Francisco Javier S?enz de O?za

(b C?seda, Navarra, 12 Oct 1918; d 1988). Spanish architect. He was trained at the Escuela Tecnica Superior Arquitectura, Madrid, graduating in 1946 and becoming a professor from 1957 and Director from 1981 to 1983. Because of his reputation as a teacher and the fact that some of the best architects of following generations passed through his studio, for example, Rafael Moneo and Juan Daniel Fullaondo, he is regarded as an important figure in 20th-century Spanish architecture. In the 1950s he was one of those who reintroduced Modernist architecture to Spain, and he continued to be receptive to the different architectural tendencies that emerged. The project for a chapel (1954) on the Camino de Santiago was an experiment with an aluminium structure reminiscent of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's work. During the 1950s and 1960s, in collaboration with other architects, he built various low-cost housing complexes on the outskirts of Madrid, in which early Central European Rationalism was recaptured: for example Erillas (1955), Calero (1958), Bat?n (1960) and Entrevias (1956). Particularly interesting are Fuencarral (1955), on account of its restraint and rigour, and Loyola (1962), for its urban planning. The Gomez House (1959), Durana, Alava, represents a return to a more organic quality, while the complex of flats (1963) in Alcudia, Mallorca, is noteworthy for its clean Structuralist design. The Torres Blancas Building (1960-8), Madrid, sprang from an ambitious idea for a tower with high-rise garden-flats; S?enz de O?za's exuberant solution combined a concrete structure with organic forms. Torres Blancas is considered to have been highly influential on architecture in Madrid in the 1970s, in the same way that the building (1972-81) for the Banco de Bilbao on the Paseo de la Castellana was in the following decade. Freedom of organization in its ground-plan and physical comfort are the basis of its tower form, with a structural core and central services, projecting flats and a glazed cladding, on which rings of sunshades and balconies are superimposed. In recent years, through further public commissions and success in competitions, S?enz de O?za has continued to influence international developments in architecture, notably in the Centro de Artre del Atl?ntico (1989), Las Palmas, the housing complex (1990) on the M-30 highway, Madrid, and the Palacio de Festivales (1991), Santander. In 1993 he won the Pr?ncipe de Asturias fine arts prize.

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