Few architects are as widely published as Miguel Fisac. Just when it seemed that little could be added, three new books suddenly expand the bibliography. Two monographs now accompany the ‘complete works’ published by Francisco Arqués, by Andrés Cánovas in line with the 1994 Gold Medal for Architecture, and by Ricardo Sánchez Lampreave after the 2002 National Architecture Prize. They focus on housing and religious architecture, and complement those on furniture, photography, and research and industrial headquarters through which the Fisac Foundation and its president, Diego Peris, have disseminated the archive that the Ciudad Real branch of the Castile-León Institute of Architects acquired in 2005.
While these compilations pursue documental reality, another book offers a playful reading of a selection of Fisac works. David García-Manzanares examines each through fields beyond architecture, throwing surprising light where the discipline may have run out of tools. He uses Barry Marshall, discoverer of the bacteria behind peptic ulcer, to show the self-experimental nature of the Fisac house, or the doctored scenes of Billy Wilder in The Apartment to explain the manipulated perspective of the Coronation Church. Through fictions the author expresses his love for the architect’s work and leads the reader towards more dreamlike views of reality. A chance to revisit Fisac’s architecture from the springboard of fiction (and humor).
