Oviedo, 14 -17 April 2010
The Factory as a Paradigm of Modernity
Scientific Committee: Miguel Ángel Álvarez Areces, Celestino García Braña, Panayotis Tournikiotis, João Vieira Caldas
Venue: Facultad de Geológicas, Oviedo
The aim of this International Seminar is to reflect on the influence of technology on the emergence of modern-movement architecture and on the new view that would lead to change in the interpretations of all artistic experiences.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) initiated a line of thought which was inevitably destined to develop: that of the world of science as the object of philosophical reflection. At the same time, scientific and technical progress would consolidate, in practice, a new change in the interpretative values of Western culture.
In opposition to the world of nature that of the device would become consolidated, governed by the laws of technology, which would develop fully inside new architectural artefacts practically unknown until the nineteenth century. The factory, as a new architectural type, had come into being.
It would be in the factory, as a new expression of construction, that architecture developed one of the most speci c manifestations of modernity, quickly travelling the distance that separated the steam engine from full industrialisation.
And not only architects, but also painters, sculptors, photographers and composers found in the world of technology and its container, the factory, a motive of inspiration and reflection on the scope of their respective artistic experiences. The film world, too, became trapped by its irrepressible lure, as Charles Chaplin ironically expressed in Modern Times.
In the construction of the factory new building techniques were developed as the expression of its utilitarian needs as well as of materials that had recently become available. Poets devoted many hours to its interpretation, while painters and sculptors modelled forms and used hitherto unknown expressive resources in an attempt to decipher the symbolism of technology.
The fascination that the factory generated has reached the present day. Its past splendour, now largely reduced to ruins, continues to attract our eye: having become thoroughly obsolete, factories nonetheless tell us not only of our past but also of some of the most meaningful concerns of our present. We project our gaze onto their ruins with deep nostalgia, melancholy and uncertainty, to the point where we are prepared to prolong their existence beyond their original use, now expired, to discover their new possibilities as leisure and cultural premises.
Reflect on your past reality and its potential for the future is thus the goal of the convening of this International Seminar. To order the Seminar, specifying the intent of lectures and conferences and taking into account the place of its conclusion, it is proposed to organize the whole of the work from a sectoral perspective. These take into account not only individual buildings but also its territorial integration, an issue that we consider crucial in order to assess both its architectural merits as intervention operations on them can be made. In this sense, we propose to confine the work, in addition to general reflections on, two specific productive sectors: coal-steel and Energy (thermal and hydro).
Lectures and papers
Aunar arte y técnica: la belleza de la máquina/Uniting Art and Technique: The Machine’s Beauty, Ana Tostões, Instituto Superior Técnico, Presidenta, DOCOMOMO Internacional
La fábrica, paradigma de la modernidad, Celestino García Braña, Vicepresidente, Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico
La máquina, la industria y la arquitectura moderna/The Machine, Industry and Modern Architecture, Panayotis Tournikiotis, Universidad Técnica Nacional de Atenas (NTUA), Presidente ISC/R, DOCOMOMO International Specialist Committee on Registers (Comité Internacional de Especialistas en Registros)
La industria del acero – A indústria do aço – The steel industry
Posibilidades de desarrollo del turismo industrial en Rusia y en la región de los Urales/Development prospects of industrial tourism in Russia And in Ural Region, Vladímir Zaparij, USTU-UPI, Ekaterimburgo, Rusia
