The urban planning and architecture of Masó in S'Agaró, collected in the centenary book

Monday, May 13, 2024

The book includes numerous unpublished drawings and photographs of the architect's last major project.

S’Agaró 1924-2024. Architecture, culture, tourism and glamor on the Costa Brava" is a volume of 352 pages with an exhaustive collection of the history and characters that have marked the first century of this urbanization on the Costa Brava, designed by Rafael Masó and promoted by businessman Josep Ensesa from the construction of the first chalet, Senya Blanca, opened in 1924.

Divided into seven chapters, the book is a profusely illustrated tour with archival and current images, many previously unpublished. The first chapters, written by Jordi Falgàs, director of the Rafael Masó Foundation, are dedicated to the Ensesa family and the birth of S'Agaró, the preliminary designs and the urbanization project of Rafael Masó, the nineteenth-century garden city and the first villas, the first Hostal de La Gavina, the S'Agaró School and the S'Agaró Hotel, the Sant Pol Baths and tourist promotion, the years of the Civil War and the architects who worked in S'Agaró after Mason, like Francesc Folguera, Adolf Florensa and Lluís Sibils.

The second part of the book, written by the journalist Sebastià Roig, talks about the revival and the international projection of S'Agaró after the war, with chapters dedicated to tourism, festivals and sports, the cultural activity of music festivals and fashion, the stays of different writers, S'Agaró's relationship with cinema and television, and also events related to politics and the economy.

The book is available in two editions, Catalan/English and Spanish/French, and has been published by Úrsula Llibres with the collaboration of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Diputació de Girona, the Ajuntament de Castell d'Aro, Platja d'Aro and S'Agaró, the S'Agaró 100 association and the Rafael Masó Foundation.

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