simi-
lar program, this center was to be built
on a three-sided site. The scheme
adopted was of two orthogonal axes
winch converge in the main entrance
hall. The longitudinal axis parallel to
the road connects up the classroom
wing which, taking in the entrance
hall, appears as a triple-height screen.
its vertical ity accentuated by the over-
bead light. The workshop program is
organized along the transverse axis.
Organized around a square courtyard.
the offices are contained in a lower vi fl-
ume onto which the entrance porch
abuts, striving lor a feeling of spatial
compression as one arrives at the main
hall.
The exposed metal structure of honey
comb beams is used once again, and
these, permanently visible through the
classroom transoms, underline, to-
gether with the extensive uti-
lization of unrendered brick,
the sense of spatial continuity.

General vi*w of
school complex,
ground-floor plan,
and vtfternal
32
circulation
Professional Training Center, Aerial
kool
Salamanca, 1975 complex.
in collaboration with Julio Cano Lasso

This project, together with Vitoriaand wards the sun. Facing north, the glass cal proportions are emphasized by the
Pamplona, completes the cycle of three box containing the living areas pro- overhead illumination coming through
educational buildings made one after vides interesting views of the old town a reticulated structure in the ceiling
the other. Here, a residence for 120 of Salamanca below. that functions as a veritable snare for
students is also included. The more public spaces are set out in a the light. The beauty of this light-filled
The extremely long and narrow plot line along the main axis, ending at the space can be appreciated by ascending
runs parallel to the river in a north- southernmost tip with the workshops. the main staircase. To get outside one
south direction. The layout adopted is Before reaching these it is crossed at goes alimg a lengthy and semi-subter-
the logical, longitudinal one, with the right angles by the classroom wing. ranean covered walkway which, given
main axis running in that direction. At The main entrance hall, plus the three its somewhat shadowy aspect, makes
the northernmost end. the highrise floors of classrooms, are situated at the arriving at the brightly lit entrance
lower ofbed] ms. all lacing south to- convergence of the two axes. Its \ erti even more of an experience.

33
 %frillll
%
the south, [i-
floor plan, and
%t.i.j
i, ,,!dormitory

ill-keigki
met i-nii.

34 wmm
 Balseiro House,
Ciudad Lineal, Madrid, 1976

The building was intended to serve a

double purpose. It.- first bwo Hoots,
over which the owner's living quarters
would extend, was to look out onto the
garden, and the top two floors, with
more conventional apartments intend-
e<I for sale, were to have no views iiver
the same garden.
As the terrain has a strong westward
slope the basement was buffi to conve-
niently emerge at garden level, as a
continuation of this. The twin-level
space Into which the secondary spaces
funnel has a garden view through
large picture windows which form the
main focus "I" Spatial tension. The
whole is contained in a single, hol-
lowed-out parallelepiped of white,
with the chimney acting as a counter-
point.

Model, plan of
piano QobQe,cmd
garden %It vatum,

AiM
36
 Model.
Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos, axonometries
Sevilla, 1976 xlinii-nii) Ilie UKSt,
south a in i 11
elevations.

We opted in this scheme for a white ar-

chitecture which we conceived as be-
ing the most appropriate to the An-
dalusian city. The entire edifice is sub-
sumed within an overall structure
which defines a single volume, elabo-
rating this, emptying it out, in order to
comply with the building regulations
and to resolve the intensive program
proposed. We respond to the city spa-
ces by using different scales. Greater
scale for the facade overlooking the
plaza and its palm trees which springs
up alongside the structure containing
the open courtyard. A reduced scale on
the street side, with a plain facade of
flush windows. Inside, the small-sized
building fulfils the extensive program
and opens onto the more dramatic
Spaces, like those of the roof teirace or
iht.1more transparent ground floor.

-J

3 :::
 Universidad Laboral, drfloorplan
mill iiim nil /•/. W
Almerfa, 1976 nrtrsitlf
in collaboration with Julio ( 'ano Lasso, Manuel Martin complex.
Escanciano and Antonio Mas ( hiindal

Tin' setting, on an esplanade next to

UL"
sea yet without views of it, togeth' T "1"
er with the climate in Almeria, would
suggest a Bolution of the 'casbah'
type, laid out according to a rational
plan. To organize such a complex insti-
tutional program a system of stree
established that run into a central
square. Tins network of passageways
interconnects classrooms, laboratories
and offices to different courtyards, via
which the former are lit and ventilat-
ed, thus creating a honeycombed or-
ganism that is highly efficient and ty
pologically proven for such a climate
(the ( nanea area of Almeria). In some
-paces the light sources are accentual
ed by raised skylights which, protrud-
ing from the roof, make for a striking
impression,
It was always considered that, with
the climate thus controlled, the court-
yards would become verdant gardens
full of local \arieties of plants. Con-
volvuli, bougainvilleas, jasmine and
climbing vines were intended to grow
there, thus providing for interior-exte-
rior continuity in the day-to-day life of
the building.
From outside the organism seems to
be closed off. as if defending itself fr<im
external forces. The whole building is
of great simplicity, with an orthogonal
-1x 4 in grid laid on top of a highly ra-
tional plan, thus allowing for unlimited
growth.

38
Details 0} en Urun
and one "J tke
top-Hi mtrano
halls.

:;•.)
Cathedral square, %athedml
squan model
Almeria, 1978
collaborator: Modesto Sanchez Morales of palm-trees;
sift plan, and
model iro,/<abovi .

This design was the winner of a na-

tional public competition organized in
1978. The jury pinpointed its main
virtues as being its totalizing vision of
the problem and its resolution with the
maximum economy of means.
It was a question "''' reorganizing the
Cathedral square in Almeria. A
straightforward architecture "'without
architectures" is put forward. The
square is paved with white marble
from Macael, as are the sidewalks of
the city's main streets. Twenty-four
palm trees, somewhat taller than tin-
Cathedral, are set in place, and they.
like the columns of a lofty church nave,
define the space looked over by Juan
de Orea's Renaissance facade, as if this
were an altarpiece.
We have sought to take the "more with
l<-ss" idea to its most radical extreme.
41
 Town Hall, Fene,
La Coruna, 1980

This design won first prize in a nation-

wide competition organized in 1977.
The creation is proposed, in a territory
of scattered buildings lacking a consol-
idated urban fabric, of two squares de-
fined by the various architectural enti-
ties that contain the necessary Town
Hall services.
The rectangular site is delimited by
t hree roads and a wood along one of its
longer sides. The main building, with
its easily recognizable symbolic ele-
ments - the 'clocktower* and the 'may-
or's balcony 1-. is situated iii the center,
between the two squares. One of these
is residential in character, the other
cultural. The long sides are edged with
colonnades, and the two other entities
on the shelter sides house different
services.
The central building is extremely
transparent, open to the north and
somewhat more enclosed to the south.
Everything is resolved with the for-
mally restrained and simple white ar-
chitecture which, along with that built
of stone, is common to this part of the
country.

4^
 Interior detail,
general
a eonowtetric, and
mewof town hall
showing 'I"' '% luck
and the
terrace ow rlooking
tin assembly
courtyard.

4 Site plan, model,

and plans oj first
and ground floors. i::
 Facade
overlooking
assembly
elevations on road

nnn naDDDDDDDn nn
mr

i-i
Cultural center, Guernica
Vizcaya, 1981

A space was to be created to house Pi-

casso's 'Guernica' in the small town of
the same name. It was decided that, in-
stead of creating an isolated building,
one ought to intervene by reconstitut-
ing the town destroyed by the bumh-
ittg which inspired this classic work.
Three buildings are planned to link the
town to Guernica's ( 'asa de Juntas: an
auditorium and two courtyards, the
iirst open and the second one closed,
with 'Guernica' hung on the rear face
of the facade. All the buildings have
colonnades, as an extension of those al-
ready existing in the old town. And al-
lied to this, the si ile material used is
stone.

i;, a. ral
ottouometrw,
model, ana
of various levels.

45
 Nursery school, Aspe,
Alicante, 1982 1
collaborator: Javier Esteban Martin
TJ l±\\.

no
^ v>

The run-down sumundings and the

restricted size of the plot would sug-
gest an inward-facing building, tra-
duced here as a white box with well-lit
spaces inside it. Compositionally. this
is articulated as two patios onto which
the classrooms open. One of these ac-
commodates the sloping terrain, to
whose lower level one accedes via a set
of Steps and a rani].) which tauten the
space in question. Set between every
other classroom, the specially adapted
toilet facilities for the children are
made brighter by exterior walls of
glass block. The central space, provid-
ing for access and mixed use (the en-
trance hall, dining room and covered
play area), receives horizontal light
from the patios and vertical light from
the skylights in the ceiling.

16
ittry ramp.

17
 Details of stairs
and modelling on
%
facades, and view
nl main con

y i.\

48
 <-IITllllll-l,ll,
me of the
bathrooms with
glass-brick /vails,
and architects
sketch oj •-<<vice
Nucleus.

