Critical Mediterranean regionalism is a theoretical and design proposal that seeks to reconcile Mediterranean territorial identity with a critical attitude towards globalisation, academic tradition and the commodification of the landscape. Far from being reduced to formal nostalgia or a folkloric repetition of vernacular motifs, this approach is based on recognition of the climatic, cultural and material context of the Mediterranean, but with an open, reflective and transformative attitude.
It is part of the legacy of Kenneth Frampton’s critical regionalism, but nuances its material, sensory and symbolic implications from the Mediterranean experience. Thus, it is not only a question of resisting the homogenisation of international architecture, but also of actively reinterpreting local conditions – such as light, wind, proximity to nature, traditional construction systems or the relationship with public space – from a contemporary perspective. This regionalism emphasises the atmospheric and perceptual dimension of space, the continuity between interior and exterior, the use of local materials and the relationship with collective memory, but without falling into mimetic aesthetics.
From this perspective, the concept is closely linked to the ethics of place and understands architecture as a form of responsibility towards the landscape, resources and community. The author advocates architecture that can dialogue with the past without becoming stagnant, that listens to the rhythms of the natural and cultural environment, and that attends to both environmental comfort and the symbolic significance of inhabited spaces.
This itinerary aims to be an example of a series of multi-family buildings that were constructed in Barcelona during the 1950s and 1960s and that share this attitude. The selection criteria are based on the observation and study of all the projects carried out during those years by the leading architects of the period, especially those of Grup R. Those considered to have best adapted the critical regionalist approach have been chosen. This does not mean that they are the only critical regionalist projects in the city, but rather that they constitute an example that allows us to establish a method for identifying other buildings with similar characteristics.
Their situation depends on whether it is a residential building intended for the middle class or for the working class, which are the two most common types of housing during the period in question. In the case of housing for the bourgeoisie, in most cases these were private developments carried out cooperatively by small groups of owners, while in the case of social housing, the developments were built either by employers for their workers, by governments for their civil servants (on limited incomes), or by municipal boards.
In short, this route aims to highlight this architectural way of understanding space, which is still relevant today and allows projects to be conceived from a rooted perspective and, at the same time, from a contemporary one. The route seeks to promote a situated, sensitive and conscious design that embraces the complexity of the Mediterranean region as a creative opportunity rather than a limitation.
