José Antonio Coderch de Sentmenat

José Antonio Coderch de Sentmenat studied architecture in Barcelona, his hometown. He began his studies in 1931, but in 1936 he was working temporarily in Germany when the Spanish Civil war broke out. He returned to Spain to serve as a supplementary officer for the Nationalist faction. As a result, he was not able to finish his studies until 1940, after the war had ended. From his time as a student, he developed a clear affection for Professor Josep Maria Jujol.

Immediately after finishing his studies, he moved to Madrid at the invitation of Pedro Muguruza, although Coderch asserts that the key figure in his early professional life was the architect Secundino Zuazo. Zuazo, classically trained and a great connoisseur of Spanish architecture, earned the admiration and respect of a younger generation who valued his knowledge, as well as his honest and logical approach to architecture that made room for new formal currents. It was Coderch who asked to work at Zuazo’s studio. Many years later, after Secundino Zuazo died, Coderch wrote an obituary in the magazine Arquitectura. In it, Coderch explains his personal and professional relationship with the architect and states that it was Zuazo who taught him “the most important thing” in his professional life: a sense of responsibility and ethical standards in the exercise of the profession. He ends the text with a statement that reveals a fundamental aspect of his personality. Addressing the director of the magazine, he writes: “I know that this letter is not what you asked for, but you also know that texts and speeches don’t come easy to me.” Indeed, Coderch was a discreet and tireless worker, who shied away from spectacle and easy success. He was known for a severity that shows through in his limited theoretical writings.

His stay in Madrid was short; in 1942 he was back in Barcelona, where he opened his own studio with Manuel Valls. He also became the municipal architect of Sitges, which allowed him to take on a series of private commissions for small single-family holiday homes in the town. He also began to work for the Obra Sindical del Hogar [Housing Department] and the Instituto Social de la Marina [Seafarers’ Social Security Institute], for which he designed his first buildings and multi-family complexes. In 1949, he built a house for himself, with a built-in office, where he worked throughout his professional career. The choice of location, in a residential area on the edge of the Sant Gervasi neighbourhood, at the foot of Collserola, confirmed his desire to work in a certain isolation, away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre, where most of his colleagues set up their offices.

In 1949, a small photograph of a house in Sitges – which Coderch submitted without much conviction to an exhibition of recent architecture – attracted the attention of Gio Ponti and Alberto Sartoris. Interest began to mount in the work of the young architect, which would be reinforced by subsequent projects that became fundamental in his career: the residential building in Barceloneta and a single-family house that he built for Eustaquio Ugalde in Caldes d’Estrac. Both works were key in his aesthetic evolution. At this early stage in his career, Coderch also made a personal commitment to architectural renewal, which he expressed by participating in the foundation, together with Josep Maria Sostres, Antoni de Moragas and Oriol Bohigas, of Grup R. However, he soon left due to ideological differences with his colleagues.

The construction of the Spanish Pavilion for the IX Triennale di Milano broadened the international recognition of his work and made it easier for him to enter into contact with relevant architects of the moment, such as Aldo van Eyck, Max Bill, and Peter Harnden. His work began to appear in international publications, and even Frank Lloyd Wright singled him out as the most interesting Spanish architect of the moment. At the suggestion of Josep Lluís Sert, he became a member of the CIAM.

Essential projects from the midpoint of his professional career include the multi-family building on carrer Compositor Bach in Barcelona and the unbuilt Torre Valentina tourist complex on the Costa Brava. Through a small commission to rehabilitate a fishermen’s house in Cadaqués, Coderch reconnected with the landscapes of northern Girona, where his family originated. He spent long periods in a house owned by relatives in the small town of Espolla; years later, he retired there.

In 1961, he published his most relevant theoretical text in the magazine Domus. Titled “It is not geniuses that we need now”, it is a brief, but powerful article in which he defends tradition and advocates architects’ responsibility with respect to the circumstances of their time.

In later years, his interests expanded to include industrial design – with famous designs such as the curved wood veneer lamp – and photography. His buildings earned him many awards, both internationally and locally: he received several FAD Awards for the Trade offices, the Banco Urquijo residences, the Les Cotxeres residential complex, and the house and studio for the painter Antoni Tàpies, among others. He also taught at the Barcelona School of Architecture and designed an extension for the university that bears his name today.

In the period just before and after his death, his work was recognized in the form of exhibitions, publications and awards. In parallel, his impressive legacy began to be studied and organized, especially with respect to residential architecture, in which typological and aesthetic investigation constitutes the common thread and foundation for his work. He had an undeniable influence, especially in Catalonia, on the subsequent establishment of the principles and models for multi-family architecture.

Biography by Roger Subirà

Bibliography

• CODERCH, José Antonio, Un texto y una conversación, Puente Editores, Barcelona, 2023.
• NÚÑEZ, Pati, Recordando a Coderch, LIBROOKS, Barcelona, 2017.
• ARMESTO, Antonio, DIEZ, Rafael, José Antonio Coderch, Santa&Cole, Barcelona, 2008.
• AA VV, José Antonio Coderch, casas, 2G Libros, Editorial GG, Barcelona, 2006.
• DIEZ BARRENADA, Rafael, Coderch, variaciones de una casa, Fundación ARQUIA Caja de Arquitectos, arquia/tesis 12, Barcelona, 2003.
• FOCHS, Carles, CODERCH, José Antonio, A. Coderch de Sentmenat, Editorial GG, Barcelona, 2001.
• FOCHS, Carles, Coderch, fotógrafo, Caja de Arquitectos, Barcelona, 2000.
• SORIA BADIA, Enric, A. Coderch de Sentmenat. Conversaciones, Editorial Blume, Barcelona, 1979.