Architectural hybrids? Building, law and architectural design in the early modern Iberian world

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the regulation of building practice, construction technology and architectural design in a number of cities in the early modern Iberian world. The influence of classical trends on architecture and urban design in the Iberian world has received extensive attention. Regulatory practice of the built environment during this period in a number of Iberian cities shows the gradual inclusion of Renaissance ideals of order and proportion. However, the contribution of the pre‐existing and coeval architectural traditions of Iberia and the integration of indigenous building technologies in America or Asia deserves further scrutiny. This article examines aspects of the codification of the building trade, construction technology and architectural design as a suitable vehicle to explore acculturation and globalization processes. A comparison of the built environment of cities in both the peninsula and urban centres in the former Spanish and Portuguese imperial dominions shows an architectural landscape governed, at times, by similar processes of hybridization or amalgam. The development of urban regulations in cities in distant parts of the Iberian imperial system also challenges existing Eurocentric histories and theories of architecture and urbanism.