50
Nursery school, Crevillente,
Alicante, 1982
collaborator: Javier Ksleban Mail in

Closed to the outside, this building ap-

pears as a white prism, square of base,
which defends itself from the run-
down surroundings. The steeply slop-
ing plot has a garden on its lower side.
Successive patios are joined up to ei-
ther side of a main central spate. The
latter is double-height, in av<U-rto be
able to qpen onto the garden. Access is
gained via a ramp which, with its diag-
onal layout. In'(-dines that space's main
feature. The right correspondence is
thereby established between the inte-
rior understanding of the building,
with its large single space, and tin
terior. compact and taut, which sug-
gests a similar sense of unity. Various
strategically placed skylights lend a
tautness to said space, with light once
more the main concern here.

Firstrflaor j
nirario >""/ .-% "/•
elevations, wnd
i
.".1
 Nursery school, Onil, Alicante, 1982 Oru ofthi corm rs,
collaborator: Javier Esteban Martfn
and ground-floor
plan.

The somewhat fragmentary floorplan

is a consequence of adapting the stipu-
lated program to the uneven topogra-
phy of the plot. Laid out linearly, the
classrooms are situated in the upper
part of the building, with each class-
room having an east-facing terrace
connected to it to catch the morning
sun. A single ramp connects this area
to the lower floor, which contains the
multi-purpose space through which
one enters the building. This general
space, with its extended floor area and
double height, has huge windows that
look north onto an adjoining wood.
Similar windows in the opposite cor-
nel-, where the access stairs to the Ad-
ministration area are, receive direct
light from the south.

%^
Internal
circulation rump,
a classroom
entrance, and
architects sketch
Offldlr)
entrance hall.

53
 Gymnasium, Model and ground-
floor plan.
Ciudad Umversitaria, Madrid, 1982
Study drawing
of mill, elevation
i', /i/ part qf plan.

This building won first prize in a com-

petition hold between tin- teaching' ar-
chitects ef the Eseuela de Arquitec-
tura de .Madrid in construct a sports
complex in the grounds of the latter
The basic idea was to take advantage
of the strongly sloping terrain and to
embed the two boxes containing the
necessary facilities: the large sports
hall which is resolved with overhead
light, and the gymnasia. Manifesting
itself as two inhabitable, horizontal
planes looking west towards the splen-
did vista of Madrid, the mass of the
building thereby disappeared. The
complex was articulated by a colossal
transverse wall of concrete which be-
gan by containing the adjacent terrain
and (.-ntU'i]up, through maintaining the
consistency of the line of its cornice, as
the main reference point. The stairway
which both unite.-- and traverses the
various levels is supported on this.
Running north-south and suitably
pierced, the wall provides for a variety
of lighting effects which cause the
thus created to vibrate.

.".1
55
 Public school, Axonometric,
San Sebastian de los Reyes, Madrid, 1983 ground-floor plan
ir,ih 8p<
oowiand
porter's lodge (left),
ami (html of SOidh
elevation.

Situated on the outskirts of the conur-

bation, as the final building in a semi-
industrial area, and high up on a hill.
the building was designed as a sort of
conclusion to the collection of existing
buildings. The use of a sloping roof and
the utmost economy imposed by the
property are resolved in an immensely
compact building, which emerges like
a liner on the sea of sown fields sur-
rounding it. The image is strong and
easily recognizable.
Its functional layout is the habitual one
of a corridor running east-west with
classrooms on either side, terminating
to the north in a tranverse block of lab-
oratories. The staircases and services
at the ends are housed in cylinders
which, given their rounded form, taut-
en the main volume and help to under-
line its presence. The strong slope ex-
ist ing above the east facade is made
over into an area of changing rooms
and porches which open onto the pla\
area. This means that the facade is
four stories high, a fact which accentu-
ates the forceful volumetry of the
building.

56
\
 '/'/'// school from
the southeast,
and '/r«

portico.

58
Nursery school, San Sebastian de los Reyes,
Madrid",1984

This small four-classroomed nun

school forms an annexe to the 1983
public school. A linear layout backing
(into tin- lateral load -bearing wall was
decided on, with the classrooms facing
south towards the sun. Set out along a
connecting corridor, the different ele-
ments are nevertheless volumetrically
independent; each function has its own
form. The rectangular service cores
and the cylindrical entrance hall are
walled with glass block.
While using the same constructional
elements and materials, the building
strives to have a neutral aspect vis-a
vis the main school, which dominates
the overall composition.

Architects sketch
iij cylindrical
entrance /'"//.
the entrance block,
and ground-floor
plan.
 'lu r %/
the info

time hall

60
m
 Extension to a school, Aluche
Madrid, 1984

This compael three-story building on a

Hi x 12 m rectangle functions as Che
ancillary services annex of an existing
school.
It is resolved with enormous sobriety
in a suitably hollowed-out box of rein-
ed concrete. The library is located
on the ground door, and the offices on
the first On the top floor is the well-lit,
muM-pUrpQSe hall, with a continuous
Strip nf skylights which illuminate the
ceiling along its two inside edges.
The different floors were intended to
be connected to those of the earlier
building, using the new staircase as an
entrance to the whole complex. All this
has been realized with a tremendous
economy of means.

ireet
'%wtion,
% <% % % '% .
andpUv)
secondffirst and
62 ground floors.
 %¡
n

A\ l]
n=R

"71

%%
•/ view, side
elevations, cross
--'ction, and dktail
ofn inforced
concrete surfaces. 63
 Public school, San Fermin, Siteplan, and
Madrid, 1985 plans <>/j)rs!
and ground floors.

A precise institutional program and a

set of strict planning- regulations gave
rise to an emphatically linear building:
a thick wall closed to the north, in
which the main corridor is located, and
open towards the south and the son,
where the classrooms are.
Needing extra space, the entrance
hall, the point where all the horizontal
and vertical corridors meet, breaches
the wall and is revolved as a cylindrical
mass. Inside, there is the triple-height
.-pact' the different levels give onto,
which is dominated by an open set of
stairs providing ready access to all
parte of the building. Glass-block walls
convert this into a space replete with a
diffuse north light, yet tautened by the
strong south light which penetrates
the transparent skylights in the roof.

<;.(
Detail and gem red
souih
elevation with the
entrance hall
ierandthe
cantilever roof
linked to th*
existing school on
iin-right

65
Axonomeiric,
and viewsqf
cylindrical
%rstrance hall
showing the double
reinforced concreU
work of the
87
 I

. ick wall of
and tin n <>,>-
amen U lattict

% ,% vase.

68
69
High Performance Sports Center, Architect's sketck,
Las Rozas. Madrid, 1987 and plans of
(inuia, i and typical
floors.

The idea, put to five teams of recog-

nized architects, was to create a series
of buildings for the training of 'elite'
sportsmen and women. In this in-
stance a residential complex for more
than 300 sports people was to be re-
solved. A rampart-like building' around
a square is proposed, with sufficient
presence to be read from the nearby
highway as an enormous, tensile box of
grey granite with the verandah open-
ings hollowed out of it. Generally
speaking the edifice has two floors but .
by maintaining the consistency of the
line of! ho cornice and in order to adapt
itselftO the topography of the terrain,
it rises to three on the south facade
;ivu\ four on the east.

i li lj rrr ~rn ljii i ^ jj3_pjt~

iia±t
Public housing. La Vina,
Vallecas, Madrid, 1988
collaborators: Antonio Domi'nguez Iglesias and Angel Ximenez de Embiin

In compliance with current building rooms, and the fourth provides the
regulations, this reduced-scale apart- connection with the nut side, with tin-
ment block, six stories high and with vertical communications cores.
extensive views of Madrid to the west, Essential, rational, basic and efficient.
is set out in a line on the edge of a As if taken from a manual. All most
conurbation. anonymous. All but unsigned by an
The dwellings are resolved as a single architect. Almost without Archi-
continuous space, a horizontal space tecture. Using almost nothing.
with horizontal light, between two fa- Of the essence. More with less.
cades, one of which faces the landscape
or the street, the other the courtyard.
Entirely open from side to side and
traversed by Light and Ah-. Ceiling
and Boor, upper and lower levels all of
a piece. Horizontal Light tautening the
horizontal Space. The kitchen, the
Drawing q)
Hearth, in the center, presiding over
the space without interrupting it. On %trie,
both sides, four rooms, set out two by the maul front
two ami with main services, marking seen from Uu
the transverse axis. The geometrical street, and
contrivance of double axiality under- typica
es the clarity of the controlled plan,
space. Three of the rooms are bed-

71
 Turegano House, Pozuelo, ArckUi db sketch
ofentra
Madrid, 1988 elevation, i
from the stn
. and plans
of various levels.

This bouse resulted from a competition

organized by the owners among their
architect friends.
Tin- topographical site-, halfway up a
hillside, rigorous compliance with the
planning regulations, and the need for
maximum economy were all resolved
cumpositionally by means of a white,
cubic 'cabin' 10 x 10 x 10 meters in size.
The white cube is divided in two: a
northern half, with the sendee zone;
and a southern half, with the served
spaces. The first contains a central
Strip with bathrooms, toilets and
stairs. The bedrooms and kitchen face
due north. The twin-level living and
dining areas arc situated in the served
half, and the studio in the Uppermost
part. The studio looks over the dining
area and the latter looks over the liv-
ing area, thus producing a triple-
height diagonal space. The cubic na-
ture of this white cabin is accentuated
by the tension of the windows flush
with the facade, and by the white fin-
ish given to everything.
In moving east-southwest, the Light, a
major feature in this house, is gradual-
ly picked up, trapped, by different win-
dows and openings, and so becomes
the spatial protagonist of the design.
This, then, is a diagonal space tra-
i by diagonal light.

^
--

a*= a

a „
a -EL
m

e> H

y
 i

\
Axonometrics oj
the house fivrpi the
garden and Uu
street, and v %
lh south el
overlooking the
garden.
 •cv,;-*

%.

^
Till I nil -I,,
coked In/
...

dining-room.
Axmometries
\q the linkage

living space,
%

dni'nill-i-nm,
upper-l
. irchitect's si
tectum, and

% %

s wall.

Rembrant, Man
Seated Reading at a
Table fa a i-
Room, 16S1
;% ')..:cm. Tin
National Gallery,
London.

77
 'Jesus del Pozo' Store, \ u w and %
Madrid, 1988 of theentranct .
axon&metrics
collaborator: Antonio Romero Fernandez ofthe structural
eompom
ofthe shop,
and interior w<"

We wished to reaffirm the value ofthe

original stone facade and 111elaborate a
-pace which, being extremely small
and dark, would have a lot of light and
give a feeling of room: to propose a so-
liition that would, furthermore, guar-
e the security ofthe store during
closing hours.
To do this the original facade is left
etear, thus highlighting the well-con-
ceived composition ofthe lower part of
the original building, with its four
stone arches. An extremely diapho-
nous mterior is created by glazing the
narrow street front and strategically
positioning mirrors opposite the longi-
tudinal walls. Entirely black above a
certain height, the ceiling is set with
spotlights which, reflected in the
paired mirrors, are repeated ad infini-
tum like some star-studded sky. To end
with, the space giving onto the street
is closed off with a number of strong
and thick doors of blaek-lacquered
panel which, apart from being secure,
look as if they must be. A horizontal in-
cision is made in these at the passer-
by "seye-level, which provides a tanta-
lizing view of the shop interior when
dosed. The subtle separation of this
door from the et\\xe^ ofthe stone door-
way enhances both the image of the
door's strength and the clean lines of
the facade aperture in an adroit play of
contrasts. As if these were the gates of
that starry sky.

7>
79
 Public school, Loeches, North a Nil
soutfi
Madrid, 1989

The village of Loeches is set on a hill

overlooking the wide expanse of flat
countryside surrounding it. It was
there, between two massive 17th-cen-
tury church and convent buildings.
that a number of ill-starred schools
had been constructed, totally at odds
with their surroundings. The problem
resolved by fusing the same stone
as in the convents to create a rampart
wall. This structure was intended to
partition off the former and yet affirm
a sense of continuity with the history
of the place.
The program unfolds intramurally.
The self-effacing north facade appears
as one more wall, while the classrooms
face south towards the sunshine. In
the entrance hall, which has two differ-
ent levels to compensate for the slop-
ing terrain, two large openings frame
the landscape. The passageway is illu-
minated by light from the classroom
skylights winch shines through the
partition walls made of glass block.
The main objective has been achieved
through a profound understanding of
the site and a recouping of the previ-
ously lost order.

SI I
model,

sections, and detail

block.
. rvices

BJt^f*^ ^

nnnnnnnnn D D nnnnnnnn

J=T73 :c u ij_ . i_ n
*M qj n n n n-~n — n — cr

itniiML &n _ ;

"T~-

OD D r D DO

<~v I

81
 Extension to the Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid, Architect's sketches
odel.
Madrid, 1989

The main virtues of the Escuela de Ar-

quitectura de Madrid building, de-
signed by the architect Pa-scual Bravu,
are the flexibility that conies from a
well-organized sense of space and the
simplicity of its circulatory system,
with long corridors laid out side by
side and at right angles to each other
ci'merging in a series of spacious hall-
ways.
( aivful analysis of the floorplan calls
for prolonging the excessive length of
ihe L' formed by the north and east
wings by dosing off the extant court-
yard and adding the necessary vertical
communications. Set within this now
enclosed courtyard is a new and spa-
eious assembly hall whose polyvalent
and flexible single space is tautened by
the light. The edifice is to lie simple,
following thf structural rhythms of the
existing building and employing more
Of less the same materials.

X2
 "
'.-floorplati,
anil study BtCtUffll
oj great

:J
1

3S-
—

T
"1 — X
-

^ - i

- L
L

r^ —

1 H' 1 *

9)PHp
,s::
Dalmau House,
Burgos, 1990
T '- c ro mi co

%/ I -y<&-e< -o Utn t tmt t 'ctjZ +

We are proposing in this house to con- A twin-level box of stone laid out on nerstones are meant to be 'all of a
join, radically so. the two parts of the the square, the stereotomic base ac- piece'. The stair:- leading to the trans-
architectonic system: a stereotomic commodates the bedrooms and garage parent top floor look as if they are
base supporting a tectonic compoiu m.1. on the lowest floor. At the mid-level, carved out of this 'rock'. And the re-
The site, in the highest reaches of an the kitchen and dining room. quired lift will ascend unencumbered
urban development and with splendid The tectonic component above, made from below.
views of the distant horizon, would of steel and glass and Hush with the Above, in the cabin, a tectonic glass
suggest locating the living area in the stone prism supporting it. is converted box, the house's intellectual, medita-
top part of*the house and the sleeping into a transparent, continuous and uni- tive, dream life. Below, in the cave, a
area in the tower. The continental cli- fied space. In order to accentuate this, stereotomic stone box, the "animal'
mate makes this the must appropriate the stone used on the facades will also side of things: eating, sleeping.
solution. be used for its flooring. The four cor-

Architect's sketch,
second-floor plan,
longitudinal
t section, "»</
axonometrie.
Arco. The a <;;><i
stntctun fm ing
Madrid, 1990 the city, inn! a
collaborator:AlejandroGomezIlarefa •Mve section.

We had at our disposal one of the the vista of the western edge of Ma- ed along the final stretch of the east fa-
most rigorous and beautiful pieces of drid. cade had two consequences: the em-
architecture in Madrid: The Palacio The main idea of the intervention was phatic referencing of these areas, ever
de Crista] of the Casa de Campo, a to regenerate the order and tension of in the background, and the incorpora-
work by F. Asfs Cabrero. A para- said space. If this was to be a fair with tion of the landscape through the huge
digm of Modern Architecure, the stands running along a number of glass facades, which meant that the
huge glass box is built using a simple streets, as in some ideal city, then they spaces seemed to spill out over the sur-
three-dimensional structure that ought to have a beginning and an end. rounding countryside. To contemplate
roofs over an open expanse from The rest areas were laid out at this end. it, stepped seats, tiers, were positioned
which the visitor can contemplate as a soil of 'belvedere*. Their being sit- to face this splendid panorama.

No
 Garcia Marcos House, Valdemoro, Architect's sketches,
Madrid, 1991 the entrance corner,
and compos ! onal
sketches of the
La Roche /'
the fiousi >"
Garches, tht I
in Stuttgart,
and he <'orbusier's
\'ill< Savou .

yd, sj.ois: % **-<T^

A family house in a typical residential

area on the. outskirts of Valdemoro
(Madrid). The plot is 15 x 21 meters in
size, on a corner ami with two facades
giving onto the street.
The site is enclosed by walls, like a box
X3 © c
open to the sky. In the middle, and ac-
cording with the previously estab-
lished setbacks, there is a white rec-
tangular prism with a base 8 x 14 me-
ters in size.
This box is organized around a twin-
level, convergent central space which
is crossed diagonally by the Light.
From a skylight in the roof a vertical
light which goes from side to side.
From a large picture window a hori-
zontal light which does the same.
And so, through Light and Proportion.
a small and simple enclosed house be-
comes a large and open house in which,
using almost nothing, everything is
possible, line boite a miracles', in
*Y
short.
 Cutaway model
ring-
room; cross
section, sidt
elevation, plans
ofground an
floors, and
ilitri
circidaiion.

n
i
-y n %¡

§
 Tin cow)lya/rd with
pool,and
axorum
showing tiu
d&uble-height
I, r,, ,,/-.%

88
S!)
 /'//.%living space
overlooked by the
upper-level ureas.
tikeskylight,
axonometric
showing the
entranci front.

Theliving space
ttlwninatedbythe
skylight and
garden window.

90
93
 Extension to a secondary school,
Velilla de San Antonio, Madrid, 1991

This block with eight classrooms and a using diagonal Light, with a picture
small gymnasium provides the finish- window high upon the north side and
ing touch to an already exist (ng another one. of the same size, at
ondary school. ground level on the south, the floor of
A prismatic volume is set out on a 10 x which extends into a small courtyard.
38 m rectangle, with a gymnasiuni on By piercing the white prism a con-
the bottom floor and four classrooms on trast is produced between the smitli
each ofthe two floors above. The layout facade, with its large classroom win-
used is linear, with a corridor to the dows, and the north facade, with its
north and classrooms to the south. The small and deep apertures which illu-
whole width ofthe ground floor is de- minate and ventilate the corridors.
voted to thehigh-ceilinged gymnasium. This is completed with extended out-
This double height gives us an opportu- side walls of glass block, made flush
nity to underline the spaciousness ofthe On the north, east and west facades.
main entrance hall by the simple ploy of w Inch illuminate the gymnasium.
 ective sketch
nt entrance hull,
the stre* 111>

of typical

% "„s,iu/il
cross a "(I
udinoi
3— =^ =r~i ' i

DD D

an n

%¡
DD

%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡%¡
nnDnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

DD

93
 Thegynvna
•l lictn

% ingrtrwnd-
classrooms.

