Modern kitchen in the Spanish collective housing through the architectural competitions of the period 1929-1956

Abstract

Objective

The work carried out in the context of the Spanish architecture on the kitchen has mainly focused on its equipment. It has not been explained, however, how the modern-kitchen, conceived by architects and economists European in the 1920s, has been incorporated to the residential project in Spain. This aspect is addressed through housing projects developed between 1929 and 1956. Its study will reveal the transit of the pre-modern kitchen, a stove enclosure, to the modern kitchen, the specialized enclosure, an identifiable piece of the modern domestic project.

Methodology

An analytical description is made of the kitchen of the cases of study, after establishing the three models of kitchen-modern and the six characteristic aspects. These are taken from housing contests developed in 1929, 1949 and 1956, to which are added two examples of significant residential projects for each of these temporary milestones.

Conclusions

The study reveals a process that was paused and prolonged in time, of which the Spanish women architects were absent, as well as the limited imprint of the competitions in the housing policy, entering to question its capacity to transform or influence the reality.

Originality

It raises the reflection on the processes of empirical and experimental research as an alternative to the proposals derived from the project Competitions. This aspect seems particularly interesting for researching topics relating to collective housing.