Resiliency in Geometric Aggregation and Social Connectivity: Anna Bofill Levi and the Taller de Arquitectura: Fid-Bau Portal

Resiliency in Geometric Aggregation and Social Connectivity: Anna Bofill Levi and the Taller de Arquitectura

Franchini, Caterina

The Taller de Arquitectura—Barcelona reached the international stage with revolutionary works conceived between the mid-1960s and 1970s in Francoist Spain, endorsing the criticisms against the Modern Movement that had emerged after World War II. Notable works such as the Barrio Gaudí in Reus (1964–1968), Kafka’s Castle in Sitges (1965–1968) and Walden-7 in Sant Just Desvern (1970–1975), among others, originated from a recursive process of isometric aggregations of “minimal cells”, which allowed for a wide variety of adaptability characteristics. These realizations, as well as the unbuilt projects La Ciudad en el Espacio (1968–1972) and La Petite Cathédrale (1971–1972), can be identified as experimental tests of the “Theory of Form” (1974–1975) by architect and music composer Anna Bofill Levi (b. 1944). Her mathematical-geometric research offered a resilient design method for an inhabiting system with a high degree of porous spaces fostering social connectivity. She explored the isometric possibilities of parallelepipeds in the Euclidean three-dimensional affine space to intentionally generate “urban tissues” that can adapt to traditional or modern construction building techniques and ever-changing men and women’s individual and social needs or behaviors. This paper investigates Anna Bofill Levi’s early lesson by focusing on her multidisciplinary vision, the multi-folded concept of adaptability put into practice, and resiliency through voids spaces.