Interview: César Ortiz Echagüe recalls

Abstract

The meteoric passage of César Ortiz-Echagüe and Rafael Echaide through Spanish architecture can be identified with the introduction of the American style into the professional panorama of our country. However, sixty years after the bulk of their work, their sensitivity to landscape and the natural environment is exemplary. This conversation also addresses pedagogical, disciplinary and work organisation issues that could be identified as a response to other little-known aspects of his work.

César Ortiz-Echagüe, who returned to Spain a few years ago after 40 years of absence - 9 in Rome, where he was ordained a priest by Saint John Paul II, and 31 in Germany - receives us in a simple and bright Opus Dei residence in the Madrid neighbourhood of Las Tablas, where he has lived since his arrival. He is 96 years old, but his mind is completely lucid. In his first comments, he tells us that he enjoys the relatively new neighbourhood because of the number of young families who live there. There are plenty of schools and, on his return, he was still able to help for a few years as a priest in one of these schools, promoted by members of Opus Dei.