Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza

Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza was born in 1918 in Cáseda (Navarre), although his family lived in Seville, where his father was an architect for the land registry. During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, his mother spent her pregnancy in her hometown in Navarre and gave birth there. When the pandemic began to subside, mother and son returned to Seville, where Francisco lived until he began his university studies in Madrid. He earned his degree at the Madrid School of Architecture, where he graduated in 1946.

His education was influenced by the academic environment of the post-war period, which was beginning to open up to international influences after the initial isolation of the Franco regime. He completed his studies to great success; he received the Aníbal Álvarez Prize for best academic performance and, the year he graduated, he won the National Architecture Prize. The following year, in 1947, he received the Conde de Cartagena scholarship from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando to further his studies in the United States, at Columbia University and the Illinois Institute of Technology. During his two-year stay in the United States, he had the opportunity to meet figures such as Mies van der Rohe and other Bauhaus architects in exile. The trip profoundly influenced his architectural vision: knowing no English and having borrowed money from a relative, he travelled across the country, seeing firsthand the most avant-garde works of architecture of the time. This international experience offered him a new perspective that contrasted with the dominant tendencies in Spain; especially relevant was his introduction to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, whose architecture was still relatively unknown in Spain.

Upon his return, Sáenz de Oíza began working in the town of Entrevías; it sparked an interest in affordable, social housing that would remain with him throughout his career. He co-authored significant designs such as the El Batán and Puerta Bonita developments and the Loyola neighbourhood, all in Madrid, and at the end of his career, he built the colossal 346-unit residential block on the M-30 known as El Ruedo.

Immediately upon his return from the United States, he returned to the Madrid School of Architecture as a teacher, where he eventually became the dean. His work as a professor was characterized by a profound humanist spirit, and he had a significant influence on multiple generations of architects, an outlook that was reflected both in his teaching and his professional practice.

Regarding his architectural designs, Sáenz de Oíza was a versatile architect, capable of tackling projects of very different kinds. His work is surprising due to the variety of architectural programs he took on and the variety of styles he used in designing them. One of his first notable designs was the Sanctuary of Arantzazu in Gipuzkoa, a commission he was awarded through a competition and which he completed with the architect Luis Laorga. The sculptor Jorge Oteiza participated in the Arantzazu project, along with other young Basque artists of the time. The result is an example of integration between architecture and art, and of experimentation with new expressive forms, which would have a great influence especially on subsequent Spanish religious architecture.

Particularly relevant at the midpoint of his career was his collaboration with the Basque builder Juan Huarte Beaumont, for whom he built both family homes and large residential complexes, including the Torres Blancas building in Madrid. Torres Blancas, built between 1964 and 1969, is emblematic of the organicist and brutalist architecture that characterized part of the 1960s and 1970s in Madrid. Its unconventional, sculptural appearance – combining elements of exposed concrete, wood, and glass with circular forms – caused controversy at the time but also earned it widespread recognition as one of the masterpieces of modern architecture in Spain, which continues to this day.

Another high-rise building that stands out among his work is the skyscraper for the Banco de Bilbao on Paseo de la Castellana, designed with a curtain wall with rounded corners, a clear Wrightian influence. Later in his career, his characteristic eclecticism led him to embrace new historicist languages consistent with the postmodernism of the 1980s.

Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza is considered one of the most prominent and prolific architects of Spanish architecture in the late 20th century. His work, spanning more than five decades, is characterized by a constant pursuit of innovation and an ability to combine technical, social, and aesthetic aspects. His contributions to furniture design and urban planning are a demonstration of his versatility and his holistic approach to architecture. He received numerous awards and recognitions, both nationally and internationally, including the National Architecture Award, which he received on multiple occasions, and the Gold Medal for Architecture, awarded by the Higher Council of Spanish Architects’ Associations. These awards are a reflection not only of the quality and innovation of his work, but also of its lasting impact on the Spanish and international architectural landscape. He died on July 18, 2000.

Roger Subirà

Bibliography

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