Margarita Brender Rubira

Margarita Brender Rubira (1919-2000) was a Romanian-born architect, the first woman architect in Catalonia.

Margarita Brender Rubira
Born4 July 1919[1]
Craiova, Romania
Died11 February 2000[1]
Castellon, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Alma materBarcelona School of Architecture
OccupationArchitect
ProjectsEl Prat de Llobregat

Life

Margarita Brender Rubira was born in 1919 in Romania, and studied architecture in Romania. When Barcelona's School of Architecture, the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona, endorsed her architectural degree in 1962, she became the first woman architect in Catalonia.[2][3] She became the only woman member of the Architects' Association of Catalonia (the Colegio de Arquitectos de Cataluña or COAC) in 1962, and for many years was the only practicing woman architect in the Province of Barcelona.[4]

In a 6 November 1962 interview to La Prensa (a Barcelona newspaper), she stated that "architects have a great responsibility for the influence that their works exert on people's lives, as it is up to you to make or not make houses that are real shelters, real resting places, that contribute to the nation's physical health and morale".[1]

Beginning in 1966, Brender was one of a team of three architects working on a modern 346-apartment complex to replace a fabric factory in the Can Mercader region of Badalona.[5][6] According to a review of the project in 2018, "Can Mercader is an example taken from the context of functionalist architecture, almost in a tropical style in which green breaks through the concrete."[6]

Her solo designs were included in annual summaries published by the architecture journal Cuaderns in 1969 and 1970. The 1969 issue featured a page about an apartment block on the Costa Brava. According to the COAC, "The hand-drawn layout and perspective display a deft handling of modules that gives the whole complex an organic appearance, a direct legacy of the Can Mercader district."[5] The 1970 issue included a page about Brender's design for luxury apartments in Prat de Llobregat.[5]

According to an article about her published in 2017 by the Republican Youth of Catalonia (JERC),

She defended an avant-garde style of architecture, where the design of the spaces has a qualitative impact on improving the lives of the people who inhabit it. Throughout her career she gave great importance to the integration between architecture and nature. She believed that every room should be able to see the sky. She often regretted the limitations of urban policy that did not allow for the breadth of spaces such as she considered fair, timely, and necessary.[7]

She died 11 February 2000.[1]

References
  1. "Margarita Brender, la primera col·legiada" [Margarita Brender, the first collegiate.] (PDF). Dones (in Catalan). Barcelona. 2004. Retrieved 19 July 2020. Brender considerava que 'les obres arquitectòniques poden arribar a canviar els costums i la vida de les persones,' segons explica en una entrevista publicada pel diari La Prensa, el 6 de novembre de 1962. A l'entrevista afirma que 'els arquitectes tenen una gran responsabilitat per la influència que les seves obres exerceixen sobre la vida de les persones, ja que està a la seva mà fer o no cases que siguin veritables refugis, veritables llocs de descans, que contribueixin a la salut física i moral de la nació ( en: Brender considers that "architectural works can change people's habits and lives", as she explains in an interview published by the newspaper La Prensa, on November 6, 1962. In the interview she states that 'architects have a great responsibility for the influence that their works exert on people's lives, as it is up to you to make or not make houses that are real shelters, real resting places, that contribute to the nation's physical health and morale.')
  2. "Margarita Brender Rubira" (PDF) (in Catalan). Institut Català de les Dones. Retrieved 17 October 2015. Va estudiar arquitectura a Romania, però l'any 1962 l'Escola Tècnica Superior de Barcelona li va convalidar la titulació. D'aquesta manera va esdevenir la primera dona arquitecta a Catalunya (She studied architecture in Romania, but in 1962 the Barcelona Technical College validated her degree. In this way she became the first woman architect in Catalonia)
  3. García, Ana María Fernández (15 August 2016). Women. Architecture & Design Itineraries across Europe | Architectural Studies in Spain. MoMoWo. p. 44. ISBN 9789612549060. Retrieved 24 July 2020. In Barcelona, the first architect in the Higher Technical School of Architecture was Margarita Brender Rubira in 1962, who actually recognized a degree she had already completed.
  4. Fernández García, Ana María (2016). "Architectural Studies in Spain". In Levi Sacerdotti, Sara; Seražin, Helena; Garda, Emilia; Franchini, Caterina (eds.). MoMoWo. Women. Architecture & Design Itineraries across Europe. Liubliana: MoMoWo. ISBN 9789612549060.
  5. "Margarita Brender, one of the pioneering architects of 1960s Spain". COAC (Architects’ Association of Catalonia). 7 December 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2020. The Architects' Association of Catalonia commemorates International Women's Day with a tribute to the first female architect to become a member: Margarita Brender Rubira (1919-2000).
  6. Minguela, Elena (12 September 2018). "The eternal modernity of concrete: Can Mercader in Badalona". MyBarrio.es. Retrieved 22 July 2020. Can Mercader is signed by Barba Corsini in collaboration with Margarita Brender Rubira and Joan Antoni Padrós Galera. Which is already a milestone: in the year of the start of construction, Brender was the only collegiate architect at the COAC
  7. "MARGARITA BRENDER i RUBIRA". JERC (Republican Youth of Catalonia). 8 March 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2020. Va defensar un estil d'arquitectura avantguardista, on el disseny dels espais incideix de manera qualitativa en una millora de la vida de les persones que l'habiten. Al llarg de la seva trajectòria professional va donar una gran importància a la integració entre l'arquitectura i la natura. Considerava que tota habitació hauria de permetre veure el cel lamentava sovint les limitacions de la política urbanística que no permetia una amplitud d'espais com la que ella considerava justa, oportuna i necessària.(Catalan)
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