Correspondences. Amancio Williams and Walter Gropius

Two architects for the German Embassy in Buenos Aires

Abstract

In 1968 the project of a residence for the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Buenos Aires, brought together Walter Gropius and Amancio Williams, prestigious figures representing two generations of modern architecture, convened for the joint development of the proposal. The experience, frustrated by political events in Argentina, caused an incident regarding the location of the future building, which was finally not built. Trapped in the conflict, by correspondence and with an exceptional visit of the German master, the architects produced different variants and a proposal that was achieved before the death of Gropius. The episode, crossed by multiple questions, allows an approach to the personalities of both of them through the reading of their letters, and to review the state of the situation towards the end of the long sixties: the Argentine political instability, the German diplomacy of the cold war, urban conflicts and architectural culture, were concentrated in a small square in Buenos Aires.