94
95
 Four villas, Spanish Embassy, i'in ,% :,; , ;

Algiers, 1992 ions of the

fburkouses,
pi rspectm % i
nt interiors, and
tiii <ntrcmce
elevation of one
of tiie houses.

Four new dwellings were required for

the staff ofthe Spanish Embassy in Al-
giers.
The location is part of the garden of
ihe Ambassador's Residence, on a long
and narrow strip of land low down by
the entrance. The decisive factor's
when choosing the appropriate typolo-
gy were the limited amount of sharply
sloping terrain available, and the
abundant existing greenery.
A number of independent buildings
are proposed, resolved vertically and
with their entrance at the middle Boor
level. At garden height, the groum
floor contains the extensive living
area, which forms a continuum with
the walled patio. The top floor houses
the family bedrooms, and use can be
made ofthe roof terrace which, at this
height, provides unique views of the
beautiful Bay of Algiers.
While echoing the spatial handling of
the Turegano House, the central space
embodies a number of changes in the
positioning of the window apertures,
which gives rise to a diagonal space
tautened by diagonal light.
 onsi and
plant %
ofa typical
house:

r 1

Y h
/ c i D
?%
N a a

u 1

97
 oking
oolvmesofone of
./.-%a,. and
W9.

98
'Janus' House, Reggio Emilia, Site i
Italy, 1992 ,„ ,--,,, .
sketch* %
axonometric, plans
ofground and first
floors, and cross
and longitudinal
%ns '% o/ ne
of the ha

This liuu.se originates in an entry for

an Internationa] competition convoked
in Italy: la casa pin bella del mondo.
It responds to all the requirements
called for in the program with a single
volume in which the ground floor space
opens onto a garden surrounded by
walls.
In the main living room two split-level
spaces, of equal size in section and in
plan, are connected diagonally. The di-
agonal light finds its main focal point in
the huge skylight which is let into the
highest and most remote part of the
ceiling.
Once again, and to be more precise, if
that is possible, a diagonal space tra-
versed by diagonal light.

\
1

fin

hii
-! -
'
' "11 i F, 1 !
tltfl

ru
 Gaspar House, Zahora,
Cadiz, 1992

The client's express wish was for total included at the sides. The roof over the the architecture. The dual symmetry
seclusion. It was decided, therefore, to central space is higher. -1.5 meters of the composition is rendered more
create a completely walled enclosure, above the ground. Where the low and evident by the likewise symmetrical
an 'hortus eonclusus". This originates high walls intersect there are four 2 x placing of the four lemon trees, which
in an 18 x 18 meter square, defined by 2 meter glazed openings. The horizon- make for a spectacular effect.
four 3.5 meter-high walls, which Is di- tal plane of the stone floor extends The Light in this house is horizontal
vided into three equal parts. Only the through these four openings, giving a and continuous, and reflects off the
central part is roofed over. Divided real sense of continuity between inside walls of the east-west oriented pa-
obliquely by a pair of 2 meter-high and outside. tios. In fine, this is a continuous hor-
walls into three parts, having the pro- The omnipresent whiteness con- izontal space tautened by horizontal
portions A: 2A: A. the service units are tributes to the clarity and continuity of light.

conclusus',
wrchitect's sketck,
and the i ritmnce
100
I 'utaway model,
ground-floor plan,
and the entrance
court

Kil
 The courtym
trees and
pool, and an
metric.

IQ2
'Drago' school,
Cadiz, 1992

The building, with its vast white fac- run. Its squareness is accentuated by
ade overlooking the sea, is devisod as a
coming from the lofty, circular sky-
four palm trees set into the stone light.
continuation of the long and high white paving. The space which dominates the whole
walls of the old 'maritime' cemetery of The more public spaces, those sub-
Cadiz. building is the main, triple-height en-
ject to greatest use. are located in trance hall where all the corridors
The entire volume ifi handled in such a the part of the building that over- meet. Its vertieality is tautened by the
way that it repairs the fabric of the looks the sea. A deep, double-height diagonal light from its high skylights,
city at the point where its streets end. aperture announces the public na- and endowed with continuity by the
The overall space is laid out on an ir- ture of the building to the city and seaward-facing oval aperture whose
regular, trapezoidal base, and uses the subsumes the library and cafeteria setting at an intermediary level ren-
simple device of a regular, square spaces. The gloomy depths of these ders this possible. A vertical space
courtyard around which the corridors is tautened by the strong sunlight tautened by diagonal light.
 ~

Z-_

jPlP E iFf

n ii — t!

] Q

Architects drawing
ofsection sfa
light trajectory, and
<romtin sea
. gj
/» Jfee centre).

Gr&tvnd-floorptan,
longitudinal section
of the tabby, and
model.

105
 Th< main front
and entrance
Q

Tin loggia, detail

ofa window on the
main front, and

axonometricoftJtB
lobbyand library.

lOfi
107
 IMail •>/sca-
lar/, uj loggia,
perspective
drawing, and view
qfthe entrance
lobby.

108
Public library, Orihuela,
Alicante, 1992
collaborator: Pedro Luis Valle Lopez

Tins stone construction, erected on the and flush with the wall. The balconies yard. This tectonic element throws
remains of a former mansion, is con- overlooking the courtyard appear as the stereotomic stone box containing
ceived as a building-cum-courtyard. lightweight elements. On the ground it into relief. The white structure of
one generated by dialog between two floor the conference-hall volume juts telescopic pillars and delicate trian-
L-shaped entities. out over the courtyard like a fan being
The first of these takes in the Iwo his-
gular trusses has a i win function: on
opened. The main stairway rests on it the one hand it serves as an effective
toric facades, all the parts of which are and follows the same unfolding architectonic device for making the
re-elaborated in stone. Its wall-like na- rhythm. The gesture is completed by light shimmer where the two inter-
ture is underlined by both the treat- the forceful and sharp-ended prismatic sect, thus lending it material form.
ment of the stone (with horizontal flut- volume which contains the common On the other, the compositional axis
ing) and the increased depth of all its stairs. formed by the main facade and the
openings. Lastly, a third element makes its ap- huge entrance arch is turned through
The second V is also elaborated in pearance: the metal structure, paint- ninety degrees, ordering the space
stone, handled, here, to be as smool h ed white, that supports the win- longitudinally by means of the pil-
as skin. Tin- openings are long, narrow dowed skylight covering the court- lars.
 positional
drawing, modeli
the neu w
plans of second,
fust and ground
floors, "ml "'"
rebuilt original
facade.
The central
courtyard crossi d
by tin-stahivay,
detaMof balcony
(imi metal roof
supported
by pillars, and
cutaway
axonorru
ofcourtyaaxL
113
Cultural center, Villaviciosa de Odon,
Madrid, 1992

The site, alongside the former high- um, toilets and lobby, all with overhead
way t<>.Madrid and with a previously lighting.
adapted space, is defined on its other The main lobby on the city-facing fa-
three sides by a number of not very in- cade will have a huge central aperture
teresting apartment blocks. opening onto the latter from which to
The solution is a stone box whose see and be seen. The city will be able to
trapezoidal ground plan follows the -ee in a flash what is going on inside.
layout of the site. A robust and heavy
'stereotomic' box, then, of gray gran-
ite. On the inside, with a reduced floor-
plan, and sticking out above so as to
catch the light from on high, a light-
weight and 'tectonic", white cubic box
forming the geometric and conceptual
center of the proposed system, and
perforated all over like a piece of
gruyere cheese. The perforations in its
permeable double skin, with their con-
trollable opening and closing, allow for
the potentially wide-ranging play of
natural light, which thus becomes the
source of spatial tension in this 'mod-
ern' entertainment center.
The interstitial spare between the two
boxes will be used for a library, muse-

Pi rspeclive sketch
ofl/all.
drawing, and
model.
Planoj
longitudinal
' % <% ''.
_J
and interior mew - - U . . . sj° .. sj a.Da|jB '

tdel

r
9

——

111- .:.
%
L

115
 Philharmonic Hall,
Copenhagen, 1993

s0fi&
*Z2 _
' fSff^-A/IH***.

An international competition was or-

ganized to erect a new building in
Copenhagen for the Philharmonic Or-
chestra there. Our proposal was for a
•belvedere' beside the canal. A rock be-
side the water, hollowed OUt inside and
carved outside.
On the inside, enclosed within the rock
like a treasure, a series of acoustically
well-appointed spaces - a concert hall,
I he ( Jopenhagen Philharmonic Hall, an
auditorium - in which to hear and take
in the music.
On the outside, set down mi the nick
like a 'belvedere', a series of visually
well-sited spaces - a central square, a
restaurant, a library - from which to
see and take in the landscape. Perfect-
ly protected within a class box.
The huge carved rock would be el'
stone, sawcut light-gray granite, sup-
ported en a strong monolithic struc-
ture of reinforced concrete. The musi-
cal boxes hollowed out inside would be
finished in Danish beech wood. The
glass box would lie made using a pre-
cise lightweight structure of steel, plus
glass.
A rock hollowed out to acoustically
safeguard and isolate those musical
boxes, ami carved to visually enhance
and underscore the very beautiful
landscape of Copenhagen. An architec-
ture with the strength simplicity
brings. With the elegance sobriety
confers

lect's sketcttes,
and cutaway
116
First-jloorp
mid tin- model seen
from above,

117
 Public housing, /'. ,.--/»ctivi
shouting light
Ibiza, 1994 tory, plans
ofground and first
flows, arid
longitudinal
% ofa
%%
fmcsing unit.

