Principal Investigator: Cristina Gastón Guirao

Department: Architectural Projects
Center: Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona
Institution: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Call (BOE publication date): 2023 Knowledge Generation Projects
Issuing Agency: Spanish State Research Agency (AEI)
Funding Entity: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) and the European Union
Period: 1/9/2024 – 31/12/2027
Code: PID2023-149552NB-I00

Research Team:

Cristina Gastón Guirao (PI), Luis Martínez-Santamaría, Félix Solaguren-Beascoa, Jaime Ferrer, Luis Ángel Domínguez, Pedro Leao Neto,
Isabel Segura Soriano, Martí Llorens, Fernanda Aguirre, María Fernanda Jaua, Andrea Parga.

Doctoral Researchers:

Oriol Ferrer Frau, Judit Taberna, Gabriela Naranjo, Sol Diéguez.

Initiation-to-Research Fellow:

Miguel Pascual Álvarez

Hypothesis and Objective

The image of a building under construction is a powerful stimulus for the imagination of any observer. The visual potential of the transitional stages of the construction process was quickly recognized by photographers, engineers, and architects. The birth and early development of photography coincided with major debates about construction methods during a period marked by large-scale public works and infrastructure projects. The camera became a fundamental tool for engineering and architecture—an emblem of modernity. The photograph of a building under construction became a genre of its own by the mid-19th century.

The aim of this project is to locate, compile, and publicly present in an accessible way the photographic documents corresponding to the construction of a selection of architectural works in the city of Barcelona between 1922 and 1992. The objective is to achieve a deeper understanding of buildings by revealing the hidden structures that shape their visible form—sometimes challenging the logic of appearance. This allows for a better understanding of the relationship between the technical and aesthetic conception of buildings, within both national and international contexts.

Barcelona 1922–1992. Justification of the Temporal and Geographic Scope of the Research

In 1922 and 1992, two events with far-reaching consequences for the city were organized: the International Exhibition of Light and Electricity, held in 1929, and the Olympic Games in August 1992. Both events radically transformed Barcelona: the first opened up Montjuïc Mountain as a space for leisure and cultural facilities; the second created an extensive seafront, a new residential district, and key infrastructure. These major public and private efforts define the chronological boundaries of the research, which focuses on several pivotal moments:

1920s — Montjuïc Urbanization Works

Urbanization works were underway on Montjuïc under the direction of Puig i Cadafalch to host the 1929 International Exhibition. This topographically dominant site would house new mass-leisure and representative spaces. Among local photographers, Josep Brangulí i Soler (1879–1945) stood out. Of interest is the documentation of excavations, paving, street layout, as well as the inauguration ceremony of Mies van der Rohe’s German Pavilion. The goal is to describe the process of geometrizing and regularizing the topography to make it accessible and to understand the interventions that shaped the urban landscape.
Archives: ANC, AFB

Early 1930s — Modern Movement and Social Projects

In the years preceding the Spanish Civil War, a group of young, internationally connected architects—Josep Torres Clavé, Josep Lluís Sert, Bonet Castellana—designed plans to transform Barcelona in line with modern urbanist principles. Two simultaneous socially oriented projects in 1934, the Casa Bloc and the Anti-Tuberculosis Dispensary, were photographed in great detail by Torres Clavé himself, producing a moving testimony born from a spirit of modernity and progress. Margaret Michaelis also participated.
Archives: AFB and COAC

1940s — Postwar Industrial Photography

During the postwar period, construction companies developed a type of industrial photography to document work progress, report on scheduling, justify problems, or certify contractual compliance. These images were not created with artistic or political intent. Yet, the photographers of these unglamorous construction processes—paving, material stockpiles, foundations, formwork, excavations, cable installations, street covering, tunnels, underground stations—revealed an unpretentious beauty in the most humble aspects of construction.
Leopoldo Plasencia (1906–1988), who worked for Cubiertas y Tejados, stands out for capturing unintended aesthetic episodes: balances, rhythms, grids, and the choreography of machines and materials.
Archive: IEFC

1950s — Economic Recovery and Aerial Photography

With economic and social recovery underway, Spain reintegrated into the international economy, prompting major urban, agricultural, industrial, and infrastructural transformations. Aerial photography became a civilian tool. In 1953, Trabajos Aéreos y Fotogramétricos S.A. (TAF) was founded, becoming a leader in civil aerial photography, following the earlier Compañía Española de Trabajos Fotogramétricos Aéreos (CEFTA). Photographers included Octavio Cardona and Francisco Perales.
TAF’s images document the growth of the university district along Diagonal Avenue, the establishment of SEAT in the Zona Franca, and social-housing developments.
Archive: ANC

1950s–1960s — Consolidation of Key Architects

The work of architects such as Guillermo Giráldez, Pedro López-Iñigo, Xavier Subías, Robert Terradas i Via, Francesc Mitjans i Miró, Enric Tous and Josep Maria Fargas, Xavier Busquets, Antonio Bonet Castellana, José Antonio Coderch and Manuel Valls became consolidated. They often remained outside the public disciplinary debates led by Oriol Bohigas and the Grup R, who promoted a “realist” architectural position—rooted in Barcelona identity and opposed to internationalism—with a didactic orientation aimed at the public. Notions of modernity varied, with diverse attitudes and stylistic preferences, although the International Style prevailed as reference and normative framework.
Notable photographers include Francesc Català-Roca (1922–1968), Pere Sender Terés (Foto Sender), Oriol Maspons (1928–2013), and Julio Ubiña (1921–1988).
Archives: COAC, ANC, IEFC

1970s — Construction of the New Autonomous University of Barcelona

An exceptional large-scale unified project was undertaken: the new Autonomous University of Barcelona campus in Cerdanyola del Vallès, designed by López Iñigo, Giráldez and Subías—the same architects responsible for the first faculty building in the university district on Diagonal.
Archives: ANC and IEFC

1980s — Reconstruction of the German Pavilion

The reconstruction of the 1929 German Pavilion on its original site is of special interest. The same apparent form was recreated using entirely different technological means, provoking intense debate about the discovery and interpretation of color. Francesc Català-Roca documented the entire construction process, from the foundations to the inauguration. Comparing the photographs from then and now provides an essential basis for reflecting on the relationship between technical and aesthetic systems.

Late 1980s–1992 — Transformation of the Seafront and Olympic Village

Another key focus is the execution of a major urban operation aimed at reclaiming the coastline: beaches, infrastructure, a new port, a residential district, two skyscrapers, and extensive redevelopment. The area would host the Olympic Village for the 1992 Games.
The photographic record begins with the demolition of the industrial neighborhood that previously occupied the site. Although the completed works are widely known, the transformation processes are of profound interest.
Martí Llorens (Barcelona, 1962–) followed the project using various photographic media from 1985 onward. His vast archive remains insufficiently catalogued and merits dissemination. The documents capture demolition, excavations, foundations, shoring, reinforcement, and more. As buildings are completed, the energy and magic of the collective effort fade.
Archives: AFB, Factoría Heliográfica