Abstract
The compromise between ideology and architecture or urban planning is not always univocal; sometimes surprising situations prove how complex this relationship is. This chapter presents two episodes linked to opposing political systems, the Spanish dictatorship and the Italian Republic, both developed in the post-war period. In this context, some innovative proposals carried out within the ‘Poblados dirigidos’ program in Madrid can be interpreted in parallel to some Italian neighbourhoods linked to the Neorealism movement. Far from representing obvious attitudes, surprisingly they seem politically interchangeable.
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Notes
- 1.
“[la arquitectura] eficaz bisturí para comenzar a desentrañar la situación mental de una determinada época”. Moneo, R. 1966. A la conquista de lo irracional. Arquitectura (Madrid) 87: 1.
- 2.
In 1949, the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) called an architectural competition for proposals for low-rental housing, following the ten-year anniversary of Franco’s government. The active participation by the architect Miguel Fisac contributed to activating a heated debate.
- 3.
José Fonseca, an expert on council and social housing, took over leadership of the INV in 1939. He was relieved from his post by Luis Valero Bermejo, who became the fundamental figure from the end of 1954 until 1958, (Sambricio 2003, 274–276).
- 4.
Julián Laguna headed it up from 1954 to 1958. The decision to transform the green belt foreseen in the Bidagor Plan in development land was down to him. His closeness to Franco and his far-sighted search for promising, young architects was crucial.
- 5.
That year, he launched three major housing plans: the Plan Nacional, the Plan Municipal and the Plan Sindical, (Sambricio 2003, 50–58).
- 6.
In the early 1950s, Laguna proposed creating eight new nuclei: Manoteras, Canillas, San Blas, Palomeras and Villaverde in 1950; Peñagrande, Vicálvaro and Carabanchel in 1953. These first eight poblados were approved by COUM in 1955 and were developed and built by the OSH and financed by the INV. Construction was covered by the decree of 1954 on social housing.
- 7.
In order to gradually integrate the immigrants from the countryside in the city, some poblados, such as Orcasitas, were rated as agricultural and had even a stable in each home. Naturally, speculation about these interventions took place, which concealed the strategy of freeing up the former slums to allow for growth of the city.
- 8.
The poblados dirigidos were covered by the Ley de Viviendas de Renta Limitada (Low-Rental Housing Law) of 1954, which afforded owners the change to pay up to 20% of the total price through a ‘personal service, i.e. in the form of working in the construction. The rest of the financing was an interest-free advance payment by the INV. The poblados dirigidos formally arose through a decree of 1957 and an order within the framework of the Plan de Urgencia Social (Social Urgency Plan) of Madrid.
- 9.
Seven poblados dirigidos were developed, most of them on land adjoining the poblados de absorción: Almendrales, by J. Carvajal, J.M. García de Paredes, R. Vázquez Molezún; Canillas, by L. Cubillo; Caño Roto, by J. L. Íñiguez de Onzoño and A. Vázquez de Castro; Entrevías, by J. Alvear, F.J. Sáenz de Oíza and M. Sierra; Fuencarral, by J. L. Romany; Manoteras, by M. Ambrós, M. García, E. García and E. Quereizaeta; and Orcasitas, by R. Leoz and J. Ruíz Hervás, (Sambricio 2003, 62–64).
- 10.
For example, the prefabricated cube by Antonio Goicoechea, the corrugated membrane of the Rafael de La-Hoz Arderius prefabricated houses, the adaptation of Dutch typologies and Anglo-Saxon and American models developed by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza in Entrevías.
- 11.
“(…) vengo de ver la Unidad de Habitación de Marsella que, como ejemplo de funcionalidad, es un desastre”. Boletín Informativo de la Dirección General de Arquitectura, April 1950, 15–18 and Revista Nacional de Arquitectura 109, January 1951, (Sambricio 2004, 363).
- 12.
The master plan, with two housing types, single-family houses and blocks, was designed by Luis Cubillo and Ramón Vázquez Molezún. 36 teams submitted proposals to the competition. Among the architects were Romany, Oíza, Cubillo, Cassinello, Colomina, and among the constructors, Helma S.A., Capel, Constructura San Martín, Constructora Asturiana S.A., etc. Since the end of the Civil War, housing competition had promoted construction of rural housing, focusing mainly on partial aspects of furniture or installations. Only in 1949, the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Barcelona and the Instituto Técnico de la Construcción put forward the problem of large-scale housing construction linked to construction problems (Sambricio 2004, 398–407).
- 13.
In two years, 85 developments were built with over 100 dwellings, 29 following the official initiative. Almost 48,000 dwellings were built by major developers, and slightly over 18,000 by small developers. Surprisingly, at no time did the plan debate what housing types should be, although it did define the kind of rental protection. The policy of quantity rather than quality was the result of the lack of thought on innovation that had taken place during 1954–57, (Sambricio 2004, 407–417).
- 14.
In the immediately post-war period, Roman and Milan were the two cities which catalysed the intellectual discourses that became the architecture’s engine. Among them, Neorealism can be identified as an entirely Roman phenomenon.
- 15.
Cinema, and the literature, sought to set down stories of everyday life, experienced in the first person by writers and readers, with clear, communicative language, rejecting tradition and exploiting the expressive possibilities of verism. In 1945, R. Rossellini started a movement with his film Roma città aperta that would be followed by other directors like L. Visconti (La terra trema, 1947) or V. de Sica (Ladri di biciclette, 1948). Literature, painting and architecture followed in the steps of cinema.
- 16.