Conjuntos siderúrgicos y mineros en Asturias. Determinantes y paradojas en su valor patrimonial, Miguel Ángel Álvarez Areces, Presidente de TICCIH-España (Comité Internacional para la Conservación del Patrimonio Industrial) y de INCUNA (Industria, Cultura y Naturaleza)
Zeche Zollverein. Un patrimonio y un paisaje industrial de gran importancia, Kirsten Schomakers, Agence Ter
O modernismo fabril do ABC paulista, Miguel Antônio Buzzar, Lucia Noemia Simoni y Maísa Fonseca de Almeida, Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos. Universidade de São Paulo
Acciones conceptuales en el paisaje industrial andaluz en su tratamiento como paisaje cultural: un proyecto de investigación, María Isabel Alba Dorado, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Sevilla
La Fábrica en el País de las Maravillas, Julián Sobrino Simal, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Sevilla
La industria siderúrgica de Sagunto, Vicente Blanca Giménez, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia
La factoría del aluminio ibérico: maquinaria de la metrópoli, Andrés Martínez Medina, Justo Oliva Meyer y José Luis Oliver Ramírez, Universidad de Alicante
Estructuras maquinales que fabrican emplazamientos, Aarón J. Caballero Quiroz, Universidad Metropolitana, Unidad Cuajimalpa, México
Fábricas modernas, rehabilitaciones contemporáneas, Stella Maris Casal, Universidad de Buenos Aires y DOCOMOMO Argentina
El polo de desarrollo de A Coruña como emblema de la modernidad en la arquitectura de Galicia, José Ramón Alonso Pereira, ETS Arquitectura, Universidad de A Coruña
La arquitectura industrial contemporánea en Asturias, Alfonso Toribio
La producción de energía – A produçao de energia – Energy production
Paisajes de agua y energía en Asturias, Patricia Hernández-Lamas, arquitecta y Miguel Aguiló, ingeniero de caminos, Fundación Miguel Aguiló, Caminos-UPM, G.I. Paisajes Culturales, Cluster Patrimonio-CEI Moncloa
Modernidade e circunstância, Sergio Fernandes, Instituto Superior Técnico
Sueños eléctricos y elefantes de vapor. El patrimonio onírico de la modernidad en la producción hidroeléctrica de Andalucía, Plácido González Martínez y Marta Santofimia Albiñana, Instituto Andaluz de Patrimonio Histórico. Centro de Documentación y Estudios
Técnica y estética: las centrales térmicas del ingeniero italiano Riccardo Morandi (1902-1989)/Technical and aesthetic: thermoelectric power plants by Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi (1902-1989), Marzia Marandola, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”
Sostener las industrias/Sustaining Industries, Nina Rappaport, Yale School of Architecture, Docomomo New York/Tri-State
Gaetano Minnucci: tres centrales hidroeléctricas en el Tíber, Carlos Quevedo Rojas, Scuola di specializzazione in restauro dei monumenti. Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza
As “Grandes Obras” Hidroelétricas na Angola colonial (1954-1974) — arquitetura e território, José Manuel Fernandes, Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa
Uma empresa feita cidade, Maria de Fátima Alves Sales, Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo CEAA, Porto
La energía de posguerra en los Países Bajos/Postwar power plants in The Netherlands, Marieke Kuipers, Delft University of Technology/ Fac. Architecture/R-MIT, Netherlands Agency for Cultural Heritage/ Section Knowledge of Built Heritage
El paisaje de la electricidad en Aragón. La Electrometalúrgica delEbro en Sástago (Zaragoza), María Pilar Biel Ibáñez, Departamento de Historia del Arte, Universidad de Zaragoza
Poner a trabajar a la naturaleza. Compañía eléctrica Mengemor: el sueño de navegabilidad del Guadalquivir y la presa hidroeléctrica del río Jándula, Alfonso Montilla Soto, M. ARquitectura
Los paisajes del agua y la energía en el Duero/Douro, Gregorio Vázquez Justel, PLANZ Planeamiento Urbanístico SLP
Ronchamp en vertido libre. La presa compacta de Gaitanejo, 1920-1927, Eduard Callís Freixas, Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña
Centrales termoeléctricas en los Países Bajos. Tres ejemplos en los años de la reconstrucción, Rafael García García, Departamento de Composición Arquitectónica de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Hidroeléctrica do Cávado 1945-1964. Processos de electrificação da paisagem, César Machado Moreira, Universidade Lusiada
