The exhibition "La Mansana de la Discòrdia" in the Lleó i Morera House, opens today in Barcelona. The exhibition takes four examples of buildings, on the same block, as samples of colonization process that the Barcelona bourgeoisie makes of the Eixample in Barcelona, using the formal language of Modernism as expression. This process not always known and for its time radical, as the book's subtitle suggests, "modernism as transgression."

 The exposition shows part of the contents collected in the book '''La Mansana de la Discòrdia' modernism as transgression," that we presented a few days ago.. The History, Architecture and Design Research Group was set up within the field of architectural composition at the School of Architecture at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. The project “La Mansana de la discòrdia” was submitted to the call for novel research proposals at the university in 2013.

The aim was to study the five houses of the block, not just the three modernist ones, precisely to see the differences (or discords) in their styles that were contemporaneous with one another. We also wanted to use the word mansana, in Catalan and written with an “s”, because Ildefons Cerdà in his General Theory of Urbanisation from 1867, had dedicated three pages to the etymological justification of the term derived from the Latin mansio,-onis, which means mansion, house. Thus, when towns were being populated, the word mansana was used for a group of mansions or houses, currently referred to as a block. Later on, the “s” was haphazardly replaced for “z” in Spanish. However, the use in Spanish of the word “manzana”, corresponding to the fruit, the apple, allows us to engage in word play, as it also refers to the mythological story of the golden apple thrown by the goddess of discord at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, leading to the Trojan War.

Authors.-

Manuel Arenas Vidal
Dr. José Juan Barba
Mariola Borrell Escudé
Dr. Guillem Carabí Bescós
María José Díez Chueca
Dra. Fàtima López Pérez
Dra. Judith Urbano

Students participating.- María Alcaraz Ruiz, Rosa Aparici Hornero, Laura Aragonés Ribera, Cristina Ballester Rigo, Marina Baró Bagué, Rafael Bennasar Miquel, Alberto Carlos Bodí Domenech, Pylyp Fomyn, Mª Elena Gistau Bielsa, Claudia Gratacós Grau, Mariona Mayol Batlle, Borja Monsó Galindo, Jaume Nart Parés, Carles Palau Sala, Lara Pérez Verdes, Eric Sanllehy González & Emma Vives Viña.

Venue.- Casa Lleó i Morera, Paseo de Gracia, 35. Barcelona.
Dates.- December 17, 2015 - February 28, 2016

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José Juan Barba (1964) architect from ETSA Madrid in 1991. Special Mention in the National Finishing University Education Awards 1991. PhD in Architecture ETSAM, 2004. He founded his professional practice in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com). He has been an architecture critic and editor-in-chief of METALOCUS magazine since 1999, and he advised different NGOs until 1997. He has been a lecturer (in Design, Theory and Criticism, and Urban planning) and guest lecturer at different national and international universities (Roma TRE, Polytechnic Milan, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, UNAM Mexico, Univ. Iberoamericana Mexico, University of Thessaly Volos, FA de Montevideo, Washington, Medellin, IE School, U.Alicante, Univ. Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-U.I.C. Barcelona,...).

Maître de Conférences IUG-UPMF Grenoble 2013-14. Full assistant Professor, since 2003 up to now at the University of Alcalá School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain. And Jury in competitions as Quaderns editorial magazine (2011), Mies van der Rohe Awards, (2010-2024), Europan13 (2015). He has been invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione".

He has published several books, the last in 2016, "#positions" and in 2015 "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi " and collaborations on "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione", "La Mansana de la discordia" (2015), "Arquitectura Contemporánea de Japón: Nuevos territorios" (2015)...

Awards.-

- Award. RENOVATION OF SEGURA RIVER ENVIRONMENT, Murcia, Sapin, 2010.
- First Prize, RENOVATION GRAN VÍA, “Delirious Gran Vía”, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
- First Prize, “PANAYIOTI MIXELI Award”. SADAS-PEA, for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture Athens, 2005.
- First Prize, “SANTIAGO AMÓN Award," for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture. 2000.
- Award, “PIERRE VAGO Award." ICAC -International Committee of Art Critics. London, 2005.
- First Prize, C.O.A.M. Madrid, 2000. Shortlisted, World Architecture Festival. Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de los Ríos. Tera, Esla y Orbigo, Barcelona, 2008.
- First Prize. FAD AWARD 07 Ephemeral Interventions. “M.C.ESCHER”. Arquin-Fad. Barcelona, Sapin 2007.

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Published on: December 16, 2015
Cite: "La Mansana de la Discòrdia in the Lleó i Morera House." METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/la-mansana-de-la-discordia-lleo-i-morera-house> ISSN 1139-6415
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