José Antonio Coderch y de Sentmenat

Architect, Spain
José Antonio Coderch y de Sentmenat was a Catalan architect born in Barcelona. He
completed his architectural education at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura,
Barcelona, in 1940, later teaching there as a professor between 1965 and 1968. From
1936 to 1939, he fought in the Spanish civil war. Until he established his own private
architectural practice in 1947, he gained architectural experience at the offices of the
Director-General of Architecture in Madrid; the City Architect in Sitges, Spain; Obra
Sindical del Hogar in Barcelona; and Barcelona’s Naval Institute. He was an active
participant in the architectural group Team X, which he joined in 1961. After an
accomplished career in Spanish architecture, he died on 6 November 1984 in Barcelona.
Coderch was influenced by the work of Madrid architect Secundino Zuazu and greatly
admired the work of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. He admired popular Mediterranean
architecture, adapting it with a contemporary modern idiom. This combination prompted
Kenneth Frampton in Modern Architecture: A Critical His tory to refer to him as a “Catalan Regionalist.” The first built
example of this hybridization was Coderch’s eight-story ISM apartment block (1951) in
Barcelona.
Arguably one of Coderch’s most significant contributions to 20th-century architectural
thinking was his questioning of the importance of architectural geniuses. In his article
“There Are No Geniuses That We Need Now,” Coderch contests the need for great
leaders with absolute doctrines and universal principles. Rather, he argues for a transfer
of responsibility to individual architects, empowered by their devotion, goodwill, and
honor, all guided by the architect’s personal intuition. Similarly, he advocated for the
return of an architectural “trade.”
More recently, Coderch has been recognized for his contributions to post-World War
II Spanish architecture. For example, Barcelona architect Ignacio de Solà-Morales has
reappraised Coderch’s work to demonstrate his lasting contributions. Although
previously dismissed by some of his colleagues, Coderch has won new recognition
among critics, leading to his receipt of the professional Merit Medal FAD, Barcelona, in
1977.
An important pursuit for Coderch was the deconstruction of pedagogical systems in
architecture. His teaching and concern for the training of young Spanish architects were
outlined most clearly in his “Letter to Young Architects” in Quaderns d’Arquitectura i urbanisme (174 [July–September
1987]). He contended that architectural students should engage with life rather than
architectural history alone. His outspoken, aggressive, and reactionary position to
architectural education is well known. His teaching has been characterized by his
impatience with student laziness and ignorance. Despite this approach, he was forever
hopeful of the impact of the independent architectural graduate.
Coderch’s work has been described as inquisitive and transgressive. His interest lay in
architectural form and its plasticity. One of his most renowned domestic projects, the
Casa Ugalde (1951), exemplifies this interest. Influenced by its location in Cadeques, an
isolated beach town near Barcelona, the Casa Ugalde translates the local vernacular into a
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piece of “modern” abstract architecture. Characterized by its framed views, the house
exploits the landscape. In plan it has been described as both poetic and arabesque. An
enormous shaded terrace moderates the effects of the Mediterranean sun. This interest in
climatic control is reflected in a number of other important housing projects designed by
Coderch. These include the single-family dwellings Casa Catasus (1956) in Sitges and
Casa Uriach (1961) in L’Ametlla del Vallès. The experimentation in climatic control by
Coderch continued in a number of multifamily-housing schemes, including the ISM
apartments (1951) in Barcelona, the Il Girasol apartments (1966; inspired and translated
as the sunflower) in Madrid, and the Las Cocheras apartment building (1968) in
Barcelona. These projects used hinged panels, louvers, roll-down screens, balconies, and
stepped facades to allow, black, or filter light into interior rooms.
Not all Coderch’s work was residential. Two notable commercial projects that he
designed are the Trade Office Building (1965) and Institute Frances (1972) in Barcelona.
Both projects exploit the glass facade made famous by German architect Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe.
Exhibitions were another important activity in Coderch’s career. His seven-by-eightmeter
pavilion for the 1951 Ninth Trienniale in Milan sought to confirm the Spanish
presence on the European architectural scene. A Spanish-made straw cloth sheet; a large,
rotating natural finish timber shutter; and a table occupied the pavilion space and were
decorated with sculptures, ceramics, and photographs of Spanish crafts. For this
exhibition he was awarded a Gold Medal and a Grand Prize. He exhibited at the National
Fine Art Exhibition in Madrid in 1960, received a Gold Medal for the Centre Pompidou
in Paris in 1978, and exhibited at the Transformations in Modern Architecture Exhibition
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1979.
Coderch’s early architectural career was relatively unrecognized. Exhibitions at the
Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art toward the end of his career increased
his profile, elevating acceptance of his work internationally and in his own country. The
recently cited effect of his Casa Ugalde on the Cap Marinet House (1985–87) of Spanish
architects Elias Torres and J.A.Martínez Lapeña in C.M.Arís’s article in El Croqius reaffirms his
contribution. His strong opposition to pedagogical systems in architecture and his poetic,
climate-responsive designs contributed significantly to 20th-century architecture.