What architects have left the deepest imprint on a city?
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The question of the day: "What are the cities deeply modified by the works or the ideas of a single architect?"
Patrick Crosset's response, economist:
Cerdà and Gaudi have shaped Barcelona for several hundred years.Ildefons cerdà is the inventor of the best known district of Barcelona, the Eixample.Antoni Gaudí I Cornet is the architectural genius that everyone knows.
La Barcelone moderne est née à L'Eixample, quartier conçu au XIXe siècle par l'ingénieur et urbaniste Ildefons Cerdà.City in the city, the Eixample is undoubtedly the most original district of Barcelona, but also one of the most pleasant to live.Cerdà wanted to design an open, egalitarian and green city, where all public services were uniformly distributed. L'Eixample est construit pendant les années de l'industrialisation de la Catalogne à la fin du XIXe et au début du XXesiècle.It is the consecration and the engine of contemporary Catalonia, breaking with the medieval past.The central part (the oldest), the Dreta of the Eixample is the district of the Catalan bourgeoisie which introduced a new style, Catalan modernism.
The Eixample is today the center and the architectural symbol of Barcelona.A district where real estate purchase opportunities have never been so numerous.The word "eixample" comes from the Spanish "Ensanche", which should have translated "Eixamplada" or "Eixamplament" in Catalan.In French, it would be expanding or extension or enlargement ... and not example as many French speakers believe.
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Barcelone au XIXe siècle, un danger sanitaire
Due to industrialization, the city's population had gone from 104.000 (1798) to 187.000 inhabitants (1850).But the city was confined inside the same walls as in 1714.She occupied only 2 square kilometers (the current "Gotico").Barcelona (93.000 inhabitants per square kilometer) then had the triple of the population density of Paris (31.000 inhabitants per square kilometer).
There was no drinking water or sewer network, groundwater was polluted.The yellow fever of 1821 and two cholera epidemics (1834, 1854) had killed more than 10% of the population, especially in the working classes.Infant mortality was very high and the conditions of health and hygiene were very bad.Life expectancy did not exceed 36 years for the rich and 23 years for the poor, as in medieval times.
A project imposed by Madrid
In 1841, Barcelona launched a public tender for an urbanization plan.The first projects are rejected by the Madrid government.Finally, in 1859, the central government approved the cerdà plan, named after its designer, illegal cerdà.Barcelona notables, refusing Madrid's decision, organize a competition between the most famous architects in Catalonia.Antoni Rovira I Triassic prevails by proposing a radioconcentric city plan.The central government of Isabelle II, however, persists in considering its plan as much more modern and open.It imposes, not without difficulties, the Eixample project of Cerdà in Barcelonais.
Projection of the 10x10 module used by cerdà for the route of the main and diagonal tracks.In red, some old paths that have survived the architect's weft.|CA: User: Amadalvarez via Wikimedia
Cerdà has an ambitious plan: transform Barcelona from 1850 into a city ten times greater.The architect focuses on the essential needs.Above all, the need for natural lighting (sunlight), ventilation in homes (it is strongly influenced by the hygienist movement), green spaces near the population with 100.000 planned trees (environmentalist before the hour), suitable treatment of waste, an effective sewer system and the possibility of homogeneous movement of people, goods, energy and information.
This project is based on a homogeneous serial rehearsal of residential islets.They are vast and square (113.3 meters by 113.3 meters) with the particularity of the corners at 45 degrees.The city frame is therefore at right angle.
The beveling of the islets allows the constitution of placets at each street angle and this was also designed to facilitate turns for "mobile steam machines" that I imagined Cerdà.The islets are called "manzanas".
The engineer designs his plan around a major avenue which serves as a director axis: Gran via Las Corts Catalanes.He works with “districts” formed by 10 times 10 islets whose intersections correspond to the main crossroads of the city: Plaça des Glòries Catalanes, Place Tétouan, place de l'Université.A wider street is arranged every five streets.It is rue Marina, rue Urgell, and Via Laietana finished fifty years later.These proportions - Consequences of the width of the islets - allow it to create wide streets that descend from the mountain to the sea on each side of the city: the street Urgell and the Passeig de Sant Joan.These are separated from fifteen islets.
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A network in a network
Most streets are 20 meters wide, but the main ones are 30 or even 50 meters wide.Only a few major axes cross the city without respecting the orthogonal frame, but still in a straight line.These are the avenue Diagonale, avenue meridienne and avenue du Parallele.
The creations of Cerdà denote a conception of the concept of a very advanced network for its time.Its checkered street plans, with its identical square housing blocks, are designed to facilitate the displacement of pedestrians, cars, trams drawn by horses, urban rail networks (which are an innovation for theperiod), from the gas network, sewers significant enough to prevent any flood, without neglecting public and private gardens as well as other key equipment.
