GATEPAC (Grupo de Artistas y Técnicos Españoles Para la Arquitectura Contemporánea) was a group of young architects who assembled during the Second Spanish Republic. Its most important members were: Josep LluÃÂs Sert, Antoni Bonet Castellana, Josep Torres Clavé, José Manuel Aizpurúa, Fernando GarcÃÂa Mercadal and Sixte Illescas. The group was formed in 1930 as a Spanish branch of C.I.A.M. The Eastern (Catalan) and founding section of the group, called GATCPAC (Grup d'Arquitectes i Tècnics Catalans per al Progrés de l'Arquitectura Contemporània) was much more successful than the Central or Northern sections, and carried out government contracts during the Second Republic.
GATEPAC was the leading group of architects that introduced modernist architecture and its ideas to Spain during the 1930s. The values they sought to introduce were primarily design elements of buildings that followed function over form and the well-being of the people that used the building. To accomplish these goals, they utilized simple and minimalistic building forms, modern materials, and environmental / natural strategies such as sunlight, ventilation, and shading strategies. They also included and emphasized green spaces in many of their projects for quality of life. Many of the projects they worked on were public buildings and affordable housing projects. Their intentions behind these design ideas were to improve everyday life for the people through architecture and to create better spaces that served the people and the community.
GATCPAC also published the magazine A.C., or Actividad Contemporánea, which remains an important document for the history of Modern Movement in Spain. The magazine ran for 24 issues until the group dissolved many years later after its initial conception and creation.
Most, but not all GATEPAC members fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Torres Clavé and aizupuria were killed in action. Josep LluÃÂs Sert went into exile in the United States, where he would teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Antoni Bonet established himself in Buenos Aires, Argentina. many other members would go on into exile or would disappear after the dissolvement of the group. Having been associated with the Second Republic, GATEPAC was taboo in Francoist Spain and reference to it was often censored until the 1950s, when their works were taken up by a new generation of Spanish modern architects like the Catalan Oriol Bohigas.
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