MESTRES. MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN THE REGION OF VALENCIA

This research brings together the work of fourteen architects whose careers have been recognized with the Mestre Valencià d’Arquitectura Prize through 2019. This award was established in 1990 by the Valencia Regional Architects’ Association (COACV).

This publication, after having first staked out the period and its cast of representatives and having substantiated the primary trait that they share, that is, modern architecture developed during the 1960s and 1970s, affords a look at this type of architecture in the Valencia Region. Reference is necessarily made to both the national and international context. Following an initial background of architecture up to the 1950s, an in-depth study is taken at the modern architecture produced as of the end of the autarchy period through the description of fourteen signified works.

These works, in addition to representing each Mestre’s legacy and highlighting the value of their inherent architectural quality, contribute to building a specific idea of the Mestres’ time and social and cultural context. They weave a narrative that stands as a complement to most of the literature on the development of modern architecture in Spain during this period. The publication is capped off by fourteen texts, each devoted to one of the Mestres, written by renowned specialists in the field. Published together with the designs analyzed, they give us a better idea of these figures’ life and work.