This involved ;i competition for 40 pub-

lic housing units in Ibiza. on an irregu-
lar city lot and with various planning
regulations
As the design brief put it. the apart-
ments were intended to engage with
the following factors: expertise, con-
structional simplicity, maximum priva-
ffective control of the light, clarity
and flexibility. All this in a functional
90 nv that again offered, in purer form
this time, a diagonal space with diago-
nal light in the main room, plus an ad-
joining private patio. A suitably de-
signed roof terrace was also put for-
ward. Vis-a-vis the city, the housing
complex maintained the tension of the
continuous fabric these 'semis' un the
best sense of the word) were part of.
The apartments received third piize
and a commendation from the jury.
which judged them to be "excellent
but nou-viable."

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119
 Extension to a school, Loeches. Architect's alcetclies,
Madrid, 1994 onom trie

An extra classroom block was re-

quired for the school which had been
previously enlarged in 1989.
This is planned as a continuation of the
first. If the earlier extension was a
kind of rampart, this was to be a fur-
ther continuation of it. resolving the
problem of the comer and so coraplel
ingthe whole.
The basically simple program is domi-
nated by the entrance hall, whose dou-
ble height accomodates the existing
slope. Different openings are made, in
''lance with the tensions of the
surrounding landscape. The lighting
h'.'iv is resolved by perforations in the
roof, of sufficient size to create a
'downpour of light' on this space.
The same constructional system is
used as in the first building, with the
rubblework enclosures continuing on
from the walls of the neighboiingVon-
venta to which the complex Is at-
tached
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120
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121
 Bullring, Villaviciosa cle Odon, Perspectivt sketch,
Madrid, 1994 grouTtd-floorpUm,
%It rations,
mod* I

The site, to the extreme north of the

city, looking towards the mountains, is
100 \ loom in size. A paved public
space is created, with trees. As a back-
drop we situate a line of low buildings
containing the necessary amenities
and commercial premises. Presiding
over the center of the open space is an
empty cylindrical enclosure of con-
crete capable of housing a portable
bullring 60 m in diameter and 9 m high.
In this way we succeed in keeping the 1
specifications that much simpler, the
down, and the space more viable
for a variety of different uses.
The scheme is rounded off with further
small buildings in the corners which
ensure that the place is clearly sign-
posted.
As for the cylindrical entity of pale
gold-colored concrete, various open-
ings are made in it which respond to
the issue ill' scale, as well as of dialog.
vis-a-vis its intersection with the sun-
light.
All this is realized with the maximum
economy of means.

122
 Axonometric
Main Library, Universidad de Alicante, ski tches, cud
Alicante, 1995 -%dioffl
. stod
d ng moms.

Tlii.- edifice is located on a 12ii x (>(im

site on the still largely unbuilt Univer-
sidad de Alicante campus.
"What is a Library? A person, a book,
and enough light to read by." Taking
light to be the main concern, then, a
number of reading rooms are created
as twin-bay spaces, each bay measur-
ing 7 meters. The first, double-height
bay is diagonally connected to the sec-
ond, likewise lofty one. thus creating
an ample and well-lit space. The tall
picture windows face towards i In-
north light. The reading tables, in
three stepped horizontal planes, seek
after ami find this light. The insides of
the 'podia1 which support these planes
are used to house the bookshelves.
Resolved as four large boxes full of
light and silence, this simple, logical
and effective intervention is set on top
of the rest of the building, a building in
which we respond to the requirements
of the program with a straightforward,
functional layout.
The two bottom floors are conceived as
a single huge base of stereotomic
si one. the top floor, as protruding . :>-
white boxes of steel and glass that, in
being tectonic elements, contrast with
the other two. The entire edifice is an-
chored to the ground by a series of pa-
tios full of lemon trees.
The architect's constant search for a
potential typology is made manifest
here.

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125
 Public school, Chatillon, Perspective sketch
mid section
France, 1995 studies,
( 'ollabnrator: Bruno Mercier <mts,"nil

()ii!- aim is to make the best, most

sober, school we can. With the same
economy of means that nature dis-
plays. With logic, order and clarity.
Flexibility is the main feature of a re-
sponse adjusted to the functioning of
the stipulated teaching program.
The quality of the space is based on the
fort brightness of the structural solu-
tion, a compact box of bare concrete.
and on the precise handling of the
light. The central entrance hall is re-
solved as a diagonal space traversed
by diagonal light.
Vis-a-vis the territory - open country-
side - the building affirms its pubic na-
ture through a presence strong
enough to turn it into an obligatory
reference point,
A certain volition exists to create an
archetype by following tin- philosophy
of 'more with less".

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126
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127
 Centro Balear cle Innovation Teenologica,
Inca, Majorca. 1995
Collaborator:LuisIgnatioAguirre

A number of high-tech offices are to be two meters on either side. This is the ground and serve the work spaces
built (.hi a triangular site on an indus- glazed, without openings, thus creat- where necessary.
trial estate-. To dn this, we create a gar- ing a continuous space across the hori- Here, once mure, is an architecture
den. Following the triangular outline zontal plane of the travertine floor. At created uri a storeolomic Stone base, a
of the site, a high mares stone wall is some of the remaining points where box akin to an inverted podium on
erected, thus creating an enclosed the grid intersects sweet-smelling which different lightweight tectonic el-
• . The entire site is excavated to fruit trees are planted: dwarf lemon ements are placed. And with tremen-
basement level and the horizontal trees. And on the walls, climbing dous precision and maximum economy
plane reestablished by using a deck plants with aromatic flowers: jasmine. Of mean.-.
covered in the same travertine marble wisteria, climbing vine and ampelop-
as the inside face of the walls. We now sis. A garden is thus created, a 'sen.'!
have a travertine box open to the sky. garden", with the work spaces inside it.
An orthogonal 6 x 6 m grid is traced The whole affair is tautened by placing
out on this box. And separated from the conference hall at a suitable angle
the walls, a band parallel to the sides of in the center: this is a stepped space
the triangle is created with a series of hollowed out in the stone floor and cov-
white cylindrical metal pillars on ered with a glass box. The installations
which a flat roof is placed, sticking out crisscross the basement 'tapped' into

128
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\fcomplex, model, ami

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129
 AxonoTnetr
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complex, m
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130 southeast corners
132
I'll, tree-planted

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133
 from the patio mid

I Ml
MinistryofForeignAffairs,
Madrid!1995

^SA

The task in hand was to intervene in

an (ingoing project which was present-
ing a number of problems. After con-
sulting five bodies (Real Academia de
Bellas Artes. Consejo Superior de Ar-
quitectos, tin- University, the Ministry
of Public Works and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs itself), a competition
to resolve the matter was convoked
among the architects who appeared in
all thek lists: Saenz de Oi/.a. ( 'ano Las-
so,Moneo, Navarro, I Jasas and Campo
Baeza.
A determining factor was to conserve
the viilumetry of the earlier design and
the foundations that had been already
laid: a base occupying the entire trian-
gular site from which rose three iden-
tical seven-story volumes, the whole
thing currently surrounded by high-
density apartment buildings of the
same or greater height than the
planned edifice.
Our scheme consists of surrounding
the whole with a garden hanging over
a large mesh-like structure, of the
same height as the complex within,
which could be walked on, thus form-
ing a massive, and private, open box.
Maximizing the earlier base, the whole
affair is set on a huge stone podium of
travertine marble. The hanging gar-
dens are sheathed in an outwardly
translucent glass, 80 as to diffuse the
light, protect the dews and define a
single, bold volume on the street side.
The interior volumes are respected
and their layout enhanced by giving
them plain facades of glass, translu
cent or transparent as per their orien-
tation.
Finally, then, this is an extremely rad-
ical and clear-sighted intervention, re-
alized with the right number of el<-
<ments for rendering it effective.

Aa-lnt <<% /'.<

sketches, site plan
..%the
/
%s, and
%:: section. 135
 Classroms and laboratories, Architect's sketches Plans at VttliOW
• ws of i % E vations,
Universitat Pompeii Fabra, Barcelona, 1996 model. and sections.

c -

We are working on the given volume-

try of a series of seven-story blocks,
each with a 27 x 18 m ground plan,
/ Is
%
I
f]
f
which stand opposite C'iudadt-la Park / 1
in Barcelona. We opt for a rigorously "XL.
4±p
i
ordered floorplan, one offering the / —I \
greatest flexibility possible, with a
vertical core in the center.
A> to the light: a glass facade is pro-
posed with alternating translucent and
transparent bands which would vary
as per their orientation.
A -tune podium is set up on the ground
door of each block, in response to the
city at that level, which in addition re-
solves all the problems of security.
The structure is lightweight, of metal,
At the very top, on the flat roof with
its impressive views of the city, a kind
of translucent belvedere is erected on
a flat expanse of stone.
The architecture proposed here, so
translucent as to seem built from
clouds, is a further expression of the
essentiality we seek.

