The city of Madrid can be seen as a representative place of all the architectural styles found on the European continent. Renaissance buildings from the 16th century and Baroque buildings from the 18th century coexist in harmony with more modern architectural styles such as Art Deco or the expressive contemporary architecture of recent years. Iconic contemporary architecture firms such as Herzog & de Meuron and Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners, with projects such as the BBVA Headquarters and the Madrid-Barajas Airport Terminal, have also contributed to define the architectural character of Madrid, creating a city with a great diversity and distinct urban landscapes.
However, the Spanish capital's link to another architectural style - brutalism - is less evident in architectural conversations about the city, and photographer Roberto Conte's series explores brutalist architecture in the context of Madrid. Documenting the buildings on a trip to the city in 2020, Conte's photographs reveal the presence of striking concrete buildings that feature a combination of rectilinear and curved shapes, most of them constructed between the 1960s and 1980s, as he Spain was gradually moving away from the Franco regime. to become a democratic state. That period saw the rise of Spanish architects such as Fernando Higueras Díaz and Antonio Miró Valverde, whose brutalist works are far from simple, with an eclectic quality reminiscent of the postmodern movement.
The architectural duo - Díaz and Valverde - worked to design what is arguably the most iconic building of the Brutalist style in Spain, the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain, in 1964. Nicknamed the “Crown of Thorns” primarily for its distinctive skylights pyramidal that surround the upper part of the circular structure, the structure has four floors with a large central patio and five interior patios that house interior gardens. The project underwent significant alterations throughout the design process, and was only completed in 1990 after undergoing multiple renovations.
The duo also designed the exclusive Princesa Building in 1975, a residential military home in the University of Madrid neighborhood. Extremely deep balconies make up the expressive façade, with the rough and unfinished concrete finishes characteristic of Brutalism softened by the presence of vertical gardens and vegetated terraces, creating a concrete structure that belies its imposing scale.
Previously in the Spanish brutalist movement, the early 1960s also saw the maturation of the work of Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, part of a group of architects that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, at a time that saw rejection. unimaginative neoclassical style. which emerged after Franco took power in 1939. The Torres Blancas de Oiza building, designed in 1961, is a good example of the “organic” brutalism that characterized Oiza's architectural style. The concrete tower is 71 meters high and designed to resemble a tree, with the building's curved balconies grouped similarly to the leaves on the branches. The global influences at play are evident with the building, with the interlocking cylindrical shapes that make up the building's mass bearing a strong resemblance to the Japanese metabolistic structures of the 1960s.
Not limited to commercial and residential structures, brutalism in Spain also made its way into religious buildings, such as the evocative churches designed by Cecilio Sánchez-Robles Tarín and Miguel Fisac Serna. The Church of Santa Ana y la Esperanza, designed by Serna in 1965, echoes Le Corbusier's Ronchamp with its interior treatment, the altar that contains arched holes that are almost removed from the concrete wall. Tarín's Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Filipinas also has a similarity to Ronchamp: the interior of the church makes full use of creative openings to create a powerful and dramatic light presence.
In a city that is home to the famous medieval neighborhood of La Latina, seeing the significant presence of Brutalist structures in Madrid highlights the truly global influence of the Brutalist movement and shows how Spanish architects molded the architectural style into very unique urban forms.
Source: www.plataformaarquitectura.cl