History
Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983), Joan Baptista Subirana (1904-1978), and Josep Torres Clavé (1906-1939) designed a large building with more than 200 apartments for workers in the industrial district of Sant Andreu, many of whom at that time still lived in shacks, generally in very poor conditions. The project was supported by the Casa Obrera, a body under the Government of Catalonia in charge of building housing for workers and improve the living conditions of the socially disadvantaged. The official laying of the first stone in 1933 was attended by the President of the Generalitat, Francesc Macià. The Spanish Civil War prevented the completion of the Casa Bloc and the conclusion of the three-year conflict put an end to the philosophy that had underpinned its construction. The building was allocated not to workers but to the families, widows, and orphans of members of the Nationalist forces and, a little later, to the national police. Structurally, the finished building was at odds with the aims of the GATCPAC architects: the communal spaces on the ground floor were completed in other ways, part of the original system of vertical access and corridors was discarded, and the primary purpose of the project and its social and cultural function was lost. The GATCPAC members had sought to embody key elements of the group's thinking in the Casa Bloc, with a program designed to provide decent housing at low cost while suggesting new forms of social living and collective identity, formalized in a new urbanism based on a new concept of the city. This creative freedom, closely aligned with the tenets of the European avant-garde of the time, and reflecting a significant social commitment, was swept away in Francoist Spain, and was not recognized and recovered until the restoration of democracy.Change to Museum
The museumizing of Room 1/11 of the Casa Bloc, now recognized as a unique example of socially committed rationalist architecture in Catalonia, has been an intense and exciting project, the completion of which allows to experience at first hand the interior of one of the apartments just as its creators intended. With the restoring of the apartment to its original structure and appearance and its opening to the public as a museumized space Disseny Hub Barcelona added a new project to their core mission: to further our knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the design of objects and spaces. With this latest venture they pay tribute to the architects who conceived and constructed this building, members of the historic GATCPAC Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture, whose innovative spirit, social commitment and high standards, both aesthetic and ethical, still provide a referent for Catalan architecture today. For two years, INCASÒL andApartment-House Museum 1/11
The Apartment-House 1/11 of the Casa Bloc (1932–1939) is an apartment-museum run by Disseny Hub Barcelona. Inside you can visit the structure and the original look of the floor of this architectural complex, a reference to architectural ideas about worker housing at the time of the Second Spanish Republic. The opening of this museum floor space is a tribute to the work of Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé and Joan Baptista Subirana and the innovation that its approach embodied in the 1930s. The Room 1/11 of the Casa Bloc is an apartment open to everyone, with a regime of guided tours by reservation, from March 2012. The housing 1/11 is a duplex measuring 60 square meters. It is located in Block 2, Level 1, Gate 11, the architecture of the Casa Bloc. The internal layout is very simple and clear difference of day and night. Downstairs is the entrance, a hallway leading to the laundry with shower, kitchen, bathroom with toilet, dining room and terrace. Upstairs are two bedrooms (other homes in the Casa Bloc have three or four bedrooms, a variable that was expected to meet the needs of families). All rooms are exterior, with natural light and ventilation. The house also has openings on both sides of the block, allowing easy cross ventilation.References
Further reading
* ''AC: Publicaciónes del GATEPAC'' (in Spanish)''.'' La Fundación Caja de Arquitectos, Barcelona, 2005, ISBN 978-8425208683 * Bohigas, Oriol. “Homenaje al GATCPAC.” ''Cuadernos de Arquitectura'' (in Spanish), num. 40, 1960, pp. 43-45. ISSN 1133-8857 * Manrique Díaz, Emili. ''La Casa Bloc'' (in Spanish)''.'' Escola Politècnica Superior d'Edificació de Barcelona, 1998-1999, http://hdl.handle.net/2099.1/23854 * García, Carolina B. & Josep M. Rovira. ''Casa Bloc: Barcelona, 1932-1939-2009'' (in Spanish). Barcelona: Mudito & Co, 2011, ISBN 9788492607464External links