136
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 Elsa Peretti Museum, Sant Marti Veil, Archih
Girona, 1996 skt tches, inui
model.

As a denouement to the long-term re-

furbishment of a group of old buidings
in the village, a number of entities are
ere ated which will encapsulate the im-
age of the Foundation of the famous
Tiffany designer, Elsa Peretti
There are basieally three entities in-
volved, in which we exploit three dif-
ferent kinds of light: an emphatically
vertical hall with small apertures in
the ceiling which, akin to the Alham-
bra Baths, emits a heavy downpour of
light; a long, high hall "with diagonal / **

light; and a walled roof terrace with

fragrant trees, forming a tiny secrel
garden. Suitably interconnected, the V I
three chambers go to form this 'house
of Danae 1 museum for Elsa Peretti.
And all using a great economy of
means, plus the gift of a stunning light.

L38
 Plans oj tower
and secondfloor,
longitudinal and
cross sections, and

of mm
Hnn nnpi

139
 Public housing, Falcinelo-Carabanchel, Architect's sketch,
ami model of an
Madrid, 1997 interior.

For this apartment building the archi-

tect developed, refined and radicalized
a model elaborated in previous
schemes: a single living area which in-
corporates the kitchen, enclosed in a
translucent glass vitrine in order to
maximize the limited space available.
Its being tautened by light is the cen-
tral concern here. A horizontal light
for the continuous hoiizonta! space of
the middle floor. A diagonal light that
crosses the higher diagonal space on
the top floor.
On the south facade looking onto an in-
terior patio, and framing the picture
windows of the apartments, are pr<>-
jections which, as well as being eaves
offering protection from the sun, un-
derscore fcnecontinuity of the interior
space. The north facade giving onto
the approach road has horizontal flush
windows which lend it a serene and
neutral air. Built of simple materials,
and of a uniform whiteness, these
dwellings are a further attempt at af-
firming the idea of "more with less'". In
this case at the immediate service of
society.

140
141
 Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium, Per&pictive sketch
of sports hall, and
Majadahonda, Madrid, 1997 ofinterior.

We are designing a small space 15 x 15

m in ;i)-ca. ?..">in high, on a site sur-
rounded by trees, to be a public school
gymnasium. We respond with a light-
filled, Bemi-cubic farm.
The extremely simple structure is
made up of three 5-meter spans, with a
number of vierendel beams,2.5 m long,
that leave a final clearance of o meters
free, as requested. This is resolved
with standard square hollow rebars of
steel.
The outside walling consists of large,
unbroken expanses of glass block,
which diffuse the light and provide the
right degree of strength and safety.
There is a transparent band of these at
eye-level for visibility and ventilation.
The services for this small sports
pavilion are inside the concrete podi-
um on which the luminous box sits.
A box of light, this, among the trees.

142
Plans "i fiai
changii

Wndt I i Diislrnrlio,!,
mffitudmal
and cross-sections.
 Porta clei Fiori, S. Dona di Piave,
Venice, 1997

A piece of commemorative architec-

ture was requested for the gateway 1"
a park in S. Dona di Piave in Venice, to
go alongside two works commissioned
by the same client from Aldo Rossi and
Alvaro Siza. A classical theme to be
elaborated for the new century. The
central idea is for a huge cube which
we cover with flowering plants and
which, providing a short cm. leads into
the park. All this is realized in the sine
plest way possible.
A right-angled dihedron formed by
two white walls, each 6 x •>m. is set up
in BUeha way that, from the front, the
viewer can grasp the idea of the cube.
A 2 x 2 m opening, which shows the
scale of the operation, is cut out of the
fore-edge to provide an entrance.
White-flowered climbing plants, jas-
mine and wisteria, are planted inside.
In growing up the cube they will even-
tually protrude Brora it and spread
nver the roof of air of the white box. In
gro wing up the cube in tin's way the
thousands of flowers will become mil-
lions of flowers and turn this gateway
of flowers into a mythical thing.

architect^
144 sketches,
 Till ludin U-il)il,
irrlntirl's
sketchi s.

to*
as

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?trO

Cube
Nobody ever knew where all those
magnificent sweet-smelling flowers
came from. Yetwith tfiern peace
d m Sarajevo. Thearchitect
gneda cubic architecture: o. cube,
Albanians built the imposing stone
structure* in the center of th* city, on
tin hanks qfthe River Milyaka. Ten
thousand bright white flowers
support the cube: scented magnolias,
fragrant roses, splendid cam*
andplain daisies. And then the
miracle happi n£d: as the cube went
aji the ten thousand flowers changed
mathematically into a billioi
billion flow rs swamping Saravejo
with their presence, their perfume;
Bosnians, Serbs and Croats who will
henceforth In; ni peace and
happint ssfor all Hnu.
Alberto Cainpo Baeza, El Pais,
Madrid, ll September 1993
 South Tenerife Airport, Detail qfmodel,
sit* plan
Tenerife, 1998 (first ri rsion),
collaborators: Eustaquio Martinez Garcia, Antonio Corona Bosch ground-floor plan,
'mm.
and Arsenio Perez Ainaral

For this 21st-century airport we pro-

pose an architecture of light and shad-
ow. A huge box of concrete and stone
which frames a marvellous landscape:
the Atlantic Ocean to the soiitli. with
the russet mountains resting on the
water like some kind of sphinx.
We want to create an airport building
that will stick in the memory. We creel
a htiuc concrete structure with pillars
and beams of enormous thickness,
with -outer walls of stone framing the
light and the landscape. A structure
that not only communicates the gravi-
tal ional pull of the earth but also seeks
to communicate a sense of order to the
human beings who use it.
The main corridors are disbursed
around a courtyard, a light source
presided over, like some oasis, by a
group of palm trees. And on the Hat
roof, a wonderful vantage point, a
shady garden.
In short, instead of putting up one
more airport using futile, obsolete
technologies, here we do so after care-
ful consideration, by building an idea
that will last.

146
r t -H-t u nt- i m i l l iii ii! —

Im^L
 Model,and partial
plan of main Uvel
(second w trim).

i — -I l_
148
Model of interiors,
architect's -;
and cros&rsectibn
ranee liall

1-1!)
ln()
161
 National Museum of Maritime Archaeology, !/<»/'I, sit plan,
and architect's
Cartagena, 1998 % •'';,
tell* % -•-

collaborator:
AntonGarciaAbril

The brief was to design a small mu-

seum building to house ;t number of ex-
tremely Erne Phoenician ships and oth-
er archaeological finds from the Med-
iterranean seabed, bo the museum is
laid out as a dry dock sunk into the
concrete platform of the pier, with a
simple, white-painted, metal-framed
roof that extends on the seaward side
to form a colonnade. The offices,
workshops and laboratories are on the
side facing the town. All the windows
have wooden frames ami clear or opa-
que glass, depending on requirements.

152
r

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153
 wdel,and
offfround
floorm %
level "/

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model, a "<iGm&a-
section.

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1
I m 7 165
 Pino House, Vicalvaro,
Madrid, 1999

The layout ofthis unusually small hou-

se is designed to give the impression of
much more space than there really is.
The presence of two roads at either
end of the 12 x S m lot meant that I he
building had to be .set back 4 m from
the street-line at both the front and
back, reducing the huil i area to just 8x
1 m. The basement level occupies the
full area of the lot. with the three stor-
ies of the house proper extending abo-
ve. The sunken basement level and
transparent patio flooring create a
south-facing diagonal space extending
throughout the house so that sunlight
van penetrate. Once again, diagonal
s] .aces are cut by diagonal light In this
ease, the light is gauged as accurately
as a delicate piece of clockwork.
*^*£ .

Architect's sketch
tore.:..
and model
 ii

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i n 1 1 i T~n t

t r

Plans ofvarious
els, cro8&-

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157
 Junta de Andalucia Offices, Vohimet %
sketches, and main
Almerfa, 1999 ation with
collaborators: Modesto Sanchez .Morales, .lose Maria Garcia. shutters open.
Francisco Salvador

In compliance with local planning re- ^TC ^~ — ^

gulations, the project specifies a buil-
ding with the permitted maximum of
Stories t hat occupies the entire 40 x 8.5
m site. All the external surfaces of the
building will have stone cladding. Fit-
ted cabinets on the inside will make
the perimeter walls unusually thick.
while the fenestration on all facades
comprises a dual system of windows on
the inside and adjustable stone shut-
ters on the outside to regulate light.
When the shutters are closed the buil-
ding takes on the appearance of an im-
posing monolith. The panoramic terra-
ce on the top floor, which also has sto-
ne cladding, offers fine views of the
city and sea.

L~n

L58
 P&tng of various
levels, <ii"! sub
CH 3lj=uj • '< % % iiliciit.

