The industrial heritage as text and pretext for contemporary architecture

ABSTRACT

The recovery of industrial heritage poses design challenges that are not always easy to solve. In many cases, it remains as a meaningless skeleton, unrelated to the urban life of today's metropolises The work describes the recovery of the old Mediodía power plant of Madrid, in the so-called golden triangle of art identified by the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum the national museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Its recovery and transformation in CaixaForumMadrid by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have meant a milestone in modern architecture in the city. The intervention is a term of reference for the recovery of the building heritage, demonstrating how the need for pre-existence protection may become a pretext for contemporary architecture. The use of contemporary construction technologies and materials has preserved the original beauty of the heavy solid brick facades and has detaches the construction from the ground in apparent defiance of the laws of gravity. The former power station has once again become one of the city's most popular sites, attracting tourists and visitors alike for the impressive architecture of the converted building and the many exhibitions and cultural events that take place there.

KEYWORDS:

• Industrial heritage
• Mediodía power plant
• Northern England's industrial architecture
• CaixaForum Madrid
• solid brick masonry
• Corten steel

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 L. Munford, 5. Fabrica, Ferrocarril y Tugurio. La ciudad en la Historia (Logroño: Pepitas de calabaza, 2012).

2 I. Aguilar, 'Industrialització i Arquitectura' (Actas del I Congreso de Arqueologia industrial del Pais Valenciá, Diputació de Valencia, Spain, 1991), 93–119.

3 J. Schoelf, A Short History of Manchester. The Rise and fall of Cottonopolis (2018). https://confdentials.com/Manchester (accessed June 22, 2020).

4 I. Casado Galván, 'La arquitectura de la industrialización'. Contribuciones a las Ciencias Sociales, dic.2009. www.eumed.net/rev/cccss/06/icg9.htm.

5 'La Electicidad cambió el mundo'. Getafe, Madrid 2013. Ximénez Herráiz. Universidad Carlos III Tesis.

6 Modesto López Otero. Vida y Obra Archivo UPM Digital (accessed June 24, 2020).

7 J.R. Alonso Pereira, Vanguardias y Experimentalismo, 232. Introducción a la Historia de la Arquitectura. (Barcelona: Editorial Reverté, 2005). 'Arquitectura Industrial'. Catalogo Atrium.eus (accessed July 15, 2020).

8 Caixa Forum Fundation. Madrid. www.caixaforum proyects and newconcepts (accessed July 29, 2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luis Manuel Palmero Iglesias

Luis Manuel Palmero Iglesias is professor in charge of the Construction I course in the Department of Architectural Constructions at the School of Architecture and the School of Building Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain. His academic career has been multidisciplinary, earning the Bachelor of Fine Arts and, later a PhD in Architecture at the University of Florence with a thesis about Modern Architecture that had obtained an international mention and a thesis prize. He has been Director of the UNESCO University and Heritage Chair at the Universitat Politècnica de València, so he has developed significant international experience and has participated in different European Programmes. His research activity focuses on areas related to intervention in architectural heritage, such as the reuse of buildings, study in the historical field and the compatibility of new materials with existing ones. In 2015, he founded and edits the scientific journal Vitruvio International Journal of Architecture Technology and Sustainability which contributes to the dissemination of research activity with a view to sustainability and energy saving.

Graziella Bernardo

Graziella Bernardo is professor of Materials for Architecture and Materials for Restoration at the five-year degree in Architecture of the Department of European Cultures and Mediterranean of the University of Basilicata (Matera, Italy). In 1996, she graduated with honors in Environmental and Territorial Engineering from the University of Basilicata. In 2000, she obtained her PhD in Science and technology of minerals and industrial by-products at the University of Sassari (Italy). The research activity is currently focused on two main themes: innovative materials and methodologies for restoration; sustainable and resilient building technologies. The first one aims at developing innovative methodologies for the conservation and restoration of artefacts of historical and artistic interest able to guarantee the effectiveness of interventions and their duration over time with reduced impacts on the environment and on the health and safety of operators. The second one promotes sustainable development through the implementation of resilient construction technologies to reduce the damage caused by catastrophic events and promote the use of recyclable materials obtained from local raw materials. She is co-author of several publications, most of them in peer-reviewed international journals and international congress proceedings.