La exposición busca seguir uno de los ideales que recuerda uno de sus hijos, Javier Sáenz Guerra, "no consideraba a los museos como un almacén para ver, sino un espacio para imaginar y, desde allí, crear".
Five ‘crafts’ of Sáenz de Oíza
Five ‘crafts’ of Sáenz de Oíza
The space is divided into five crafts, in reference to five states of knowledge of the author, which are interrelated with each other.
'The trade of learning / The art of teaching'
The tour begins in a space with a miscellaneous of objects and pieces that recreate the origins of Oíza, the inspiration found in his hometown, Cáseda, in his American adventure, and in the University where he was professor and director of the School of Architecture. Fruit of that time were the constructions of the Batán Schools in Madrid, the Faculty of Sciences in Córdoba, or the Public University of Navarra.
Sáenz de Oíza defined himself as "a man of arts and crafts." His extraordinary manual ability served to develop his own models of wood, cork or cardboard, of great synthesizing capacity, but also to repair and transform anything that fell into his hands to give him new applications, or to build mental games of mathematics or geometry , areas for which he always had great interest, as well as poetry, literature, philosophy and other readings that can be seen in the sample.
‘The occupation of inhabiting / The building art’
The second space of the exhibition, brings together some of the constructions made by the architect. For Saénz de Oíza, the construction of ‘La Casa’ was the principal role of the architect. The houses were more than buildings to live in, they symbolized intimate spaces, places of protection where each person strengthens their inner world, an intimate and closed space. "The house," he said, "is the sleeping cabin of a man who produces, works, lives and relates to a dilation of space in which he moves throughout the 24 hours. That is, the significance of the container itself is relegated to a second level. ”
In this space you can see some houses designed and built to order such as Lucas Prieto (Talavera de la Reina, 1960), Arturo Echevarría in the urbanization La Florida (Madrid, 1972) and Villa Fabriciano in Torrelodones (Madrid, 1987).
Two small houses in Mallorca, where the summers of Oíza and his family take place, explain what this architect's Office of Housing is like in a house made by another and the relationship that all architecture should have with the place, tradition, customs and Local crafts.
Oíza also dedicated a part of the 50s to the construction of social housing in Madrid (Entrevías, Fuencarral, Batán ...) hand in hand with the neighbors, trying to give a solution to the problem of housing thousands of emigrants who came to the cities This is an example of his proposal (not built) along the Manzanares River, wishing to be compared with his teacher Le Corbusier, and the housing relocation complex next to the M-30 in Madrid (1986) known as El Ruedo.
‘The office of the soul. The art of evoking’
Probably the third space be the most intimate, the one that portrays the most spiritual side of Oíza with the construction’ of the Basilica of Aránzazu. The work was made from a contest of ideas for its expansion, although it encountered numerous difficulties and doubts about the problems of the renewal of religious language in 1950 Spain.
This building brings together the works of a group of young artists, architects, sculptors and painters who, over time, have turned the Basilica into a symbol of the winners of the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts: Eduardo Chillida (1987), Jorge Oteiza (1988) and Sáenz de Oíza (1993) and another non-minor author, the painter Lucio Muñoz, whose altarpiece is key in the understanding of the new sacred space claimed by the younger generations. This work (plans, drawings, models, photographs ...) opens the exhibition to an integrating space of the Arts.
‘The office of believing. The art of patronage'
In the fourth space, the exhibition takes us to a stage of great explosive creativity of Oíza, that of the 60s and 70s. From this time it is the Madrid building of Torres Blancas, next to the Avenida de América, without doubt one of the most emblematic works of the architect.
Sáenz de Oíza will work at this time together with groups of artists in which he will also find a deep friendship. Many of them (Palazuelo, Oteiza, Sistiaga ... and Oíza himself) will receive the support of the Huarte, patron whose builder will entrust to Oíza the project of summer apartments Ciudad Blanca de Alcudia, in Mallorca, as well as the design of the image of the furniture company of the family group, H Muebles. Oíza transformed a dark basement into a bright place that would serve as a dissemination platform for the different companies of the Huarte Group, as well as a space for meeting and architectural debates, particularly for people related to the Huarte family.
