Double masonry walls in Madrid, a century of modern enclosure

Abstract

The present paper describes the development and generalized use of the double or hollow wall system in masonry enclosures in Madrilenian residential architecture in the first two thirds of the twentieth century. The question is addressed, on the one hand, from the standpoint of comparative history, in which a clear awareness of evolutionary progress can be defined through certain recognizable architectural tendencies that arose during the technological revolution taking place in Europe and somewhat later in our country; in this regard, the analysis focuses on developments in Madrid. On the other hand, consideration is given to the general construction systems and methods applied to different typologies and representative examples associated with possible modes of technical innovation in the expansive processes involved in housing of high architectural quality, characterized by material and formal consistency. The inclusion of insulation materials in wall construction and the development of the air chamber are likewise dealt with in the context of inherited tradition and the incipient new language developed in the nineteen thirties. The discussion also reflects on the parenthesis imposed by the Civil War, the interruption of the progressive trend begun prior to and continued after that conflict and the need to rebuild which materialized in an emergency housing policy mixed with a spirit of euphoria magnified and defined by the official architectural establishment. The different types of construction systems where double walls became increasingly popular are studied and classified, differentiated on the grounds of the materials used - a modern compositional solution adopted with growing frequency in contemporary models, that would gradually lead to the standardization of such enclosures in urban housing in the nineteen fifties. Also considered is the truly determining influence, particularly beginning in the nineteen forties, of the legislation applied to publicly financed housing, which called for analysis of the hygrothermal performance of enclosures as a standard requirement. The drafting of all necessary drawings in the dimensioning of construction designs likewise proved to be a relevant factor in system development. This serves as an introduction to the possible influence of technical concerns on architectural production that has to do with the approach to and progress in the construction solutions deployed in each case, to propose an essential supplementary presentation in the history of styles in the period of slow, difficult but inevitable change in nation-wide architecture covering approximately the first half of the twentieth century. Social and political change during a given historic period does not always mean a difference, in our case, in the technical approach taken to the construction solutions adopted. What is actually interesting in this paper is the return route, i.e., the influence of certain material conditioning factors on the constructions solutions adopted for enclosures by architects concerned with quality in the light of the reformist commitments of the new architecture and the end result in terms of progress. Globally viewed, this process of ongoing change leads from the ambivalence or formal eclecticism of a variety of historicist alternatives and other academic references to compositional refinement and intentional dialectic simplification, of modern and “European” inspiration. This reiterated conceptual scheme, which ran a full historic circle, was not necessarily accompanied by any logical change in the role of or techniques for building enclosures. All the foregoing provides the backdrop for the writing of a parallel history, the specific history of enclosures, the technical practice applied in theoretical architecture of prestige, in which the focus is on Madrilenian production in approximately the first sixty years of the twentieth century. Finally, the conclusions highlight the generation of trends in the use of technical systems for the compositional organization of each enclosure studied and all of them taken together, identifying the existence of the application of certain construction solutions related to internal architectural requirements, such as the representative and social nature of the work, economic resources available, compliance with the existing legislation, adaptation to a specific programme, growing importance of social satisfaction in residential endeavours, changes introduced with the appearance of new structural typologies, presence of buildings as the urban repercussion on city planning and new developments, and so on Hence, the internal consistency of a real change in the process of ideological modernity was favoured by the generalized constructional rationalization of the technical progress that made it possible; the purpose of this brief article is to discuss and evaluate each case in experimental terms.