Modularity and patterns in Spanish school architecture of the 1960s and 1970s

Two decades of extensive experimentation

Abstract

International trends based on architectural solutions featuring repetitive patterns of modules and grids, and present in cases such as Structuralism, mat-buildings, or Metabolism, soon found an echo in the Spanish scene, finding a particularly favorable environment in school architecture. The purpose of this paper is to show to what extent this approach to school projects came to fruition, and also what its most notable examples and variations were. In this context, the approval of the new Spanish education law of 1969 was of great importance, encouraging experimentation and the search for new solutions in this field. In the sample offered in this work, some established figures have emerged, such as López Zanón, Luis Laorga, García de Paredes, Rafael de la Hoz, or Moreno Barberá, but the list is considerably longer, also including lesser-known architects with notable contributions. However, what is proposed is not a list but fundamentally a method of analysis based on comparisons and categories.