Gutiérrez Soto and Madrid’s upper-class housing renovation during the thirties

Abstract

In the number 176-177 of the magazine Arquitectura, published in September 1956, Gutiérrez Soto was the protagonist of a debate dedicated to housing. In the text he expounds his colleagues the correct layout of the flats. A demand for responsibility that might have been then seemed doctrinaire. From today’s perspective Gutiérrez Soto’s intervention appears as the condensed knowledge of more than half the life of a prolific architect. If his comments, logical, are pertinent even today despite its localness, his thoughts about housing (rational circulations, precise dimensions, integral space conception incorporating lighting and furniture...) remain in force nowadays and have exerted a major influence in diverse generations of architects. In these last years, particularly during the Real Estate booming, the disinterest architects have shown towards the correct formalization of housing has reached its peak. In this context, both Gutiérrez Soto’s thoughts and especially works show the professionalism of an architect whose prestige made him an advertisement attraction even after his demise.