GATEPAC

   The Grupo de Arquitectos y Técnicos Españoles para el Progreso de la Arquitectura Contemporánea (Group of Spanish Architects and Technicians for Progress in Contemporary Architecture) was an organization which owed its origin mainly to the architect José Luis Sert of Barcelona. There is no doubt that sooner or later Spain would have experienced the impact of the European avantgarde, but the process was hastened by Sert's impatience with existing conventions. GATEPAC provided a fruitful breeding-ground for the ideas of Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, which were being promoted at this time through the CIAMs (Congresos Internationales de Arquitectura Moderna-International Congresses of Modern Architecture). Founded on 26 October 1930 in Zaragoza, GATEPAC brought together three groups of young architects, from the Basque region, Madrid and Catalonia, where Sert had already formed the group GATCPAC (where the "C" stands for Catalan) in 1929 in Barcelona. After qualifying, Sert had worked for a year in the studio of Le Corbusier in Paris in 1928, and had returned to Spain determined to spread the ideas of the modern movement. Meanwhile in Madrid the architect Fernando García Mercadal had begun, single-handedly but with great conviction, a campaign in support of European modernity after meeting Peter Behrens, Poelzig, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and the group associated with the journal L'Esprit Nouveau. In fact it was on the invitation of García Mercadal that Le Corbusier came to Madrid in 1928 to give some lectures, and Sert seized the opportunity to invite Le Corbusier to give an impromptu lecture in Barcelona on his way home. Le Corbusier's collaboration with Sert and the Catalans proved to be very productive. A third group was formed in the Basque region, headed by the architects Vallejo, Labayen and Aizpurua. José Manuel Aizpurua was the main driving force behind the group, and his Club Nautique in San Sebastián (1929–30, with Labayen) is a good example of the direction the theory was taking. The Barcelona group was more prolific, with Sert, Yllescas, Subirana and the very talented Josep Torrés-Clavé, a victim of the Civil War in 1939 at the age of 32. The Central Dispensary for Tuberculosis (1935, Barcelona) is a good example of their approach. GATEPAC's most representative product was the journal AC (Actividad Contemporánea) published between 1931 and 1937. Its pages display a unity of purpose and combativeness in spreading the group's ideas, opposing official architecture and publicizing their projects. Articles were contributed not only by the founder-members of the group but by other significant figures of the period, such as Raimon Duran Reynals, Antoni Bonet and Francesc Folguera.

   The Civil War and certain ideological differences led to the disbanding of the group in 1937, but its example continued to exercise considerable influence in the post-war period, especially through pupils and younger colleagues of the original members.

   See also: architects; architecture

   MIHAIL MOLDOVEANU