Last Thursday, Begoña and I through the kindly proposal of a good friend of mine that is an architect and in company of two other friends also architects, had the opportunity to visit the Hellscraper (“RascaInfiernos” in Spanish), the famous Cave House located seven meters below ground designed in 1972 by Fernando Higueras to be his home and nowadays the seat of the Foundation that has his name. We were fortunate to had the presence of Lola Botia, president of the Foundation and Fernando’s sentimental partner during most of his professional career.
Fernando Higueras. (Madrid, 1930-2008). Architect by the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, finishing in 1959. This year, he gets an honorable mention in the National Architecture Awards for the Children’s Theatre. In 1960 he gets again an honorable mention in the National Architecture Awards with the 10 artist residencies in Monte del Pardo. In 1961 he gets the first prize in the same Awards for the Center for Restoration of Madrid. In 1965 he was commissioned the project along with Antonio Miró. In 1967, he was commissioned the military housing in Madrid. In 1969, Fernando was invited to a Restricted International Competition for 11 architects from around the world for the multipurpose building in Monte Carlo. In 1973, he was commissioned the Las Salinas Hotel in Lanzarote. Fernando Higueras was National Prize of Watercolor and a great guitarist, Andres Segovia gave him the Siena Fellowship in 1954. In 1962 he projected both the Lucio Muñoz House and the Estudio school in Aravaca. Part of Higuera’s work is exhibited at the MoMA in NYC, being the first Spanish architect exhibited in this museum. (Source: Metalocus)
For those who, like me, have not heard before the name of Fernando Higueras you may check here his entry in Wikipedia.
To keep on reading about his house click here.
I would like to thanks Lola and my friends for their company during our visit.
A Crime is Afoot 