An unknown aspect of Josep Lluís Sert (Barcelona, 1902–1983) is his deep engagement with Christian spirituality, particularly following his American exile. This perspective is beautifully reflected in his religious-themed projects, among which historiography has highlighted the church of Puerto Ordaz (Venezuela, 1951), the Chapel of St. Botolph (Boston, 1963–1968), and the Carmel de la Paix Chapel (Mazille, 1967–1972), designed, respectively, before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council. Using these three well-known projects as a starting point, our aim is to expand the discussion around this topic to encompass the entirety of Sert’s sacred architecture. The contributions of Sert to the design of modern religious architecture are analyzed in this study, firstly through the distinctive aspects of his architecture, such as its urban scale and interactions between various plastic arts, and secondly through his theological references. This study is based on Sert’s original drawings, as well as specific bibliographic sources and articles from specialized journals. At the same time, it seeks to highlight an aspect of the architect that, despite the significance and brilliance of his designs, has received little attention until now.

After the Spanish Civil War, the shortage of building materials in the country and the restrictions imposed by the Dirección General de Arquitectura limited the use of steel in construction, encouraging solutions that reduced the consumption of this material. In this context, the thin-tile vault gained new relevance due to its low cost, speed of execution and good structural and fire performance. Among the architects who revisited this system, Ignasi Bosch Reitg (1910–1985) developed an innovative procedure for the construction of continuous ceilings, based on double-curved vaults with a single layer of brick. His cousin, Josep Maria Bosch Aymerich (1917–2015), an industrial engineer and architect trained in the United States, brought a business vision to the table when he discovered the potential of this system. This paper proposes an in-depth study of the patents requested on this system by the two architects, questioning the reasons for their success or failure in different countries, both in terms of dissemination and exploitation, in regard to the historical context in which it was developed. The analysis, based on original documents from the Bosch Aymerich Archive, uncovers the tensions that the reinterpretation and global projection of a traditional technique can generate.

La Ilustración Española y Americana (1869–1921) fue la revista ilustrada por excelencia en el siglo XIX en España. En sus páginas, como en las de su género publicadas en Europa, se incluyeron grabados y, más tarde, reproducciones fotomecánicas de los eventos más relevantes, los últimos descubrimientos científicos y el arte y la arquitectura nacional y extranjera. Entre sus estrategias de información gráfica, destacaron láminas que reunían vistas de un evento formando una composición, también empleadas para describir edificios y ciudades. Con el análisis de diferentes ejemplos extraídos de sus páginas, se observará cómo estas composiciones, que adquirían algunas características de la ‘imagen secuencial’, fueron relevantes en la representación de arquitectura ante el gran público; permitiendo al lector decimonónico recorrer visualmente espacios arquitectónicos complejos y formar una idea general de ellos con solo mirar.

This article presents an exercise carried out with first-year Architecture students focused on a complex geometric shape: minimal surfaces. It explains the development of the exercises, which combine mathematical and geometric knowledge with hands-on experimentation and the creative application of what has been studied. In this case, soap bubbles, created with a soapy solution, are used to gain an intuitive understanding of minimal surfaces. At the same time, it takes the opportunity to join the debate on the use of manual, digital, and three-dimensional graphic tools in the early education of an architecture student. Este artículo presenta un ejercicio que se ha realizado con alumnos del primer curso del grado en Arquitectura acerca de una forma geométrica compleja: las superficies mínimas. Explica el desarrollo de los ejercicios, en los que se combina el conocimiento matemático y geométrico con la experimentación manual y con la aplicación creativa de lo estudiado. En este caso, se utilizan para el conocimiento intuitivo de las superficies mínimas la creación de pompas de jabón gracias a una solución jabonosa. A la vez, aprovecha esta oportunidad para unirse al debate sobre el uso de las herramientas gráficas manuales, informáticas y tridimensionales en la educación inicial de un estudiante de arquitectura.

This study examines the influence of the bishop’s and canons’ knowledge on the design of the presbytery’s keystones in Tortosa Cathedral, which has been governed by the Beati Augustini rule since 1155. The iconography representing the Coronation of the Virgin (1439) constitutes a recurring theme in medieval architecture and is closely linked to references found in manuscript illumination starting from the late 12th century. The presence of thirty-two works by Augustine of Hippo in the Cathedral’s Chapter Archives allows for a comparative methodology between the iconographic analysis of the Coronation of the Virgin and the study of the liturgical space through Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). It is concluded that the metrology of the keystone is established based on the symbolic numbers 10 and 100 from the De Civitate Dei codices, and the number 150 from Augustine of Hippo’s De Supra Psalterium. Alongside this Augustinian foundation, both the iconography and the act of setting the keystone are enriched by the numerous codices related to the Summa Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine.