Description Northern Group of GATEPAC

Northern Group of GATEPAC

A compilation of the projects

Although it lasted barely seven years, the Grupo de Artistas y Técnicos Españoles para el Progreso de la Arquitectura Contemporánea (GATEPAC) brought about a profound renewal of the architectural outlook. GATEPAC was, in the first place, the fruit of the initiative of a group of people stimulated by certain agents, as well as the product of a political environment that preceded a profound transition. On the one hand, it was the consequence of a virulent reaction against the major exhibitions held in 1929, in which architecture played a leading role. Both exhibitions, the International of Barcelona and the Ibero-American in Seville, displayed a self-indulgent architecture, based on historicist recreation; an architecture that José Manuel Aizpúrua called ‘patisserie’. Also influential was the recently constituted Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) and the desire to transfer to the Spanish context the themes dealt with there: the industrialisation of construction, minimal housing, and new forms of urban planning. After all, the institution that was about to be born would become the Spanish delegation of the Comité International pour la Résolution des Problèmes de l’Architecture Contemporaine (CIRPAC), organiser of the CIAM and responsible for applying locally the strategies agreed at its international congresses.

It was Fernando García Mercadal who promoted the holding of an assembly for the constitution of GATEPAC, inviting architects from all over Spain. The group, formed on 26 October 1930 at the Gran Hotel in Zaragoza, was named Grupo de Artistas y Técnicos Españoles para el Progreso de la Arquitectura Contemporánea (Group of Spanish Artists and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture). Ten of the participants were Catalans – Cristóbal Alzamora, Pere Armengou, Ricardo Churruca, Sixte Illescas, Germán Rodríguez Arias, Josep Lluís Sert, Manuel Subiño and Josep Torres Clavé -; three from Madrid – Fernando García Mercadal, Víctor Calvo Martínez de Azcoitia and Felipe López Delgado -, and only two from the Basque Country: Joaquín Labayen and Luis Vallejo -. GATEPAC was constituted as an organisation made up of three groups: the East Group, the Centre Group and the North Group. All the groups were committed to social development in all aspects of housing, services and the city: improvement of living conditions, education and universal health.

The (re)constitution of the Northern Group (1934)

The second constitution of the Northern Group took place three years after the birth of GATEPAC. It was at the end of 1933. This is how Aizpúrua sent the new composition of the group to Josep Torres Clavé: “Aizpúrua, Labayen, Lagarde, Vallet, Ponte, Olazabal, Baroja and Alberdi, from San Sebastián; Vallejo, Bilbao and Madariaga from Bilbao; and Zarranz from Pamplona”. As a result of the incorporation of nine architects, not only did the number of members of the Grupo Norte quadruple, but the group also took on a plural character, in terms of profiles, studies, ages and visions. This fact partly distorted the initial coherence of the North Group. Indeed, just as the first members of the formation were perfectly identified with the principles and guidelines of the CIAM, among those who joined at the end of 1933 were architects with an earlier career, who would embark on a new professional stage in which the modern language would prevail, without renouncing other styles and feeling free of any commitment to what was prescribed by the CIAM.

The adequacy of the collection

It is striking that no comprehensive compilation of the architectural projects carried out by the architects of the Northern Group has been made to date. In order to shed light on this historiographical gap, the research group “Architecture in the 20th century. Technical and Cultural Studies” applied for funding for a project to compile the architectural projects carried out by the Northern Group between 1930 and 1936, within the framework of the agreement signed between the Housing Directorate of the Basque Government and the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the University of the Basque Country.

As a result of the opening up of the group after its reconstitution, and given that after the incorporation of the new members in 1934, the North Group’s range of projects expanded considerably, it has been necessary to distinguish between the projects according to whether or not they belonged to the Modern Movement. Whether or not an architectural project is included in the collection of projects of the North Group depends on its composition and the use of architectural and stylistic elements characteristic of the Modern Movement.

Sources used: magazines and archives

Two sources were consulted for the compilation of the projects. On the one hand, Spanish architectural magazines of the time. On the other hand, municipal and territorial archives. The magazines analysed were the following: AC Documentos de Actividad Contemporánea (Barcelona, 1930-1937), Arquitectura (Madrid; first stage: 1918-1931; second stage: 1932-1936), Propiedad y Construcción: revista mensual técnico-informativa (Bilbao, 1924-1936) and Cortijos y Rascacielos (Madrid, 1931-1936). The magazine Nueva Forma, published in a later period (Madrid, 1968-1975) has also been studied.

On the other hand, a systematic consultation has been carried out in the municipal archives corresponding to the territories in which the architects of the Northern Group worked: Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, whose archives form part of the National Archive System of the Basque Country, and the municipal archives of Navarre and the Archive System of Navarre. The Historical Archives of the Basque Country and Navarre have also been consulted. Digital copies of the projects have been requested from all of them, for their subsequent filing, editing and organisation. Copies of photographs, where available, were also requested.

How many projects are involved?

How many projects can be attributed to the Northern Group of GATEPAC? Were there many? Not really. On the one hand, some of its members resorted to modernism only when the circumstances were right, whether it was the taste of the developer or the conditions of the surroundings. On the other hand, building activity during the Second Republic was weak, both in the field of private and public development, so the works of the Grupo Norte form a delimited and quantifiable group. How many projects are we talking about? Approximately sixty, of which about 35 were built, mostly by private commissions. Almost all of them are still standing. The unbuilt projects are mostly proposals submitted to competitions. All of them constitute the legacy of the Northern Group of the GATEPAC. Let it be remembered and appreciated as it should be.