Mestres. Modern Architecture in the Region of Valencia [EN]

This research brings together the work of fourteen architects whose careers have been recognized with the Mestre Valencià d’Arquitectura Prize through 2019. This award was established in 1990 by the Valencia Regional Architects’ Association (COACV).

This publication, after having first staked out the period and its cast of representatives and having substantiated the primary trait that they share, that is, modern architecture developed during the 1960s and 1970s, affords a look at this type of architecture in the Valencia Region. Reference is necessarily made to both the national and international context. Following an initial background of architecture up to the 1950s, an in-depth study is taken at the modern architecture produced as of the end of the autarchy period through the description of fourteen signified works.

These works, in addition to representing each Mestre’s legacy and highlighting the value of their inherent architectural quality, contribute to building a specific idea of the Mestres’ time and social and cultural context. They weave a narrative that stands as a complement to most of the literature on the development of modern architecture in Spain during this period. The publication is capped off by fourteen texts, each devoted to one of the Mestres, written by renowned specialists in the field. Published together with the designs analyzed, they give us a better idea of these figures’ life and work.

Jose Fernández-Llebrez Muñoz

With texts by Ángel Albert Esteve, Joaquín Arnau Amo, Beatriz Colomina, Javier Domínguez Rodrigo, José Ramón López Yeste, José María Lozano Velasco, Andrés Martínez-Medina, Justo Oliva Meyer, Juan Francisco Pérez Mengual, Helio Piñón Pallarés, Jaime Prior Llombart, Juan Ramón Selva Royo, Jorge Torres Cueco, Santiago Varela Botella, Ciro Manuel Vidal Climent, Ivo Eliseo Vidal Climent

Photographs by Alejandro Gómez Vives

Sponsors: Generalitat Valenciana, Universidad Europea de Valencia, Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de la Comunidad Valenciana (COACV)
Collaborators: IVACE-Internacional, Valencia World Design Capital (WDC 2022)

Fundación Arquia, november 2021
Editorial Fundación Arquia. Design and layout: gráfica futura, Editing and editorial coordination: Yolanda Ortega Sanz, equipo Fundación Arquia, Translation: Beth Gelb (coord.), Print: Artes Gráficas Palermo