This book investigates a particular kind of architecture that thrived in the 1950s in Cadaqués, a small Spanish fishing village on the Costa Brava. It explores a number of holiday houses built between the mid-1950s and 1960s by a group of architects who shared bonds of friendship and architectural affinities, as well as connections with the international Modern movement (including José Antonio Coderch, Lluís Clotet, Federico Correa, Alfonso Milá, Oscar Tusquets, Manuel Valls). Observations on the common threads that link eight case studies are enriched by a photographic essay by David Grandorge and by detailed architectural drawings on a number of significant projects of the time. An interview with the authors Stephen Bates (Sergison Bates architects, London) and Fernando Villavecchia (Liebman Villavecchia Arquitectos, Barcelona) provides a background to their shared fascination with Cadaqués. A timeline contextualises the projects against the backdrop of historical events and the milestone in the lives of the clients and architects who made the village a unique locus in the history of architecture.


Text in English and Spanish (Spanish in an inserted booklet).