WEEKEND HOUSES IN EL GARRAF

There were 5 designs, with different layouts, but equal in style and interior design. Of the five raised, three were built; Type A, in which maximum space flexibility is offered, being able to transform the main room into a dining room or bedrooms and where the service rooms are organized in a minimal way. Thereby leaving the terrace as the main element; Type B, which is a more inflexible model. The bedrooms are defined by partition walls. Again, the terrace also here a primordial space. And finally, type C, which we can understand as an intermediate step between A and B as there are common characteristics to both. Also in this design the terrace is a prominent feature, but this time there is more play with the available light.

The flexibility and simplicity of the units are shown in the diagrams. The areas marked in blue represent the services, the red represent the living spaces. The services are located in the back of the house; here the insulation is highest and it allows the living area to have a sea view. By opening the doors to the patio, the living room and terrace become one.

Josep Lluís Sert In the first half of the 20th century the architectural debate was greatly influenced by the Congres Internationeuax d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM). One of it’s idea’s being the functional city. This led to the formation of a Spanish branch; Grupo de Artistas y Técnicos Españoles Para la Arquitectura Contemporánea (GATEPAC).It originally started as a Catalan intiative; Grup d'Artistes i Tècnics Catalans per al Progrés de l'Arquitectura Contemporània (GATCPAC). Josep Lluís Sert was one of its founders and members. They published a journal A.C., or Actividad Contemporánea, which was of great influence on the development of Modern Movement in Spain. The first issue featured an article about the functionalism of the fishermen’s houses on the Mediterranean coast, to be a guideline for more modern and socially engaged architecture. In number 4 the weekend houses in Garraf were discussed.

One of his (together with Corbusier) most renowned works is the design of the Maciaplan for Barcelona. Just before the Spanish revolution he moved to Paris where he designed the weekend house in El Garraf (1935), and the Spanish Pavilion (together with Lacasa) for the Paris World’s Fair (1937). It was a contrasting design to the German and Italian ones. Without symbolism, open and Mediterranean.

He thereafter moved to America, where he developed into a urban city planner. He was a visiting professor at Yale, and became dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His love of art caused him to incorporate it in many of his designs.

Josep Luis Sert had a long career and designed many noticeable buildings. Amongst them Casa Bloc in Barcelona (1932), the Spanish Pavillion in Paris (1937), the embassy of the United States in Bagdad (1955), The Can Pep Simó Estate in Jesús Ibiza (1964), and the Harvard Science Centre in Cambridge (1973).

Being one of the other founders of GATCPAC, Clavé started his career with Sert. One of their first projects together was Ciutat de Repós i Vacances in Castelldefels in 1932. It was inspired by the free weekend for the working force. They needed a place to rest and relax.

This design was based upon the views laid down by the GATCPAC after looking at earlier projects like the deurbanizing cities in Russia by Ernst May and the conceptual framework by Le Corbusier. Characteristics are integration of the agriculture and a minimal connection network of roads. Buildings were to be isolated landmarks, and urbanization was to be avoided.

After Sert and he finished their weekend houses at El Garraf the Spanish Civil War broke out, in which Clavé was killed. Due to this early death, his career was cut short. He is well-known for his participation in the design of Casa Bloc.

After WWI the architecture was looking for a new style fitting the post-war situation, and the needs of the working classes. These Modernist architects concentrated on functionality rather than the academic and historical approach common up to that moment. Minimalism was a logical result. An important architect in this period was the well-known Le Corbusier (born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret). Besides his vision of functionalism, he was an avid promotor of new urbanism, so called planned cities. They had modular houses and served nothing more than a functional living space. This was also the period of the Bauhaus movement originating in Germany and founded by Walter Gropius. The Bauhaus movement advocated the same basic ideas as Le Corbusier. It ended with the rise of the Nazi’s. Gropius left for America and became a professor at Harvard.

Of course there was a counter movement; expressionism was all about poetic and optimistic designs. The movement was represented by architects like Mendelsohn and Höger.

In Russia architecture underwent a similar development. Here it was called constructivism.

In 1928 something new happened in architecture, it became international. Traveling architects met and exchanged ideas and ideologies. Modernism gathered in the creation of CIAM (Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne). As mentioned before Josep Luis Sert started GATCPAC the local Catalan branch of CIAM.

In 1931 at CIAM IV, the project called “La Ciutat de Repòs” was presented. Due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War it was never realized. Inspiration for this idea came from the longing for a resting and recreational site for the working class. The government had just decided to give them by law, a weekend. According to the description of the project, it was necessary to have integration with nature to be able to achieve relaxation. In Garraf these circumstances were met. The infrastructure was minimal and organically created.

This town was at the perfect distance from Barcelona, making it possible for the owners to visit on a daily basis. One of the goals was to minimize the impact on the landscape. The structural designs lack the need for a big foundation, avoiding unnecessary big excavations on site. To correct the level difference, load-bearing walls were made of bricks covered by local stone. These choices integrate the build with the site and respect the surroundings.

This is how the post-war modernistic build of the weekend houses in Garraf came to be.

Nowadays the Weekend Houses do not look the way they were built. The units have undergone remodelations, which have compromised their original architecture.

There are some typical characteristics of Modernism Architecture. They can be divided into 4 main categories; form, material, style and plan.

This was approached opposite to what was being done up to that point in time. Architects were used to design beautiful shapes which would then decorate the building, But this changed to the function which dictated the design. A good example is the “suncatch” wall by Lubetkin.

