Rafael de La-Hoz Arderius

Rafael de La-Hoz Arderius maintained ties to Córdoba throughout his life and his career. His family moved there just a few days after his birth due to the occupation of his father, Rafael de la Hoz Saldaña, as the city’s municipal architect. In 1944, he moved to Madrid to study at the School of Architecture, where he was awarded his degree in 1950. After turning down an offer to collaborate with Eduardo Torroja in the capital, he returned to Córdoba after earning his degree to take over the professional studio of his father, who had died a year prior. Notably cosmopolitan in his personality, he completed his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) thanks to a Fulbright scholarship, where he graduated in 1955.

His ties to Córdoba served as an exceptional local manifestation of a broader global process: the social and economic modernization of the West beginning in the 1950s. His contribution was twofold: cultural and technical. The cultural aspect refers to architectural design, for which he showed an extreme sensitivity. Projects like the Córdoba Chamber of Commerce, the Aquinas Hall of Residence in Madrid or the Canals Chalet in Córdoba, to name just a few early designs from his extensive work, are examples of his adoption of European and North American cultural references, along with his particular interest in promoting the integration between architecture and the arts. The technical aspect is associated with innovation, present in the solutions he adopted based on industrialization, such as the Ctesiphon system in the ultra-low-cost homes in Palma del Río, the typological research in social housing in the model homes in Montilla, and the structural power of the Castelar Building in Madrid.

Throughout his career, he engaged in a series of collaborations that enriched his work, understood as a process open to the constant inflow of influences. His collaboration with José María García de Paredes had an impact on the early years of his career, beginning with the Córdoba Chamber of Commerce in 1951, and continued intermittently until his final works, with examples such as the Lebreros Hotel in Seville from 1973. The addition of Gerardo Olivares James to the office in 1958 marked the beginning of a collaboration that resulted in notable works such as the Torremolinos Convention Centre and the Seville Physicians’ Association. The collaboration that began in the mid-1960s with José Chastang Barroso, a specialist in structural engineering, had an impact on works such as the Parque Figueroa neighbourhood in Córdoba, with a display of industrialization in its residential buildings and structural virtuosity in its church.

The professional work of De La-Hoz Arderius, which continued over five decades, displayed a clear facet of public service: in 1971 he took over the General Directorate of Architecture, where he promoted the development of the Technological Building Standards for application to architectural design, calculation, construction, control, assessment and maintenance. Between 1981 and 1985 he served as the President of the International Union of Architects (UIA), representing the interests of professionals from more than 100 countries. His professional dedication and public service were widely recognized, and he earned many awards, namely the National Prize for Architecture in 1956 for the Aquinas Hall of Residence and the Gold Medal for Architecture from the Higher Council of Spanish Architects’ Associations in 2000.

Biography by Plácido González

Bibliography

• REDAELLI, Gaia, Itinerarios de Arquitectura 01, José María García de Paredes, Fundación Arquitectura Contemporánea, Córdoba, 2004.
• DAROCA BRUÑO, Francisco, DÍAZ LÓPEZ, José, PEÑA AMARO, Antonio, Rafael de La-Hoz, Arquitecto, Demarcación en Córdoba del Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Andalucía Occidental, Córdoba, 1991, págs. 21-25.
• DÍAZ LÓPEZ, José, DAROCA BRUÑO, Francisco, PEÑA AMARO, Antonio, Rafael de La-Hoz, Arquitecto. Catálogo de Obras y Proyectos, Demarcación en Córdoba del Colegio de Arquitectos de Andalucía Occidental, Córdoba, 1991.