Antonio Bonet Biography
Antonio Bonet Castellana, born in Barcelona in 1913, was a Catalan architect, urban planner and designer, resident for most of his life in Río de la Plata (Argentina). Bonet drew his education from two main sources: on the one hand, the teachings received at the University and, on the other, the professional collaboration established with J. Lluis Sert, which led to the foundation in 1930 of GATPAC, the Catalan Modernist Movement . In 1935, Bonet became a collaborator of the Catalan architects Jose Luis Sert and Torres Clavé and a member of GATPAC until 1935. During this period, Bonet worked on projects of Roca jewelry, houses in Garraf, an asylum and the MIDVA stand, for which won first prize at the Barcelona Decorators Show. In 1933 he took part in the historic cruise aboard the Patris II, which took him to Athens, where he took part in the drafting of the Charter of Athens, a fundamental conference for the architectural culture of the 20th century, during which the functions of the living, working, resting and circulation as fundamental elements for urban development. During this same trip, Bonet had the opportunity to meet Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto.
In 1936, immediately after completing his architectural studies, he moved to Paris to work in Le Corbusier's studio. At Le Corbusier's studio, Bonet designed the residence built at the master's request, the Maison Jaoul. Furthermore, he designed the main building for the Liège International Exhibition, the Water Pavilion. With this work, Bonet incorporated surrealist ideas within the functionalist architecture of the time, one of the defining aspects of his later work. In 1937, at the Paris International Exhibition, Le Corbusier presented the Pavilion Des Temps Nouveaux, on which Bonet collaborated together with Sert for the creation of the Spanish Pavilion. The symbolic character of this construction was fundamental, responding to the concept of unity sought in that historical moment and connecting the different works of Spanish artists on display such as Miró, Calder and Picasso, integrating them into the architecture. During his time in Le Corbusier's studio, Bonet met two young Argentine architects: Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy. The prospect of imminent war, combined with the birth of these new friendships, pushed Bonet to move to Argentina in 1938.
Once there, together with Kurchan and Ferrari, he formed the Austral Group, which became the first point of reference for Argentine modern architecture, spreading the fundamental ideas of the modernist movement and offering in-depth criticism. They decided to study and propose solutions to the country's urban planning problems. In June 1939, they published the Group's manifesto entitled "Will and Action", in which they defended the integration of some values of surrealism within the rationalist training of architects and incorporated the psychological needs of the individual into the rigorous functionalism of the modern movement . This manifesto expressed Bonet's position towards architecture and his commitment to trying to establish continuity with the landscape, techniques and materials of each area. Bonet was in harmony with the suggestive and imaginative aspects manifested in the formal solutions and approach to spatial situations. For example, the feeling of anomaly created by the support of heavy structures by columns that give the impression of being diluted: Casa Oks (1955), La Ricarda (1953) and Castanera (1964). He also used the pressure of heavy concrete structures supported at low heights, as in the Terraza Palace building (1957), the Silver Sea or the Torre del Barrio Pedralpes in Barcelona (1973). He tried to introduce the values of surrealism in the context of rationalism, paying particular attention to individual psychology. He demonstrated great interest in establishing integration with the landscape and local traditions, introducing formal freedom without abandoning the functionalist character.
