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ones are drawn towards peripheral coun-
tries like Spain and Portugal and vice versa.
Apparently there are no points of contact:
not in terms of climate, not social, not even
of cultural tradition. Perhaps that’s the
reason for such strong attraction. However,
Nordic and Mediterranean architectures do
have something in common: the interest
in the domestic and in comfort. Siza and
Aalto’s houses are comfortable, in contrast
to British or Central European ones where
other values prevail over comfort, or even
the relationship with nature.
AGP: We won quite early in our career
the Valdemaqueda competition. We gained
a lot of on-site and project management ex-
perience in the construction of large build-
ings. Our situation was the opposite of that
of other young architects: without works of
our own but with experience in develop-
ing and building projects at a studio. We
knew how to build auditoriums and cultural
buildings, but not town halls. We took a
trip to northern Europe, traveling through
Denmark and Finland mostly, to become
familiar with Nordic town hall buildings.
We almost did a PhD on town halls. I am
glad to hear you notice that resemblance
because it is surprising to see how such a
small building can concentrate everything
we took in during that trip.
FDC: Why the Nordic countries?
IGP: Probably because of the opportu-
nity, and also because of Ángela’s per-
sonal history. When García de Paredes and
Carvajal were in Rome in 1958, one of
the conditions for residents was that they
had to go on a journey through Europe.
They went to Finland in a Seat 600 to
see Nordic architecture first-hand. Ángela
says that the first time she went to Villa
Mairea was before she was born, because
her mother was pregnant during that visit.
We wanted to see the house up close. I
like it because it comes across as a lived-
in house. The Farnsworth or Villa Savoye
are almost monuments of modernity. Villa
Mairea is a house.
FDC: The interior of the auditorium of
the Congress Center of Peñíscola seems to
draw on Aalto, is this so?
IGP: No. Aalto never left reinforced
concrete unpainted. In Valdemaqueda it
is completely naked, as in Le Corbusier.
Aalto didn’t make a concrete ceiling with
such forms either; he did so with wood in
Viipuri, but not in concrete. Utzon how-
ever did use concrete. There is a Utzonian,
rather than Aaltian, reference. In Peñíscola
it had a structural explanation: we couldn’t
go higher than twelve meters, and there
wasn’t room for the metallic structure and
wood ceiling, so we proposed building a
concrete slab that was both structure and
acoustic ceiling.
FDC: The continuity of the skin, which
is very often what characterizes buildings,
is very important in your work. The formal
expression of the structure becomes second-
ary, and the skin takes on a prominent role,
dressing the building on one hand, and on
the other revealing the activity inside.
IGP: Not long after the completion of the
Centre Pompidou, which shows the struc-
ture and the installations, Oiza asked us:
“And the skin? Where is the skin? We have
skin to cover veins and bones.” Part of this
probably still echoes in our minds. We think
that structural clarity is necessary, but it
shouldn’t play the main role.
“The relationship between
the Mediterranean and the
north is almost a matter of
symmetry, of balance“