The White City of Alcudia summarizes the ideas of social housing made in the 50s, converted into apartments for leisure. and shows Oíza's ascription to the ideas of the so-called Third Generation of architects, linking with the spirit of Aldo van Eyck, van der Broek, Bakema or the Smithsons, among others.
The artist defined this project as “sunbed houses ... (On the beach) nobody goes with a compass to put their orientation to the seats, but go in the afternoon to a beach and you will see that they are all aligned at the moment they left of sunbathing ... Well, in the background, these are deckchairs, as I have said, oriented to make comfortable use of the house in relation to the environment. ” Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza D’A Balearic Architecture Magazine. No 3, 1989, p. 67
‘The trade of competing / The art of representing’
The last space shows the Oíza who habitually participated in contests of ideas and open architectural projects, or was invited to restricted calls. The proposals of Monaco, Las Palmas and Santander correspond to the latter case. The sample selects some of the projects that Sáenz de Oíza carried out for public tenders.
The Atlantic Center of Modern Art CAAM (Las Palmas, 1985) shows the criteria for intervention in Heritage of Oíza. The Palace of Festivals of Santander was another building built after winning a contest, in this case with postmodern dyes. Here the demolition of some old shipyards in the urban center left an empty space next to the Nautical School. The proposal of Oíza (1985) responds to the great Greek theaters, in particular Epidaurus. This space also houses the Banco de Bilbao tower in Madrid.
Oíza did not write any books, but he kept an innumerable amount of writings that he used for his classes, talks and conferences. That is why this exhibition constitutes a unique opportunity to know the most personal and intimate side of a versatile, risky artist who never (in his 82 years) wanted to stop learning and doing. A feeling that those responsible for the show want to inspire the visitor.
The tour begins in a space with a miscellaneous of objects and pieces that recreate the origins of Oíza, the inspiration found in his hometown, Cáseda, in his American adventure, and in the University where he was professor and director of the School of Architecture. Fruit of that time were the constructions of the Batán Schools in Madrid, the Faculty of Sciences in Córdoba, or the Public University of Navarra.
Sáenz de Oíza defined himself as "a man of arts and crafts." His extraordinary manual ability served to develop his own models of wood, cork or cardboard, of great synthesizing capacity, but also to repair and transform anything that fell into his hands to give him new applications, or to build mental games of mathematics or geometry , areas for which he always had great interest, as well as poetry, literature, philosophy and other readings that can be seen in the sample.
‘The occupation of inhabiting / The building art’
The second space of the exhibition, brings together some of the constructions made by the architect. For Saénz de Oíza, the construction of ‘La Casa’ was the principal role of the architect. The houses were more than buildings to live in, they symbolized intimate spaces, places of protection where each person strengthens their inner world, an intimate and closed space. "The house," he said, "is the sleeping cabin of a man who produces, works, lives and relates to a dilation of space in which he moves throughout the 24 hours. That is, the significance of the container itself is relegated to a second level. ”
In this space you can see some houses designed and built to order such as Lucas Prieto (Talavera de la Reina, 1960), Arturo Echevarría in the urbanization La Florida (Madrid, 1972) and Villa Fabriciano in Torrelodones (Madrid, 1987).
Two small houses in Mallorca, where the summers of Oíza and his family take place, explain what this architect's Office of Housing is like in a house made by another and the relationship that all architecture should have with the place, tradition, customs and Local crafts.
Oíza also dedicated a part of the 50s to the construction of social housing in Madrid (Entrevías, Fuencarral, Batán ...) hand in hand with the neighbors, trying to give a solution to the problem of housing thousands of emigrants who came to the cities This is an example of his proposal (not built) along the Manzanares River, wishing to be compared with his teacher Le Corbusier, and the housing relocation complex next to the M-30 in Madrid (1986) known as El Ruedo.
‘The office of the soul. The art of evoking’
Probably the third space be the most intimate, the one that portrays the most spiritual side of Oíza with the construction’ of the Basilica of Aránzazu. The work was made from a contest of ideas for its expansion, although it encountered numerous difficulties and doubts about the problems of the renewal of religious language in 1950 Spain.
