If… You Can Dream and Not Make Dreams Your Master: La Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid

Abstract

The Residencia de Estudiantes is a milestone in the history of modern Spanish culture, not only because of its prominent residents and guest lecturers (Einstein and Keynes, Le Corbusier and Gropius among many others), but also because of its architecture and urban design, developed by the architect Antonio Flórez Urdapilleta since 1910.

The project (which is basically a residential complex for students) was deeply influenced by the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute for Education), a pedagogical mission based on nineteenth-century liberalism and laicism. Flórez himself had been educated by the Institute, and translated its ideals of freedom, openness, health and austerity into architectural forms. Furthermore, Flórez’s Residencia anticipated some of the concepts related to modern urban design, like the importance of landscape and open space.