The author of the text and photos is Roberto Conte.
Almost all brutalist buildings in Madrid, built in the 1960s and 1980s, during the gradual liberation of Spain from Francoism, were designed by Spanish, or even Madrid architects. For example, Fernando Higueras Díaz and Antonio Miró Valverde, who created one of the most representative Brutalist buildings in the entire country, the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (1964-1988). This large-scale circular structure is nicknamed "The Crown of Thorns" because of its unusual completion.
The same authors designed the residential complex Edificio Princesa (1967-1974): its expressive language is expressed in long balconies that "soften" the hanging gardens with climbing plants.
Another landmark building, perhaps the most famous of those built during this period, is the Torres Blancas high-rise building (the plural in the name reminds of a non-embodied plan - to build two such towers). A work of the 1960s by architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza, this 25-storey (71 meter) structure is one of the most important examples of organic architecture in Iberia, with its vertically intertwined cylindrical volumes that recall ideas of Japanese metabolism.
Not far from Torres Blancas is the austere headquarters of the UGT union (Unión General de Trabajadores, 1977) by the architect Antonio Vallejo Acevedo. The building was intended for the Franco analogue of the trade unions, the "Vertical Syndicate", a system of control over workers by industry, but in 1977, during the transition to democracy, it was disbanded, and the construction went to the socialist UGT.
Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Filipinas (1967-1970), the Church of Our Lady of the architect Cecilio Sanchez-Robles Tarín (Cecilio Sanchez-Robles Tarín) occupies a special place among the many modernist churches in Madrid. She demonstrates the strong influence of Le Corbusier. Laconic volumes are superimposed on the facade, and in the interior with undulating ceilings, the effect of sunlight scattering twilight, which penetrates through the opening above the altar, makes a great impression.
The Church of Santa Ana i la Esperanza in the suburb of Moratalas was built a little earlier (1965-1966) with the same lighting technique in the interior. In the eastern wall there are three apse niches used in different parts of the liturgy. The author of the project is Miguel Fisac Serna, an important and prolific architect.
Among his other buildings in Madrid -
the Jorba lab building, nicknamed the "Pagoda": it was demolished in 1999 despite intense protests. Fisak himself saw the demolition as revenge of the influential Catholic organization Opus Dei, of which he was a member from 1935 to 1955.
In the mid-1960s, Fisak also built an office building (now IBM), which still attracts attention in urban environments thanks to the simple combination of corners that alternately face inward and outward. As a result, the façade is dynamic and the interior is naturally lit Not far away is the Beatriz building (architect Eleuterio Población Knappe, Eleuterio Población Knappe, 1968-1976) with offices and shops: here the same modular details also define the appearance of the entire facade.
The residential complex Torre de Valencia (1968-1973), designed by Javier Carvajal Ferrer, deserves special mention. This 94-meter structure near Retiro Park provides the apartments with maximum sunshine.
Also of interest are the buildings of the Complutense University: the Faculty of Informatics (architects José Maria Laguna Martínez, José María Laguna Martínez, and Juan Castañón Farinha, Juan Castañón Fariña, 1971-1979) and the Faculty of Biology and Geology (Fernando Moreno Barbera, Fernandá 1964).
The only building in this series by foreign architects is the wonderful building Los Cubos (1974-1981, renovated in 2017-2020), designed by a French team: Michel Andrault, Pierre Parat,Aydin Guvan and Alain Capieu. Andro and Para designed a lot at home and abroad, among their works is the famous church
Madonna delle Lacrima in Syracuse. The original name of Los Cubos is Edificio AGF, as the client was the French insurance company Assurances Générales de France, which determined the choice of architects. This building, along with the influence of metabolism, reminds of the modern building of the Ministry of Roads in Tbilisi.
