Lilly Reich and the Barcelona Pavilion
Although Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich worked together on the German Pavilion for the International Exposition, which was inaugurated in the Plaza de las Bellas Artes in Barcelona in 1929, until recently the full scope of Lilly Reich's contributions have not been recognized.
The Barcelona Pavilion was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. After the exhibition closed, the pavilion was disassembled in 1930. It was reconstructed and re-opened on the original site in 1986 with the support of architect Oriol Bohigas.
Laura Martínez de Guereñu's article examines in detail the construction of the pavilion to show the collaboration betwen Mies van der Rohe and Reich, who was a professor at the Bauhaus and director of her own interior design studio.
It also reveals how, in scope, ambition and authorship, the work developed in the pavilion interiors has not been considered to be proper architecture, while the pavilion has emerged as a pure and autonomous work of architecture, even though it was a single commission in its origin, conception and full development.
Laura Martínez de Guereñu was the inaugural recipient of the Lilly Reich Grant from Equality in Architecture in 2018.
Why this research matters: The work and legacy of Lilly Reich as the professional and artistic partner of Mies van der Rohe has not been properly acknowledged in the history of architecture. The article highlights how many women architects are overshadowed by a system that has focused on male "starquitects" and undermined the important contributions of interior design.
Details of the research were also published in an article by Begoña Gómez Urzaiz in El País: "‘El síndrome Lilly Reich’ o cómo se invisibiliza a las mujeres en la arquitectura", which can be read here [in Spanish]
Access the journal article in full here.
Citation: Laura Martínez de Guereñu, “German Pavilion/German Exhibits: An Almost Forgotten Episode in the History of Modern Architecture,” in Grey Room (2021) (84): 38–63.