Jan 22 2008
Jorge Tárrago, Professor of the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, has received an award for the best European dissertation in this discipline. The study, which analyzed a number of artist workshop-houses built during the interwar period, was recognized by the International Council for Research in Architecture (CORE), whose headquarters is in París.
According to the award ceremony proceedings, the dissertation defended by this professor of the University of Navarra stood out for "its excellent and original contribution to the development of knowledge in Architecture.” In the opinion of the jury, the dissertation "is the fruit of a well-documented study on the appearance and development of the workshop-houses, which were recognized by the artists as being of prime importance in the development of the principal landmarks of modern architecture.”
For this year’s prize competition, 22 candidates from 16 architecture schools participated, coming from numerous countries: Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Rumania and Spain.
Concerning his dissertation, Jorge Tárrago noted that in the decades of the 20’s and 30’s of the 20th century, the collaboration between the artistic and architectural vanguards gave rise to the creation of housing projects integrated with the artists’ workshops. "In Paris, these workshop-houses are very numerous, especially those built between 1923 and 1927. In this brief interval, Perret, Mallet-Stevens, Lurçat and Le Corbusier each built at least a half dozen of these workshop-houses", he stated.
For the author, who is the Director of Student Affairs of the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, the prize is "an important recognition" for a research project that he developed over the course of more than four years. His dissertation will be published by the French publisher Anthropos, within the collection "Library of the forms", and he will participate as a jury member in the next edition of the prize competition.
The dissertation was directed by the Director of the School of Architecture, Juan Miguel Otxotorena.