12. Montbau Estate. 1958-1964

Architects: Guillermo Giráldez Dávila, Pedro López Iñigo, Xavier Subías Fages (first sector) / Manuel Baldrich, Antonio Bonet Castellana, Pedro López Iñigo, Josep Maria Soteras (second sector) / Agustí Bosch (third sector)

The Montbau estate is the result of a commission to develop the land located between the Serra de Collserola, the Montbau stream (now carrer de l’Arquitectura) and the Duran stream (now carrer de l’Harmonia) and what is now the Ronda de Dalt. This commission was awarded at the end of 1957. The first stone was laid in 1958 and the neighbourhood was eventually inaugurated in 1962, taking advantage of a visit from Franco. 

It was an era of change in international architecture. The era of the International Congresses of Modern Architecture, the CIAM, is over, and the era of Team X meetings is beginning. In short, the functionalist and hygienist idea of urban planning based on zoning of the land, greenery and space, is replaced by planning based on association, identity and flexibility, in which the relationship between residents must be taken into account: in streets, squares and neighbourhoods. 

The Montbau brief is proof of an interest in quality work on the part of the recently appointed mayor of Barcelona, Josep Maria de Porcioles, and a group of young architects, Xavier Subías, Guillermo Giráldez and Pedro López Iñigo, who had recently participated in the construction of an experimental neighbourhood in Madrid. The brief stipulated a relationship between the housing designs and the new technologies and execution times. 

The Montbau project was divided into three phases, which were based on the initial plan from 1958, following the logistics of the site’s orography. The edges of the first phase were defined by the Collserola mountain range, the Montbau stream and the Pomaret stream (between what is now carrer de l’Arquitectura and carrer de la Poesia); the second phase extended from the Pomaret stream to the Duran stream (now carrer de la Poesia and carrer de l’Harmonia); and the third phase was located on the Collserola hillside.

The first is from 1958, the second from 1961 and the third from 1964. Despite the short span of time between them, the design solutions are very different, as a result of the changing ideas in architecture and urban planning that emerged in the international sphere.

Fernando Marzá, Montbau 1958-1964. Entre Arquitectura i Harmonia, curator’s introduction for the exhibition of the same name held at the COAC (22.04 – 03.07.2021).