The list of Spanish collegiate journals is quite significant and manages to cover relatively well the entire peninsular territory, including the islands. The publication we are now commenting on arose from the activities programmed by the Almeria delegation of the Official College of Architects of Eastern Andalusia.
In 1987 an annual cycle of lectures by an architect or a team of architects began to be held, which continued to be held; 1988 saw the first issue of Documentos de Arquitectura, a monographic publication that includes a selection of works or articles by the lecturer in question. To date, some fifteen conferences have been held, and a total of fifteen monographs have been published. The first of these is dedicated to the Catalan architect Pep Bonet; the last two include, respectively, a series of articles by a Catalan critic, Josep Maria Montaner, and one of the latest works by the Madrid team formed by Manuel de Ignacio de las Casas: the Public Library of Valladolid.
This collection of documents is as rigorously structured as, for example, the Catalogues of Contemporary Architecture published by Gustavo Gili. Each of the monographs has chosen how many works to include and which texts - their own or those of others - would accompany them. Thus, number 6 is dedicated to Jordi Garcés and Enric Soria, but it only includes their projects and very few details.
And it was precisely in this issue that two details that were missing in previous issues were introduced: the biography and the list of works by the architect or team, the latter accompanied by references to where they have been published.
If number 6 was the first to introduce this additional data, number 12 marks the beginning of another line within this series of monographs: the critic Josep Montañola makes his debut with an attempt to summarize the latest Spanish architecture. The second issue, with the same reflective, critical and equally compiling will, gathers the texts of Josep María Montaner on the last years of European architecture (1977-1990).
To date, Documentos de Arquitectura has only published Spanish authors. In order of appearance: Pep Bonet, Alberto Campo, Elías Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Luis Burelo and Jaime Lorenzo, Jaume Bach and Gabriel Mora, Jordi Garcés and Enric Soria, Roser Amadó and Lluís Domènech, Carlos Ferrater, MBM, Miguel Fisac, Josep Llinàs, Josep Muntañola, Lluís Clotet and Ignacio Paricio and, finally, Josep María Montaner and the Casas.
From now on, the magazine wants to combine these monographs of more or less established architects with the work of promising young architects. This year's lecture series has already featured José María Torres Nadal, José Ramón and Ricardo Sierra and Roberto Estellés, Ignacio Vicens y Huarte, Manuel Oller, Víctor Rahola, Manuel Gallego, José Antonio Corrales and Ene Miralles, with Carme Pinós sharing the program.
