Vicente Valls Abad

Vicente Valls Abad’s father, Vicente Valls Gadea, was the municipal architect of Valencia. The eldest of nine children, Valls Abad decided to enter the same profession. He moved to Madrid to begin his studies at the School of Architecture in 1942, amid the autarky of Franco’s regime. His cohort at the school included relevant figures in Spanish architecture from the second half of the 20th century, such as Luis Cubillo, Regino Borobio, Rafael de La-Hoz, and José Luis Romany.

The academic climate of those years was characterized by a clear resistance to the incorporation of new trends from Europe and the US, which was compounded by a lack of contemporary references due to the limited dissemination of international journals in Spain. Likewise, the prevailing attitude among the teaching staff, which included Modesto López Otero and Luis Moya, was a reluctance to adopt modern architecture – with the exception of Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza, then a young professor of Building Services.

Before Vicente Valls had finished his degree his father fell seriously ill, and he was faced with taking over the family firm and providing for his siblings, who were still very young. This circumstance motivated him to finish his education as quickly as possible – he completed two courses in the span of one year and graduated in 1951 – so he could return immediately to Valencia. In addition to taking over his father’s ongoing work, he collaborated with the architect Luis Gutiérrez Soto on the construction management of some of his projects.

Shortly afterwards, Valls took on various institutional roles, in addition to his work as an independent professional. He joined the National Institute of Colonization and the Architects’ Corps of the Tax Administration, and he became a delegate for the Technical Office of the Obra Sindical del Hogar [Housing Department]. Later, in 1968, he was appointed as the architect for the Delegation of the Technical Office for construction under the Ministry of Education and Science for the eastern coastal region of Spain. In the final phase of his professional career, he left private practice and worked exclusively in institutional roles, while also teaching various courses at the Valencia School of Architecture, newly opened in 1966.

In the late 1950s, he earned a certain international recognition for the Virgen del Carmen housing estate in El Cabañal – carried out together with his colleagues Fernando Martínez García-Ordóñez, Juan María Dexeus Beatty, and Mauro Lleó Serret. In the wake of this success, he was able to travel to Italy, England, and Scandinavia, experiences that were decisive in his continuing education. The influence of these travels can be seen in his later work, which shows both his knowledge of British New Towns and the impact of the work of Alvar Aalto, whose studio he visited.

After Valls’s return to Valencia, he joined forces with Joaquín García Sanz, also from Alcoi, with whom he developed a lasting professional partnership. This collaboration sparked a definitive shift in his work towards modernity and a clear specialization in social housing. In just a few years, the Valls-García Sanz studio designed some 6,500 social housing units, grouped into 22 complexes along the Mediterranean coast, including the Antonio Rueda, Virgen de los Desamparados, and Tres Carabelas complexes in Valencia, and the La Paz complex in Murcia. Despite the material limitations of the constructions, they are remarkable for their rigor and intense creativity, which is apparent in the strict modular approach and serial production that helped to streamline the large-scale projects. Alongside these residential works, he also developed various tourist apartment complexes, and in the final phase of his career, he designed important public and corporate buildings, such as the Bancaja Cultural Centre in Valencia.

His work, although not well-known, was recognized among his peers with awards that included the professional achievement award from the Architects’ Association of Valencia in 2003.

Biography by Roger Subirà