“Strettamente legato alla difficile realtà del dopoguerra, il neorealismo aspira a inserire l’attività dell’architetto in un operante contesto sociale, nel rifiuto netto dei modi razionalisti, retenuti inadeguati a esprimere la realtà sociale del paese”. Enciclopedia dell’Architettura Garzanti. 1996. Milan: Garzanti.
- 17.
“(…) sentimentalismo scenografico, nella tentata rivalutazione dell’ambiente urbano, contro il romanticismo puritano della città giardino” (Quaroni 1957, 24–33).
- 18.
Parallel to this in Milan, in October 1945, a proposal by a group of students came to light, the “Scuola libera di architettura”, proposing a cycle of conferences and open debates in order to contribute to the “spiritual” and “moral” education of students.
- 19.
See “La costituzione per l’Associazione per l’Architettura Organica”, in Metron n. 2, 1945. Within this context, the APAO found its counterpoint in the MSA (Movimento Studi di Architettura) of Milan, an association of modern architects who were against academicism. Both were used as rallying calls, to boost renovation in Italian architecture, and led to true mobilisation of the more spirited minds.
- 20.
Cino Calcaprina, Eugenio Gentili, Luigi Piccinato, Silvio Radiconcini and Enrico Tedeschi accompanied Zevi in this editorial initiative. Another important magazine was “Comunità”, founded in Ivrea by Adriano Olivetti in 1946, with a more Mumfordian slant.
- 21.
Zevi was also involved in this initiative, thanks to his ties to the USA, returning with the liberating troops following the United States Information Service (USIS). Zevi managed to publish a manual with similar characteristics to those existing in the USA at the time. The “Consiglio Nazionale delleRicherche” which was chaired by the engineer Gustavo Colnnetti and did not hesitate to cooperate and cover the editing costs. In the organisation, committee were Nervi, Zevi, Bongioannini and Ridolfi.
- 22.
The Manuale updated and adapted the previous manuals by G. Curioni (1884), G. A. Brymann (1885), C. Formenti (1893–95) and Daniele Donghi (1906–1925) to the demands of those times, too extensive and not particularly useful for the reconstruction of Italy, and those by Neufert were not much use either as they were drafted according to German regulations.
- 23.
“(…) prontuario ‘da bottega’ (…) esperanto vernacolare (…) celebrazione del regionalismo in abito folk”, (Tafuri 1982, 18).
- 24.
The plan was coordinated by Gestione INA-Casa, directed by the architect Arnaldo Foschini, representative of the Roman School, director of the Faculty of Architecture in Rome and president of associations such as the Istituto Nazionale delleAssicurazioni INA (National Insurance Institute).
- 25.
On the one hand, the approximately two million dwellings built over fourteen years of activity under this plan provided housing for over 350,000 Italian families, improving their living conditions. One-third of the Italian architects who were exercising their profession at that time were involved in that experience. On the other hand, it contributed to emphasising speculation mechanism that used those districts and houses as an excuse to increase the value of development areas, particularly in the big cities, (Rossi 1991).
- 26.
UNRRA: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
- 27.
CASAS: Comitato Amministrativo Soccorso ai Senza tetto (Administrative Committee for Aid for the Homeless).
- 28.
With Federico Gorio, Piero Maria Lugli, Michele Valori and Luigi Agati, the borgata La Martella was built to house families who had been evacuated from Sassi. The Unra-Casas Institute was directed by Adriano Olivetti, who drove the project.
- 29.
With Carlo Aymonino, Carlo Chiarini, Mario Fiorentino, Federico Gorio, Maurizio Lanza, Sergio Lenci, Piero Maria Lugli, Carlo Melograni, Giancarlo Menichetti, Goiulio Rinaldi, Michele Valori. Tirburtino and Valco S. Paolo were the first of the INA-Casa districts built in Rome.
- 30.
Some components of that new popular poetical scenography were the ingenious protective canopies in the landscape of the neighbourhood, the modest rendered walls, the ever-present lattice brickwork for ventilation on the enclosures and patios, the bold, pointed balconies overhanging the streets to promote street life, the profusion of chimneys in harmony with the surrounding pine trees and lamp posts, the partly open shutters or the visible roof gutters, (Díez Medina 1995).
- 31.
“Il paese dei barocchi non è il risultato appunto d’una cultura solidificata, d’una tradizione viva: è il risultato di uno stato d’animo. (…) Ma uno stato d’animo non potrà mai essere una base solida per una collaborazione. Nella spinta verso la città ci si è fermati al paese”. Quaroni, “Il paese dei barocchi”, 24–33. Also Vittorio de Sica had discussed the ability of cameras to capture a state of mind a wish, which later on they shared with some architects of neorealism, after the filming of Ladri di biciclette: “La letteratura ha scoperto da tempo questa dimensione moderna che puntualizza le minime cose, gli stati d’animo considerati troppo comuni. Il cinema ha nella macchina da presa il mezzo più adatto per captarla.” (Some time ago, the literature discovered this modern dimension that emphasises little things or states of mind that in the past were considered too common. Cinema, through its cameras, is the best means to capture them). See La Fiera letteraria, 6 febbraio 1948, 3.
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Further Readings
Aymonino, C. 1957. Storia e cronaca del quartiere Tiburtino. Casabella Continuità 215: 18–43.
Conforto, C. 1977. Il dibattito architettonico in Italia 1945–1975. Roma: Bulzoni.
Cucci, G., and F. Dal Co. 1996. Architettura italiana del ‘900. Milan: Electa.
Moya González, L. 1983. Barrios de promoción oficial. Madrid, 1939–1976. Madrid: Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid.
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Díez Medina, C. (2018). Urban Planning and Ideology: Spain and Italy (1945–1960). In: Díez Medina, C., Monclús, J. (eds) Urban Visions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59047-9_5
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