← Contents

III. Conclusion

Chapter 1 of the Introduction presented an overview of the present work and a sketch of Jujol’s life, and organised the social background of his architectural activity.

Chapter 2 of the Introduction organised and examined the principal studies on Jujol from his death to the present day; it was shown that between 1950 and the first half of the 1980s discussions centred primarily on the nature of the influence relationship between Jujol and Gaudí, and it was confirmed that from the second half of the 1980s onwards various studies were written that went beyond the relationship with Gaudí and Catalan Modernisme. On this basis, the objective of the present thesis and the perspectives of Jujol scholarship were described. The content and location of primary sources were also indicated.

Chapter 1 of the Main Part, with the aim of grasping the background of Jujol’s thought and architectural activity, offered an overview of architectural currents in Spain and Catalonia from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, also organised the influence relationship with Gaudí, and presented this as a contextual consideration.

Chapter 2 of the Main Part examined the primary sources consisting of the writings and plans and drawings left by Jujol, clarified Jujol’s architectural thought, and demonstrated that the act of drawing—which for Jujol was a continuous daily activity throughout his entire life—was directly connected to his architectural practice.

Chapter 3 of the Main Part examined the principal architectural works of Jujol, and extracted and defined the aesthetic characteristics of those works. These aesthetic characteristics were organised into those relating to overall composition and those relating to detailed expression; it was established that all characteristics relating to overall composition appeared in a form whereby the expression of structure and membrane was adapted to each individual work, and that the characteristics relating to detailed expression had a more direct connection with drawing. In summary, it was concluded that at the root of his architectural activity lay his quality as a draughtsman.

Chapter 4 of the Main Part, with regard to the <Casa Bofarull>—recognised as the synthetic work—carried out an examination based on a thorough study of Jujol’s own plans and drawings related to this work and on the results of the measured survey; a more detailed analysis of its aesthetic characteristics was conducted, and the aesthetic characteristics extracted in Chapter 3 were then discussed in the context of the specific details of the <Casa Bofarull>, constituting a comprehensive analysis. The relationship between Jujol’s architectural activity and his quality as a draughtsman was also verified.

When compared with the extraordinary greatness of Gaudí, many people may have the impression that Jujol was, both in his life and in his works, a somewhat ordinary and unremarkable architect.

Although he was someone whose exceptional talent everyone recognised, conversely—and perhaps precisely for that reason—he appears to have been someone who inspired in many people a sense of familiarity rather than exceptionality.

It is perhaps for this reason that his glory and his tragedy are felt all the more keenly by the many people engaged in architectural design.

In the understanding of the history of modern and contemporary architecture, because the presence of so-called modern architecture has become too dominant, the connection between the period preceding it and the present day appears tenuous, and what can only be described as a rupture seems to persist to this day. Moreover, this appears to have permeated our consciousness deeply without our awareness.

It goes without saying that modern architecture is not, in its essence, a “style without style” that finally emerged after all stylistic transitions had concluded, but should rather be nothing more than one style among the stylistic transitions that have recurred since antiquity.

The era in which Jujol lived was still an era in which history lived within architecture. Jujol was an architect belonging to the final days of Modernisme, and after him came in rapid succession the architects of GATEPAC led by Sert, who participated directly in the modern architecture movement, followed by architects such as De la Sota, Coderch, and Bohigas, and contemporary Catalan architects beginning with Miralles. They themselves will have considered themselves the successors of Gaudí and Jujol.

In the course of the research on Jujol, it appeared that there were few points that belonged entirely to past history, and that there existed many points that connect directly with the present. Through this research on Jujol, I feel that we have been able to identify one of the vantage points from which to look back upon the history of Western architecture from the present, traversing modern architecture.