Lluís Domènech i Montaner (Spain, 1850–1923). A lecture by Anna Bronovitskaya

DESCRIPTION

Lluís Domènech i Montaner was one of the major representatives of Catalan modernism, although today he is less known outside of Spain than his younger contemporary Antoni Gaudí.

After the industrial revolution in Catalonia in the second half of the nineteenth century, Barcelona became one the most dynamic European cities. The generation of architects active at the turn of the twentieth century faced two tasks: to find ways of working with new technology and to help build a local identity that would further distinguish Catalonia from the rest of the country.

Domènech i Montaner embraced technological progress and loved Catalonia, whose culture had previously peaked in the Middle Ages. He created an architecture that married steel frames with traditional Catalan features, such as riffled vaults of ceramic elements. Mixing gothic and Moorish motifs, he added forms borrowed from nature, with skill that may be explained by the fact that, along with the history of art and archaeology, he studied botany and zoology at university.

Like other key modernist architects, Domènech i Montaner did not design mere buildings but complete environments, thinking of every small detail, including furniture, lights, textiles, acoustics, ventilation, and natural lighting (he also taught applied physics at Barcelona's school of architecture). His design for the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau complex showed that Domènech i Montaner was able to work on urban planning and socially sensitive projects with the same attention to detail. 

ABOUT THE LECTURER

 

Anna Bronovitskaya is an architectural historian and director of research at Moscow’s Institute of Modernism. She teaches at the Moscow School of Architecture (MARCH) and has numerous publications on twentieth-century architecture to her name. Together with Nikolay Malinin and photographer Yuri Palmin, Bronovitskaya is working on a series of books on Soviet modernism. In 2016, Garage published their book Moscow: A Guide to Soviet Modernist Architecture 1955–1991 and in 2018, Alma-Ata: A Guide to Soviet Modernist Architecture 1955–1991.

HOW TO TAKE PART

Admission is free but space is limited. Please arrive early.

Please note that the lecture will be in Russian with no interpretation into English.

Priority booking for GARAGE cardholders. Please send requests to members@garagemca.org