The latest technical innovations are integrated, as long as they contribute to better urban functioning.But it also uses its own innovative concepts, such as a logical system of leveling of the terrain essential for the proper realization of its project.Cerdà goes beyond the partial visions that "utopian cities", "cultural cities", "monumental cities", "rationalist cities" represent for him, etc..To devote yourself to the search for an "full city".
A plan amended by speculation
The plans of Barcelona de Cerdà undergo two main revisions.The second version, approved by the Spanish government of the time, is that of the current eixample.Cerdá is a precursor of ecological architecture.His general theory of urbanization begins with: "Ruralis what is urban, urbanization which is rural".
Aerial view of the Eixample and Diagonale avenue.|Alhzeiia via Wikimedia
He has planned large green and open spaces, allowing the passage of pedestrians and light: square blocks with beveled angles should initially be built only on two sides, with only 5.000 square meters out of the 12.500 square meters of islets built.But to resolve speculative land pressures, political leaders modify the initial scheme, to lead to a construction of the four sides at 28 meters in height and 28 meters deep, so that the initial garden imagined by Cerdà is reduced to an interior courtyardsquare and closed.Only one of the two diagonal avenues is made, the diagonal avenue today.
Cerd a wanted the Eixample to be a place of social diversity.But it is the wealthy classes that will live there.Many Catalan architects of the time fight the ideas of cerdà.But they nevertheless end up conceiving the flagship buildings of Catalan modernism.Antoni Gaudí will make a large part of his works there, notably the Sagrada Família, Casa Milà and Casa Batlló.But we can also cite the Casa Amatller and the Casa of the Punxes of Josep Puig I Cadafalch or the Casa Lleó Morera and the Hospital of the Santa Creu I Sant Pau de Lluís Domènech I Montaner.
Cerdà has faced many problems, including the lack of funding and the opposition of a large part of the population of Barcelona.He was never paid for his masterpiece and he died ruined in 1876.Édesfonsons cerdà transformed a mortal trap into one of the most beautiful modern cities in Europe.
Street names: The writer Víctor Balaguer I Cirera is responsible in 1864 for designing the nomenclature of the streets of the Eixample.He uses the names of the territories of the crown of Aragon: Arago (Aragon), València (Valence), Mallorca (Mallorca), Rosselló (Roussillon), Còrsega (Corsica), Sardenya (Sardinia), Sicília (Sicily), NàPols (Naples), etc.But also Catalan institutions (the Catalan Corts, the Diputació, the Cent) or personalities (Pau Claris, Roger de Lauria, Roger de Flor, etc.).
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Eixample districts
Today, the 270.000 inhabitants of the Eixample are distributed in 6 districts and 350 manzanas (islets or blocks) over 7.5 square kilometers:
The Dreta of the Eixample
The Dreta of the Eixample (c'est-à-dire la partie droite de l'Eixample) est le secteur de la ville où le projet de Cerdà a démarré. Il s'agit de l'extension naturelle de Barcelone au-delà des murs démolis au milieu du XIXe siècle.
The Cerdà plan was approved in 1859 and, a year later, Queen Isabelle II laid the first stone of what was going to become one of the richest districts of Barcelona.The first group of houses is built at the current intersection of the rue du Consell de Cent and rue Roger de Lauria. The Dreta of the Eixample abrite d'abord quelques industries importantes, comme l'usine Elizalde, l'une des premières en Espagne à fabriquer des voitures.
In the Passeig de Gràcia, Casa Battló is representative of modernism.|Christianschd via Wikimedia
Over time, it gradually becomes the district where we find bourgeois residences, especially at the time of the artistic explosion of modernism represented by buildings as remarkable as Casa Milà, Casa Batlló and Casa Ametller.
In addition to residences, tertiary economic activity has moved to it: shops, offices, headquarters for business, cinemas, theaters, etc.., in particular in the most central zone (between Lauria and Balmes) and around the axis of the Passeig de Gràcia, which follows the old road which linked the fortified city to the municipality of Gràcia.This avenue is still, today, the heart of the city's economic and commercial dynamism.
Note that the Plaza of Catalunya was not included in the Cerdà plan.This "forgetfulness" was corrected by the force of the facts: its privileged position between the old town and the new Eixample has made it the natural nervous center of the city.The passage of time has only strengthened it.
Today, the Dreta of the Eixample, in its western part, is the most chic district of Barcelona, the one that brings together the most beautiful Catalan modernist buildings, the most beautiful shops and the best cafes and restaurants.
The Eixample Antiga Esquerra
The Eixample Antiga Esquerra (l'ancienne partie gauche de l'Eixample) comprend la partie urbanisée et peuplée dès la fin du XIXe siècle de l'ancien quartier Esquerra de l'Eixample.The opening of the Hospital Clínic and the Faculty of Medicine in 1906, of the Del Ninot market in 1935, and the burial of the railways made it possible to promote the district and to attract, especially from the 1930s, from thereal estate developers interested in the construction of housing housing intended mainly for the middle classes.