The weekend houses in Garraf design by Sert and Clavé contain the same use of form.

The walls are merely a functional container for the housing, showing no ornaments or fancy details. The same applies to the design of the balcony; the covering roof is functional and without any extras. In their own words; “a house reduced to its minimum expression … a construction free of social prejudices and academic forms employed so far.”

Another characteristic are the materials used; in the period after WWI reinforced concrete, steel frames, curtain walls and ribbon windows became very popular. The simplicity and functionality certainly played a role in this development. The Schocken department store by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz illustrates this well.

Sert and Clavé followed their own new rules also in the use of the materials. Most of them locally available, the houses were built of mortar and cement elements, Doors and windows without superfluous elements. These models are made of hollow bricks, with air chambers, in the exterior walls, reinforced concrete ceilings, and a couple of pillars of the same material as in Type A. Other roofing is constructed like a vault (type C), built up of three layers. Two of them are made of rasilla (long thin bricks) and one of hollow bricks. The roofs have been waterproofed with tectonic cloth and are insulated with sand and earth. In contrast, with the rest Type E has three load-bearing walls made of local stone.

Not only the materials became more simple, also the abundancy of the style changed to minimalistic, and white. The house Buckinghamshire designed by York shows this well.

True to the conviction of the architects the houses in Garraf were minimalistic in design and color. There are no “look at this” details; the walls both inside and out are flat, the windows and doors are plain, and the railings without curly or other ornaments. In this way they did only serve as a protection for falling down, rather than a separation from the surroundings. The design of the interior floors was plain, without the famous small tiles often used.

Lastly the plan of the design took a turn for openness; large windows creating spaciousness, an open-plan interiors which are stimulating flexible use of the spaces. Take a look at the Heyrovsky House in Zell am See by Welzenbacher, where the terrace is incorporated in the living area.

The plan of the weekend residence for the workers of Barcelona embraced the basic idea of connection with the surrounding nature. Large windows and opening doors, to the outside terrace(s). The necessary utilitarian rooms like bed-, bathroom and kitchen placed in the back, to allow the living area to be close to the outside.

Sert was strongly influenced by his impressions from elsewhere, most importantly Ibiza. Already in A.C. 6 Ibizan architecture was mentioned as not needing a redo, it was described as being in sync with the local environment, and needs of the inhabitants.

Sert visited the island and was impressed by the simplicity of the houses. In A.C. 21 a larger article was published which describes in much more detail the Ibizan architecture. The way houses were built is based on the earliest settlers who lived in the caves. The houses reflect the simple and primitive plans. This local style has not really changed, and is still current today.

The materials are local, often limestone, which are widely available and easy to handle. The roofs are made of beams covered by clay. This was a great inspiration to Sert, who implemented this same idea in his Garraf houses.

It was not the only aspect which he liked; also the arrangement of the rooms and the functional idea behind the floorplan pleased him. Although at first sight the design looks complicated, it actually is a logical structure based on the needs of the inhabitants. In this way the original simple rectangular structure is of course lost. Basically a rectangular structure in which the kitchen was often centrally situated, adjourned by the bedroom. The living room opens up to the patio, very typical for Ibizan builds, they even have a name for it; “porchu”.

Another aspect which returns in the designs of Sert is the simplicity of the structures. In Ibiza the houses were built by illiterate peasants, without the need or knowledge for ornamentous designs. Sert and his partners in GATCPAC were convinced that this was to be the basis of the new direction architecture should take. This idea is also reflected in the furniture used.

His partner in the GATCPAC Rodriguez Aras had an equal evolution, which is amply demonstrated in the house he designed on Ibiza. Aras went on to build the three houses for the famous poet Neruda, all situated in Chili.

Yet another architect which had a great influence on Sert was the Swiss born architect Le Corbusier. He had a major impact on urban planning and the modernism movement. He was cofounder of CIAM. In this capacity he became acquainted with Sert. One of his more prominent and well-known houses is the Villa Savoye, build in 1928.

This house contains the five elements Le Corbusier identified as typical for the new style; ground level pilotis, a roof serving as garden, a free floorplan meaning no supporting inside walls, eye-catching horizontal windows and free facades without supporting structures. Compared to the Weekend houses there are some distinctive similarities like the clear white forms. The open space of the interior, and the blurring of the exterior and the living area. There are however also obvious differences, like the pillars under the house, the long horizontal windowing, and the multilevel aspect.

The modernistic movement which Sert was part of, built on local and traditional. Besides that it was early No prior studies available for comparison in the movement. Not only in the southern part of Europe the need to reinvent existed, also northern Europe participated. Walter Gropius is seen as the father of the Bauhaus style. He founded the Bauhaus school in 1919 which took the vernacular Werkbund style to the a different level, and coexisted besides the more vernacular or classic modernism. The Bauhaus style is characterized by the some key thoughts. “Forms follows function” (expression from Louis Sullivan) is fundamental in Bauhaus. Honest materials, without altering them for the sake of design is another important one. Minimalism was important too, but without interfering with function, meaning no unnecessary shapes or ornaments, Finally “Gesamtkunstwerk”; a unified collection of arts .and crafts.

Gropius designed his own house when he moved to Massachusetts. In true Bauhaus philosophy his design was very efficient and minimalistic. The design shows typical modernistic traits, like the horizontal windowing, the white clean exterior, and the integration of the surroundings well demonstrated in the screened porch. It differs though in the materials, he mixed the wood, brick, fieldstone with industrial glass blocks, plaster, and welded steel.