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Streets of Madrid
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Mark Paskewitz is a longtime National Institute of Clinical Research, Inc., executive who has guided clinical development efforts for groundbreaking drugs. An avid follower of current events, Mark Paskewitz regularly reads up on news of Spain in the country’s original language.
A recent article in the Guardian highlighted the persistent legacy of Spain’s longtime dictator Francisco Franco in the country’s contemporary culture. One of the unique aspect of the regime (which was tragic to many in other respects) was its tolerance of a wide variety of architecture.
In addition to his imperialist ambitions, Franco considered himself an artist and embraced modernism in architecture. The striking 1949 creation of the Basilica at Arantzazu in the Basque Country represented a collaboration between architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza and sculptor Jorge Oteiza. The religious structure broke radically from papal design traditions, to the point where it was seen as a snub of Rome.
Much of the country’s architecture looked outward as fascist Spain entered a period of strategic alliance with the United States. Building styles were influenced by the technocratic Opus Dei, a lay Catholic organization, and Miguel Fisac’s Pagoda in the suburbs of Madrid is a striking example of the country’s full turn toward modernism. Demolished in 1999, the building combined raw concrete and horizontal windows in an assemblage of stacked triangular shapes, evoking the Asian pagoda. Another noteworthy concrete creation of the era was de Oiza’s Torres Blancas building, which had the visual effect of odd geometric mushrooms.
