More than a Skyscraper - The Bauhaus in the Spanish Historiography of Architecture of Modernity

Recent publications on the historiography of modern Spanish architecture have once again made C. Flores' major work, Arquitectura Espanola Contemporanea (1961), the focus of their scholarly attention. Flores' text is portrayed as an important contribution to the Modern Movement in the context of the Franco regime. However, the significance of W. Gropius and the Bauhaus was not mentioned. This omission becomes all the more peculiar when considering Sigfried Giedion's Space, Time and Architecture (1941), with which Flores was well acquainted through the 1955 Spanish translation. This paper analyzes Flores' genealogy of modern architecture at the textual level. In addition, it addresses the visual level of his book, for the first time uncovering a narration that contradicts a straightforward illustration, yet reveals Flores' stance vis-a-vis modern architecture and the Bauhaus.