Architecture as social innovation
Introduction
Rafael Leoz de la Fuente (Madrid, June 19, 1921 - Madrid, July 28, 1976) was a Spanish architect and sculptor, creator of the "Hele" module in the field of humanizing social architecture. Considered by Le Corbusier in 1962 as "a genius of architecture", he was proposed in 1968 for the Nobel Peace Prize.[1].
Biography
He was born into a family with a medical tradition, son of the ophthalmologist Galo Leoz (1879-1990),[2] and brother of the ophthalmologist Gustavo Leoz. He studied at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, where he graduated in 1955, and where he later held a teaching position since 1965.
Between 1955 and 1960, he designed housing for the San Fermín Town[3] and other plans to eradicate shanty towns in Madrid (managed towns, such as Orcasitas and Caño Roto").[4] The team of architects in which Leoz worked (along with Joaquín Ruiz Hervás"), Antonio Vázquez de Castro and Íñiguez de Onzoño"), was led by Julián Laguna "Julián Laguna (architect)."
Since then his professional activity focused on theoretical research for the improvement of social housing without giving up technical, aesthetic, economic or human criteria; combining mass production with creative freedom, in what he called social architecture.
His main innovation was the Hele Module (or Leoz Module, a module in the shape of the letter ele formed by four cubes), which he made known internationally at the VI São Paulo Biennial (1961) and at conferences around the world, coming into contact with Mies van der Rohe. He was appointed member of the Cercle d'Études Architecturales (CEA, Circle of Architectural Studies or Paris Architectural Circle) at the proposal of Le Corbusier[6] and Jean Prouvé (1963). At the UIA congress (Prague, 1967), his film about the module won the Greatest Architectural Interest award; award that he repeated in 1969 in the category Social Architecture towards the future at the congress of the same institution that took place in Buenos Aires, with a second expanded version, titled Networks and spatial rhythms.
He also innovated the covering of facades, using replaceable modules, in what has been considered a precursor idea to the high tech developments of Renzo Piano and Norman Foster.
In 1969 he created the Rafael Leoz Foundation for the Research and Promotion of Social Architecture.
His sculptural work, within geometric abstraction, was derived from the models of his research and architectural projects.
References
- [1] ↑
- [2] ↑ http://elpais.com/diario/1990/01/25/agenda/633222001_850215.html.: http://elpais.com/diario/1990/01/25/agenda/633222001_850215.html
- [3] ↑ "Las primeras familias, de las que todavía permanecen algunos miembros, se asentaron durante los años 20, al oeste de la carretera de Andalucía, en los terrenos de Orcasitas y al este de la misma en el poblado de San Fermín, que hoy es el barrio del mismo nombre. Después de la Guerra civil quedó destruido casi todo lo formado. A partir de 1940 se empezó a levantar otra vez la barriada, pero ya en parcelas que fueron vendiendo sus propietarios, y con gran afluencia de familias procedentes del resto de Castilla, Andalucía y Extremadura. En 1945 se construyen las primeras viviendas de promoción pública y se crean el Poblado Mínimo de Orcasitas y el Poblado Agrícola, donde actualmente se sitúa Orcasur. En 1959 se construye el Poblado Dirigido de Orcasitas, actualmente el barrio en el que se sitúa el centro, ocupándose por vecinos de variada procedencia: Castilla, Extremadura, Andalucía y expropiados de barrios de Madrid (Carolina, Antonio López y Ventas)." (Centro de Adultos de Orcasitas en educa.madrid.org).: http://www.educa.madrid.org/web/cepa.orcasitas.madrid/DocumentosWordPDF/PEC.doc
- [4] ↑ Miguel Cabañas Bravo La influencia del arquitecto español Rafael de Leoz en El arte español fuera de España, CSIC, 2003, ISBN 8400081285, pgs. 94 y ss.: http://books.google.es/books?id=4wLqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ruiz+Herv%C3%A1s%22++arquitecto&dq=%22Ruiz+Herv%C3%A1s%22++arquitecto&hl=es&ei=DIOpTfzlKcLB8QPG-Yy5Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBA
- [5] ↑ Carlos Sambricio, De a arquitectura del Nuevo Estado al origen de nuestra contemporaneidad: El debate sobre la vivienda en la década de los cincuenta.