In its more recent history, it is necessary to underline the complete renovation of the rue Enric Granados, which has reactivated the commercial and restoration fabric of the area.Nowadays, the Eixample Antiga Esquerra brings together multiple commercial activities, services and catering.But it is also a place of culture with the University of Barcelona, and of health with the Hospital Clinic, one of the four largest hospital services in Spain.Their presence makes it today the most sought after district of Eixample.
The Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample
The Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample (la nouvelle partie gauche de l'Eixample), à part les trois grands bâtiments de Can Batlló (aujourd'hui l'École industrielle), la Modelo (l'ancienne prison) et l'Escorxador (aujourd'hui le Parc Joan Miró), n'a commencé à se développer qu'à partir des années 1930.The presence of the railroad and the Batlló factory made it possible to create an urban environment before the latter's closure in 1910.
Dona I Ocell (Woman and Bird) sculpture by Joan Miró with the collaboration of Gardy Artigas at Park Joan Miró.|MAKSIM via Wikimedia
The factory was mainly made up of dispersed hut groups, occupied by people who came to work for the 1929 international exhibition.It was an almost rural habitat that remained in certain areas until the post-war period.
It was not until 1972-1973 that the railways were buried.And some of the district buildings have been demolished to build the avenue Diagonale.
Fort Pienc
Fort Pienc est né comme une zone de fortification.When Felipe V established the city's monitoring system, it built the citadel and a strong advanced.Both were demolished in 1869.
La Estación del Norte
La Estación del Norte (La Gare du Nord) gave personality to a district between the railroad and the Gran via.Many carriers were then located around an old way out of the city from Roman times and until the development of the Eixample.
Après la fermeture de la gare dans le dernier quart du XXe siècle, la physionomie du quartier s'est transformée.The old railway station has become the main bus station in the city.An important urban park has been built nearby and, on the other hand, a large set of equipment (children's gardens, supervised apartments for the elderly, markets, libraries, etc.) which has become the reference for a new model of'Integration of equipment and public spaces in order to bring the life of neighborhoods closer.
There are also very important cultural points, such as the Auditorori and the National Theater of Catalonia.
The Sagrada Família
North of the Dreta of the Eixample, in the upper part, is the district of Sagrada Família, formerly known as El Poblet (Le Petit Village). Au XIXe siècle, el Poblet était un quartier fait de champs et de quelques maisons. Ce n'est que dans les premières années du XXe siècle que le quartier s'est urbanisé, comme quartier ouvrier autour de nombreuses industries.
The Sagrada Família (2010), couverture et ébauches de la façade de la Gloire.|Bernard Gagnon via Wikimedia
What gives him personality today is the basilica of the Sagrada Família.The project started in 1881 with the acquisition of land in the district of Sant Martí, in the middle of the fields.The project is first entrusted to the architect Francesco de Paula del Villar.He was continued in 1883 by a young architect of 31 years, then little known, named Antonio Gaudí.It takes care of the work while the construction of the neo-Gothic style crypt begins.Today, the Sagrada Família is the most famous work of Gaudí.It is the most visited monument in Spain, the sixth in Europe and the twelfth in the world.
Avenue de Gaudí crosses the neighborhood and connects the Sagrada Família to another major work of Catalan modernism: the Santa Creu I Sant Pau, Lluís Domènech I Montaner hospital.The two buildings are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Sagrada Família district includes, at its southern end, the Incant district, with the popular Bellaire market or ink market.This area will be completely transformed in the near future by the urban redevelopment around the Place des Glòries.
Sant Antoni
The name of the neighborhood is its origin from the convent near the Barcelona wall.When Rovira i Trias built the Sant Antoni market in the period 1872-1882, there were practically no homes.It was the Raval workers' district market.Little by little, this market and the stalls that surround it have expanded like a large fair.They gave personality and life to the neighborhood that has developed around him.This popular commercial tradition is still strong today.The recent rehabilitation and renovation of the historic market building has further accentuated it.
The physiognomy of the district is also the result of the reforms linked to the 1929 international exhibition, which led to its urbanization and the development of access to Montjuïc, with the elimination of slums between the avenues Parallel and Gran via and the'Development of the avenue du Mistral.This old medieval way to leave the city is today a pedestrian path that brings together the life of the neighborhood.It is one of the most important commercial and catering areas in Barcelona.
The Mini-Eixample of Valence and Lyon
Au XIXe siècle, le plan Cerdà a servi d'exemple à d'autres extensions de villes en Espagne et Europe occidentale.This is particularly the case of Valence in Spain and the extension to the east of the Rhône of Lyon in France.We bet that the ecological approach to the original urban planner visionary project Cerdà will be restored in the near future.But with green spaces no longer inside the buildings but in the streets.
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Eixample district associations are already campaigning to ban traffic in certain streets and to transform them into living space, leisure, or green spaces.Why not imagine giving these spaces the vocation that Cerdà had intended for them in his initial project?Between each block, these are more than 2.000 square meters of land which can be recovered from the space reserved for cars.
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