This building brings together the works of a group of young artists, architects, sculptors and painters who, over time, have turned the Basilica into a symbol of the winners of the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts: Eduardo Chillida (1987), Jorge Oteiza (1988) and Sáenz de Oíza (1993) and another non-minor author, the painter Lucio Muñoz, whose altarpiece is key in the understanding of the new sacred space claimed by the younger generations. This work (plans, drawings, models, photographs ...) opens the exhibition to an integrating space of the Arts.
‘The office of believing. The art of patronage'
In the fourth space, the exhibition takes us to a stage of great explosive creativity of Oíza, that of the 60s and 70s. From this time it is the Madrid building of Torres Blancas, next to the Avenida de América, without doubt one of the most emblematic works of the architect.
Sáenz de Oíza will work at this time together with groups of artists in which he will also find a deep friendship. Many of them (Palazuelo, Oteiza, Sistiaga ... and Oíza himself) will receive the support of the Huarte, patron whose builder will entrust to Oíza the project of summer apartments Ciudad Blanca de Alcudia, in Mallorca, as well as the design of the image of the furniture company of the family group, H Muebles. Oíza transformed a dark basement into a bright place that would serve as a dissemination platform for the different companies of the Huarte Group, as well as a space for meeting and architectural debates, particularly for people related to the Huarte family.
The White City of Alcudia summarizes the ideas of social housing made in the 50s, converted into apartments for leisure. and shows Oíza's ascription to the ideas of the so-called Third Generation of architects, linking with the spirit of Aldo van Eyck, van der Broek, Bakema or the Smithsons, among others.
The artist defined this project as “sunbed houses ... (On the beach) nobody goes with a compass to put their orientation to the seats, but go in the afternoon to a beach and you will see that they are all aligned at the moment they left of sunbathing ... Well, in the background, these are deckchairs, as I have said, oriented to make comfortable use of the house in relation to the environment. ” Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza D’A Balearic Architecture Magazine. No 3, 1989, p. 67
‘The trade of competing / The art of representing’
The last space shows the Oíza who habitually participated in contests of ideas and open architectural projects, or was invited to restricted calls. The proposals of Monaco, Las Palmas and Santander correspond to the latter case. The sample selects some of the projects that Sáenz de Oíza carried out for public tenders.
The Atlantic Center of Modern Art CAAM (Las Palmas, 1985) shows the criteria for intervention in Heritage of Oíza. The Palace of Festivals of Santander was another building built after winning a contest, in this case with postmodern dyes. Here the demolition of some old shipyards in the urban center left an empty space next to the Nautical School. The proposal of Oíza (1985) responds to the great Greek theaters, in particular Epidaurus. This space also houses the Banco de Bilbao tower in Madrid.
Oíza did not write any books, but he kept an innumerable amount of writings that he used for his classes, talks and conferences. That is why this exhibition constitutes a unique opportunity to know the most personal and intimate side of a versatile, risky artist who never (in his 82 years) wanted to stop learning and doing. A feeling that those responsible for the show want to inspire the visitor.
Singular projects
Sáenz de Oíza designed very varied projects. He traveled outside Spain, lived in the USA. and came back with many ideas and concerns. Some of his most unique projects are in Madrid. The most iconic is Torres Blancas, a 71-meter-high building with a multitude of intrahistories: Oíza himself lived there and an image of the painter, sculptor and friend Antonio López drawing Madrid from one of his terraces is collected. Also the Bank of Bilbao Tower, a 107 meter high building with a steel and glass facade located in the AZCA financial and commercial complex, next to the Paseo de la Castellana. In addition, he carried out the project of the Campus of the Public University of Navarra, Torre-Triana, administrative headquarters of several departments on the island of La Cartuja in Seville and the Palace of Festivals of Santander, among many others.
City architect, painter and sculptor, his desire to improve made him become a scholar, since he devoted much of his life to studying various disciplines to optimize his works. He was a university professor very dedicated to his students and never stopped researching. Currently many of his students are teachers.
He was always in constant evolution and had the determination to understand all the processes necessary to elaborate the best possible project, depending on the place, the dimensions etc. He practiced austerity in his life and in his works and tried to use the materials he had on hand, combining them in the best possible way. He also transformed buildings to take advantage of them and took ideas from everything.
He was National Architecture Prize in 1945, just one year after finishing the Architecture degree, he won the Architecture Gold Medal in 1989 and was awarded in 1993 with the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, one of the most prestigious of our country.
