Trip

Arquitectura Andalusia

Discovery tour in southern Spain

2022 Spain Historical architecture Landscape

21.10 — 28.10 2022

Zuid Spanje

With the support of:

“There is only one right way to experience architecture and that is through direct on-site observation. Scale, texture, light and shadow, the interplay with the environment can only be observed when walking through the architectural work.”
This was the opening sentence for a number of successful trips by Archipel (2003-2004) towards Eastern, Northern and Central Spain. Southern Spain, Andalusia was then left out. High time to do something about that.

Breathtaking Andalusia

When you hear the word Andalusia you probably get a pop-up of sun and sea or a plate of Jamon Iberico with a glass of Jerez on a leafy terrace.
And although those images bring a warm glow to us as well, for Archipel, Andalusia is first and foremost a special collection of breathtaking architectural history that we want to explore.

Arquitectura Andalusia: A Rich History

Roman times, Moorish rule, the Spanish Reconquista and the Golden Age are periods that have marked wonderfully the architecture of the region.
We get lost in the power of color and proportion of the Mesquita and the Alhambra, and we discover the undeniable influence of that architectural grandeur on masters like Louis Kahn or Luis Barragan.

Bruno Vanbesien

Wim Supply

Contemporary Architecture

But Archipel also wants to look for how Spanish contemporary architecture sometimes cautiously, sometimes hesitantly, sometimes sharply tries to deal with that wonderful heritage in reconversion or restoration.
How open-minded contemporary architectural examples from a globalized world are absorbed and processed.
Or how a search for one’s own identity is sometimes surprisingly creatively put down.
Spain experienced a wave of boundless optimism at the end of the 20th century, when the world opened up for them, which for us was architecturally translated into a strict internationally inspired modernism. Catalonia and Madrid in particular placed themselves on the international map.
In the early 21st century came a severe economic crisis that was especially felt in the previously poor southern Spain.
Reluctantly, but with a lot of creativity, they are working on a resurgence.

Wim Supply

Wim Supply

Wim Supply

Cordoba and Granada

On this trip we will discover the work of internationally renowned Spanish architects such as Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Cruz & Ortiz, Nieto Sobejano or Paredes Perdrosa. We will also be surprised by lesser known names such as Elisa Valero, Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas, Victor Lopez Cotelo or Alejandro Munoz Miranda.
The trip will be built around the 2 major centers: Cordoba and Granada.
It will be an exploration of the contemporary intertwining of new and old sometimes with panache, sometimes in humble respect for the rich history. Sometimes a dialogue is entered into, sometimes you think, “fuck the context?”.

Bruno Vanbesien

Wim Supply

Bruno Vanbesien