Durana: the complexity of an elemental villa. A syncretic exercise by Oíza in Fernando Gómez house

Abstract

The Fernando Gómez house (Durana, Álava, 1959-60) represents a turning point in the career of Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza, both from a personal and pro fessional point of view. A house that is born from an elementary idea – the refuge – in which the architect abandons the previous modern orthodoxy developed in the 50s and where explores a path that, beyond organic theories, suggests that architecture has to be a complex organism, alive, that arises from conciliating opposing attitudes, of uniting ‘the one and the other’, attending to Venturi’s both and phenomenon. Although there is unanimity in placing this work as a key piece of his career, it has hardly been studied in depth. With this research we want to cover this gap, pro posing a detailed study from a series of interpretations of complexity, thus verifying the hypothesis of understanding Durana as an exercise of syncretism between the cave and the tent, between open and closed spaces, between modernism and tradition, or between the city and the landscape. In its ambiguity lies its valuable contribution to the Spanish twentieth century domestic architecture.