CALL FOR PAPER: First issue, MODERN MASTERS: LEGACY AND VALIDITY

2023-06-02

From our beginning, we want to remember and revalue the figure of those masters who designed great examples of the architecture of the modern movement in the Iberian Peninsula. His teachings are stil lrelevant, but, in our opinion, his works, both completed and projected, have not always been as widely recognized as they deserve to be.

It seems necessary to settle this debt since their legacy is an indissoluble part of the image of our cities and territories, remaining fully valid in today's society. Reasons enough to dedicate our first issue, MODERN MASTERS: LEGACY AND VALIDITY, to their works and the ideas that supported them.

This purpose can be achieved through a variety of approaches. As an indication, and withoutintendingto be exhaustive, we present some of them:

Each present even to interprets the past from its own point of view. What we propose here is to review from projects and works to urban and landscape planning and the interpretations that were made of them. This includes from paradigmatic examples to others of seemingly lesse importance, but which contain wiseless ons that, with the passage of time, it is appropriate to unveil. In the end, we seek the opportunity to know not only who they were but, rather, to know the heritage that has made us who we are.
Knowing the selectivity with which memory operates, a methodology is needed to objectify, as far as possible, the due recognition, facilitating the strategies for its protection. Currently, differentactions have been carried out by public and private entities that exemplify this need.
Most of those buildings, due to their age, have undergone various processes of intervention, transformation and reuse, with unequal results that seem necessary to analyze and evaluate, taking into account that their biography always reveals a process of adaptation to the changes that life dictates. In particular, the entry into force of the Technical Building Code makes it necessary to make modifications, sometimes substantial, to existing buildings. If it is normally necessary to know how to reconcile those requirements and the architectural values of which the buildings are the bearers, in the case of the architectures of modernity, their specific materialities, the manufacturing and construction processes that made them possible raise specific problems to which attention must be paid. Examining and exposing good examples of these practices can contribute to their better maintenance and rehabilitation, and they should be recognized and valued not only by architects but also by the general public.
Vintage photographs are an irreplaceable source for understanding what these architectures meant in their time; in this sense, we can recall the importance that Leonardo Benévolo attributed to them. But the years have passed and how they can be portrayed today will contribute, not only to confirm the changes that have taken place in themselves and their surroundings, but also to show their rich vitality by discovering values that, in their day, were perhaps not sufficiently appreciated and that new media and new looks can bring to light.
These buildings often do not reflect the personality of their creators, whose lives are often full of stories that allow us to understand their work from another point of view. His interviews, the memories of his collaborators show us new facets. His texts reflect his ideas, but also his character and allow us to understand, even better, his architectural projects. These masters have a personal dimension that makes them more approachable, which allows us to understand not only the architect, but the person behind these works.

Calendar:

Opening reception of articles: June, 23, 2023.

Deadline for receipt of articles: July, 31, 2023.