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• • • • ,
 Caja General de Ahorros,
Granada, 1999
coDaborator: Felipe Samaran Salo

The project, which won the 1992 com-

petition for the new headquarters of
Caja General de Ahorros, the city's
most important bank, is located in the
rather nondescript urban fringes, so
the intention was also to create a land-
mark building in that part of the city.
To solve the problems posed by the
sloping site, a base providing parking
space and room for-the bank M expand
into is fitted between the two roads
that define the lot. Above I he base, the
cube-shaped sterotonric volume based
on a 9 x •'!m reinforced concrete grid
frame serves to culled light, which is
the principal theme of the design. The
two south-facing facades act as bl
soleils to soften the strong Mediterra-
nean light that illuminates the open-
plan work areas. The two opposite
facades, where the offices are sited,
have horizontal stone and glass infill
and receive uniform, unvarying light
because of their northerly exposure.
The covered central courtyard - a ge-
nuine iuipluvium of light - collects the
strong southern liuiu and reflects it off
alabaster cladding to enhance the illu-
mination of the bank's customer areas.
In functional terms, the building is
compact, flexible and simple. Essen-
tially, it is a stereotomic concrete and
Stone box that captures light and
transmits it to another tectonic box, a
diagonal space traversed by diagonal
light,

O PrfMM
V,llalta,E\
navegan£e interior,
WOx .",:<% „*.
i 'nh cci&nDiputacioii
%and
160 architect's sketclfes.
 pop (OM ^TeneoroMic T&c~ro\j\c.

Arckift
sketches, detail of
stmctuiml model,
the interior of
Granada
dra,l, mid tin1
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London (Om n
Williams, 1959).
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162
P&W1
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of mod

163
 .i/mi/,! of maw hail
illuminated by
naiiiral light and
artificial light
jili' ring tfa %
the alabaster
corridor wall, and
architect's sh tch.
 Biography AlbertoCampo
Baezo with Jjtrn
I'tzoii in tin Utzon
Bouse, Majorca.

1946 •Madrid. Madrid' exhibition, Villa de Ayimtamiento de Madrid Prize for the
Bora in Valladolid Madrid Cultural Centre. Madrid Jesus del Pozo store, Madrid
1950 1985 1990
Moves to< ;nii/ 'Obras y proyectos' exhibition. Pans Bien- Visiting professor at Eidgenossisehe Ttech-
nal. Paris nische Hoschschule,Zurich
1971
'Architectures en Espagne' exhibition, Ga- Lectures at Archi-Kreis, Berne
Graduates in arc] BscuekTeeni- lerie dn Moniteur, Paris Lectures at Sci-Arc, Vico Morcote, Swil aer-
ca Superior de Anjuitectura (ETSAM), 'Nouvelles Architectures en Espagne' exhi- land
Madrid bition, Bordeaux 'La i 'asa. el Arquitecto y su Tiempo' exhi-
Winner of competition for Festival Hall, bition, Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos,
Santander 1986 Madrid
Visiting professor, University of Pennsyl-
1973
vania. Philadelphia 1991
Winner of competition for Parador x.i Lectures at Architectural Association.
[, I fuenca. Lectures at Royal Institute of British Ar-
London
ts, London
Full professor of Architectural Design, ET- T.a ( lasritade Paper"exhibition, <JolegioOfi-
1876 SAM, Madrid cia]de Arquitectos, Malaga
1lourse professor in Architectural Design, •Obras y proyc-ctos' exhibition, Colegio I >;'i--
ETSAM, Madrid cial de Arquitectos, Malaga, <'adiz 1992
AyuntamientO de Madrid Prize and Archi- Visiting professor ai Architecture Whiter
1977
ire Prize of Colegio Oficial de Arquitec- School, Dublin
Madrid correspondent of .4 * U, Architec- tos for school in San Fermin, Madrid Lectures at I'Ecole d'Architecture de
% iiiiUrbanism magazine
Strasbourg, Strasbourg
Winner of competition for Pene town Hall. 1987
"La Vlvienda Colectiva' exhibition, Colegio
La Corufla Director of Department of Architectural oficial de Arquitectos, Matlrid
Design, ETSAM, Madrid Tichtfest/Festival of Light", "Tower Triva"
1978
'Obras y proyectos' exhibition, Colegio Ofi- and •Landesuarnii Schau' exhibitions. In-
Winner of competition for Cathedra] cial de Arquitectos, Almeria golstadt
square, Almeria '10 Arquitectos Espafloles' exhibition,
'Obraa y proyectos 1 exhibition, ETSAM,
Winner of competition for new Caja General
Buenos Aires Biennial de Ahorros. t'tranada
Madrid Special award of'lQ Arquitectos Espai
jury at Buenos Aires Biennial 1993
1979
Gold medal of Asociacion Internacional de tures at Bienal de Arquitectura Es-
'<florasy proyectos 1exhibition, <'olegio Ofi- <Iriticos de Arte 10 Arquitectos Espaftoles' panola, Santander
cial de Arquitectos, Pamplona at Buenos Aires Biennial Speaks at Seminario Interazionalo Domus,
Winner ofEscuelaa del MEC competition Naples
1988
"LaCasa, el Arquitecto y su Tiempo I y IL.
1981
Professor on postgraduate course -l.a Idea 'La Vlvienda Individual' and 'La vlvienda
irer at International Summer Course, const ruida' Colectiva' exhibitions. Museo de la Cuidad.
1University, Ithaca, New York '10 Arquitectos Espafioles1 exhibition, Sao Madrid
Paulo Biennial •II Bienal de Arquitectura Espanola' exhi-
1982
bition. Coinillas. Cantabria
PhD in Architecture, E ISAM. Madrid 1989 Pad Piedra 93 Prize lor Public Library. Ori-
Winner of competition for gymnasium at Lecture at Architektur Teehnische liuela
Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid Hoschschule, Darmstadt. Germany Special mention in Eric Lyons Award 199:-}.
Exhibits at World Architecture Biennial, London
1983 Sofia. 1989
Lecturer at Internationa] Summer Course 'Obras y proyectos' exhibition, Colegio oti- 1994
ofFacoItadJ Architettaradi Milanoin Pavia cial de Arquitectos, Cordoba Lectures a) Architektur Sehule, Aachen
'La Lmposibk Escuela de Madrid 1 exhibi- Special prize in competition for the public Lectures ai Architektur Sehule, Dortmund
tion. Colegio Oficia] de Arquitectos, Madrid sehool in San Fermfn, Madrid, at World Ar-
19S4
Visiting professor at Ecole d'Architecture,
chitecture Biennial. Sofia. 1989 Lausanne
tant professor of Architectural De- Special prize in competition for the Lectures at Triennale di Milano. Milan
168 sign. ETSAM. Madrid Turegano House, Pozuelo, Madrid Lectures at Parque de Espafia Cultural
 Centre, Rosario, Argentina 'Casa (Seis proyectos de ,-asa en ( 'adi/j' ex-
Lectures al CA Y.C., Buenos Aires hibition, Colegio Oficial de Arquite
Lectures at Alvar Aalto Symposium, ( adiz
Jyvaskylii
'Mue.Mrade Arquiteetura Espaflola Con-
Speaks at International Seminar, Lisbon
temporanea 1986-1996' exhibition, CIA
"II Biena] de Arquiteetura Espafiola' exhi- Congress, Barcelona
bition,Arquerfas MOPU, .Madrid
'Erie Lyons Housing Award' exhibition, 1997
Gallery BuildingCentre, London
'Architecture Triennial' Exhibition, Sofia
Lull professor at Keole Polytechnique
!-o.i.-.-aie de Lausanne
"Muestra de Arquiteetura Espaflola 1991- Lectures at I.T.i J. •<'arlo Scarpa -. San Dona
1993'exhibition, ComiHas,Cantabria di Piave, Venice
Third-prize in competition for social hous- Leeturesal aai. Dublin
ing, Ibiza •Mi«i (1985-1995). Una decada de premies
ial prize in competition public school
del Ayuntamiento de Madrid' exhibition
Cadiz
Museo de la Cuidad. Madrid
Special prize fin- Caspar House, Zahora, •Impluvium de luz' exhibition, Golegio Ofi-
. in World Architecture Triennial cial de Arquitectos, Cadiz
1!''.• I. Sofia
'More with Less (Obras y proyectos)' exhi-
bition, Galleria Adalberto Mestre, Sai
1995
Dona di Piave. Venice
Speaks at International Seminar. Wurz-
burg 1998
International Jury member. Flanders Ar- Lectures at Bauhaus, Weimar
chitectural Y. Brussels
Lectures al AEEA, Tbulonse
Lectures at Dessa Gallery, Ljubljana Lectures at Residenda de Estudiaotea
% '- al Usociacao ^rquiteetoa Por- iMadi-id
tugueses, Lisbon
'Obras j proyectos' exhibition, Dessa 1999
<Jallery,Ljubljana Full professor at University of Pennsylva-
Third piize in competition for social housing nia. Philadelphia
in Leganes. Madrid
Winner of competition Centra Balearde In-
novation Tfecnoldgica,Inca. Majorca
1996
Visitingprofessor, Virginia PolytechnicIn-
stitute and State University al Blacksburg,
\ ir.tfinia
Lectures al Facolta dj Architettura, 'La
Sapienza' University,Rome
Lecturesal PfieofaPolytechniqueFederate
(le Lausanne, Lausanne
Speaks al Loyal Academy,Copenhagen
Lectures al [*Ecole d'Arrliit,.c!ure de Riv-
tagne, Rennes
Lecturesai Nordic and Baltic ill Architec-
tural Triennial, TalKn
'La Idea Construida (Obras y proyeCtOfi '
exhibition, Acaderaia de Espafla, Lome
'La Idea Construida (Obras y pro: ectos)'
exhibition, FundacfcSnCultural ColegioOfi-
ciai de Arquitectos, Madrid
'La Idea Construida (Obras y proyectos)'
exhibition. Convent of San Carlo, Erice
m
 List of works

