‘Les Cotxeres’ was perhaps the strongest demonstration of Coderch’s conviction that quality urbanism must have its origins in an architectural concept that is also of high quality. These two stairs are joined in a particularly convincing way in the indented setback of ‘Les Cotxeres’ floor. Firstly, in the resulting block in plan and section, and secondly in terms of the modulated microspace of each home’s interior. Antifrontal by definition, ‘Les Cotxeres’ reaffirms itself as a new urban paradigm that is able to intervene between the suburban middle-class ideal of detached houses with gardens and the traditional urban form of a continuous terrace that defines the street. In this case, the street is subtly supported by a plinth that completes the block located one meter above the level of the sidewalk. This plinth, which contains the underground car park below, forms the grounds of a community garden that embraces each of the residential units – a set of seven floor blocks – as if it were the backbone of the whole complex. In a way, ‘Les Cotxeres’ might seem like an adaptation of the boulevards à redans by Eugène Hénard from 1910, since, while subverting the corridor street, the Hénard’s secluded block still maintained, however, the continuity of the avenue.
Three aspects deserve our attention as we move from the block’s configuration to the spatial articulation of the dwellings. Firstly, the ergonomic way in which the interior space unfolds when one passes from the entrance hall to the living/dining room sequence and to the concatenation of stepped rooms that open in a jagged sequence towards the street. Secondly, the fact that each bedroom has its own balcony to grow plants. And thirdly and most crucial of all from the point of view of its social accessibility, the coating of the entire surface with a precise brickwork. All these attributes bear witness to the continued validity of Coderch’s bucolic approach, amid all the vain and spectacular confusions that attend our contemporary era.