1971
Competition project for gymnasium, Cui- 1993
Festival Hal] (project), Santander dad l Iniversitaria, Madrid Competitionproject CorPhilharmonicHall.
Copenhi
1973 1983
Parador National (project). C'uenca (with Public Bchool, San Sebastian de los Bi 1994
Julio Cairo Lasso, Miguel Martin Escancia- Madrid Public housing (project I, Ibiza
no, Jose - Manuel Sanz Sanz and Antonio Fxlension to a school (project). Loeches.
Mas Guindal) 1984 Madrid
Nursery school, San Sebastian de IflS Re- Bullring (project). VuTavieiosade Od6n,
1974 Wadrid Madrid
Garcia del Valle Bouse, Cuidad de Santo Extension to a school, Aluche, Madrid
Domingo, Algete. Madrid 1995
Fominaya House. Cuidad de Santo Domin- 1985 Main Library (projeci I, i iniversidad de Ali-
go, Algete, Madrid Public school, San Fermm. Madrid cante, Alicante
Professional Training Center. Vltoria (with Public sell.ml (project), Chatillon. France
JullG ( 'alio I .:. 1987 (collaborator Bruno Mercier)
Professional Training Center, Pamplona HitfhPerformance Sports Centre (project), Centre Balear de Innovation Tecnologica
(with Julio <'ano Lasso) Las Rozas, Madrid Inca. Majorca (collaborator: Luis Ignacio
Aguirre)
1975 1988
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (project) Ma-
Professional Training Center, Salamanca Public housing, La Vina, Vallecas, Madrid drid
(with Julio Cano La (collaborators: Antonio Domfaguez Iglesias Projeci Forsocial housing, Leganes, Madrid
and Angel Ximenezde Emblin)
1976
Toregano House. Pozuelo, Madrid 1990
Balseiro House (project), Cuidad Lineal, 'Jesus del Pozo' store Madrid (collaborator: classroom.- and laboratories (project), Uni-
Madrid
Antonio Romero Fernandez) versital Pompeu Fabra, Parcel.
( lolegio( ifieialde Arcfultectos (project :>.Se- Digital office building (project), Tres Can- Elsa Peretti Museum (project), San Marti
ville tos, Madrid \V!1. «iirona
Cnivcrsidad Lahoral. Alrnena (with -lulio
Cano Lasso, Miguel Martin Escaneiano and 1989 1997
Antonio Man Guindal) Public school. Loeches, Madrid Public housing (project), Falcinelo-Cara-
Extension of Escuela de Arquitectura (pro- banchel. Madrid
1978
ject), Madrid Leonardo da Vinci Gymnasium (project),
Cathedral square (project), Almerfa (colla-
Majadahonda, Madrid
borator: Modesto Sanchez Morales) 1990 Porta dei Fieri. San Dona <li Piave. Veni-
Dalmau House (project), Burgos ce
1979 Arco installation, Madrid (collaborator: Tom Ford House. Santa Fe. New Mexico
Project for Coneurso National de Escuelas Alejandro Gomez «larcfe I (collaborator: Adam Bresnick)
MEC Municipal Library (project), Fuencarral,
Mai Irid 1998
1980
Competition projeci for South Tenerife Air-
Fene Town Hall. La ( loruna 1991 port (collaborators: Eustaquio Martinez
Garcia Marcos House. Valdeinoro. Madrid Garcia. Antonio Cnroiia P.osch and Ai
1981
Extension to a secondary school, Velilla de Perez Amaral)
Cultural Center (project), Guernica. Vizca- San Antonio, Madrid National Museum of Maritime Archaeology
ya (project I, I lartagena (collaborator Anton
1992 Carcia Abril)
1982
Four villas for Spanish Embassy. Algiers
Nursery school, Aspe, Alicante (collab ••hums'House (project ), Reggjo Emilia, Italy 1999
ton Javier Esteban Martin) Caspar House, Zahora, Cadi:'; Pino House (project), Vicalvaro, Madrid
Nursery school (project), Crevillente, Ali- Drago" school, Cadiz Junta de Andalucfa Offices (project), Abne-
cante (collaborator Javier Esteban Mar- Public Library. Orihuela, Alicante (collabo- ria (collabora! (ir-: Modesto Sanchez Morales.
tin) rator: Pedro Luis Valle Lopez) Jose* Maria Garcia and Francisco Salvador)
Nursery school. Onil. Alicante (collabora ( lultural Center (projeci i, VuTavieiosa de ( !aja Genera] de Ahorros, Granada (collabo-
tor Javier Esteban Martini Odon. Madrid rator: Felipe Samaran Saloi
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Collaborators Photo credits

On construction management Jesus Pefialba The publisher wishes to ; hank the CampO
Joaquin Fernandez Madrid Jesper Rami Baeza Studio for making available Ilie pho-
Antonio Perez VUlegas Hector Ruiz Velazquez tographic and illustrative material used in
Luis Rodriguez ( lasanova Felipe Samaran Salo" the preparation of this book: and in parti-
do Romero MiguelAngelSanchez cular:
Juan Manuel Sanchez la Ohica Pedro Albornoz
Structures Juan Carlos Sanclio Francisco Arevalo
Rafael Abenza Rafael Serrano Lluis Ca .
Jose Domingo Fabre I 'ionzalo Torcal Nicolas I lasla
Jesus Gdmez de Barreda AnaTbscano Raul del VaQe
Andres Rubio Javier L'trilla Co|,tte Jauze
Raul del Valle Gonzalez Paisajes Espaftoles
Assistants Pedro Luis Vale Ldpez Alberto Piovano
Rafael Anduiza Alejandro Vicens Francisco Rojo
Miguel Bellas Emanuel Vbdoz Alberto Schommer
I it rardo Berrocal Angel Ximenez de Emhun C. Perez Siquier
Julio < ani/.aivs llisao Suzuki
EmiHoCasa] Photographers
DiegoCorrales Pedro Albornoz The publisher would be pleased bo hear
\licmh Cuenca Francisco Arevalo from the copyright-holders of photographs
Maria Fernandez Lluis Casals and other illustrative material whose sour-
German Hermida Nicolas t 'asla ce could not be identified prior to publica-
Miguel Mesas Collete Jauze tion.
Julio I Paisajes Espaftoles
I . Perez Siquier
Studio collaborators from 1 97 1 Alberto Piovano
I.uis [gnacio Aguirre Francisco Rojo
GonzaloAlgaba Alberto Schommer
Jesus Aparido rlisao Suzuki
Francisco Arevalo Raul de] Valle
PedrO Pablo Arroyo
Roman Beit.ia
Dermot Boyd
Fmilio Delgado MartOfi
Rafael Dfaz
guez Igiesias
Patricia Esteve
Juan Carlos Fernandez
Pablo Fernandez Lorenzo
Daniel Fraile
Javier Galante
Anion Garcia Abril
Fernando i '$
Alejandro Gdmez (jama
Dame) Huertas NadaJ
Juan Manuel [zquierdo
Jesus Jimenez
Shalanka Kurera
Fernando Laredo
oa Lopez
Pedro Luis Ldpez Ruiperez
Sol Madrilejos
Mam-o Matarredona
tie Morel!
Bernardo rle Paolo 173
In his introductory essay to this survey of Alberto Campo Baeza's projects
and finished buildings, Antonio Pizza begins by listing the influences on the
Spanish architect's career since 1971, the year in which he graduated from the
Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid. In particular, Pizza rightly draws attention
to the importance of what Campo Baeza learned from Alejandro de la Sota,
one of the most gifted of Spain's postwar architects. Campo Baeza's most
characteristic architecture preserves features of de la Sota's severely rational
compositional style, though the influences on his work are not just Spanish.
They also include Jorn Utzon, Tadao Ando and other internationally famous
architects (Antonio Pizza gives a full list in his introductory essay). Moreover,
Campo Baeza's poetics is the outcome of a complex and wide-ranging
dialogue with architectural history that has provided him not so much with a
set of formal models as with a repertoire of compositional strategies, raising
questions of method which he has answered by inverting Mies van der Rohe's
celebrated dictum "less is more" to give "mas con menos", more with less.
The fact that achieving "more with less" is Campo Baeza's ultimate aim, and
that variation rather than variety is one of the fundamental and most
characteristic "techniques" he employs in his architecture, only goes to show
how superficial the efforts of critics have been in attempting to reduce the
tectonic austerity and luminarist poetry of his buildings to just another form of
minimalism. Campo Baeza's simplified assemblies of primary geometric forms
carry the rejection of decoration to disconcerting, almost hermetic extremes.
Eliminating the superfluous and doing everything possible to communicate
what remains by means of essentiality - a more conceptual notion than
minimalism in that it suggests simplification and purification, an expression
of essence - is both the primary aim and the message of Campo Baeza's
architecture. The pure, dazzling whiteness to which his buildings and interiors
aspire, and in many cases attain, is only the most obvious of the effects
Campo Baeza is striving to achieve. What the architecture surveyed in this
book conveys more than anything is a sense of timelessness and other-
worldliness. Through his ability to reject the secondary features of what
constitutes the essential fascination of the modern, Campo Baeza shows
us that the present is essentially an inhospitable and uninhabitable place.
It is this existential insight that achieves architectural form in his buildings.