Architecture Classics: La Pagoda / Miguel Fisac

Written by Borja Fernández | Translated by Nicolás Valencia

Where does the process of mythification of a work in architecture reside? What are the conditions inherently linked to the resource of memory? Firstly, the appearance of an intrinsic value within the architecture, such as highlighting the taste for the projected building. This would be accompanied by the historical factor—the echoes of the era in which it was built. If we add to all this a demolition loaded with theatricality and social drama, the building becomes something more, becoming part of the vast mythical territory of memory. Miguel Fisac's 'Pagoda,' which began construction in 1965, was demolished in just a few days in July 1999, being just over thirty years old at the time of its demolition.

Affectionately known as the 'Pagoda' by the people of Madrid, evidencing its similarity to Asian constructions, it was not held in the same esteem by the architects of the time. In the rise and fall of the JORBA Laboratories, the original name of the project, purely tragic elements converge: denunciations moved by religious conspiracies, neglect by the administrations, speculative businesses, professional jealousy, and rulers incapable of appreciating the quality of architecture that, today, becomes myth or martyr; the object of unjust destruction.

Located in the vicinity of the M-30, parallel to the Barcelona road, the building rose in an apparently inaccessible place, bidding farewell to all Madrilenians leaving the city via the Avenida America towards Barajas Airport. Its form, at once picturesque and futuristic, did nothing but increase the mystery surrounding the building. What activities would it house inside? What was the purpose of its geometry? The 'Pagoda' belongs to that generation of modern-pop buildings that set trends and, in the Spanish case, broke with the timid opening of the Franco regime in the mid-1950s, surpassing the neo-Herrera historicist trend that the dictatorship favored until then. This new generation of young architects reincorporated the country into the international scene, joining similar works such as Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal, Charles Deaton's Sculptured House, Hugh Stubbins' Kongresshalle in Berlin, or the proposals of alternative visionaries like Paolo Soleri.

The Madrid headquarters of JORBA Laboratories began its construction in the year 1965, extending until 1967, the year of its inauguration. The laboratories' complex consisted of two distinct volumes: on one side, the storage warehouses, a longitudinal body whose roofing is another example of the elegant "bone beams" catalog that Fisac so favored, initiated in the early 1960s with the project for the Center for Hydrographic Studies in Madrid; on the other side, a detached building, like a tower, which would house the offices. This tower, located at the end closest to the street, brought together various administrative offices and a library.

"The building was intended to be a pharmaceutical laboratory, a subject I am well acquainted with, as I am not only the son of a pharmacist but also have experience working with Laboratorios Alter and later with Made [...]. JORBA insisted that they had purchased a plot of land with an elevated area and wanted it to serve as an advertisement." - Miguel Fisac, July 1969 ['Arquitectura' Magazine].

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The client asked the architect from Ciudad Real to create a striking object capable of serving as an advertising attraction for those traveling along the road to and from the city of Madrid. With this objective in mind, Fisac devised a truly creative form, rotating each of the superimposed floors of the tower by 45 degrees. The edges of these rotated squares would correspond to the enclosure lines, which occupied from the parapet to the lintel height. The superficial joint of each of these opposing edges generated, facing outward, a geometry already known to Fisac: the hyperbolic paraboloid, a ruled surface. The advantage of using this type of surface is that, coupled with the use of in-situ concrete, it does not require a curved formwork; its surface can be generated through lines, in this case, a series of boards that make up what is commonly known as "strip formwork."

"I see that I have a square of 16m on each side; I start rotating it by 45 degrees, and I begin to get some surfaces beloved in geometry: hyperbolic paraboloids. The ultimate goal was precisely that: for the building to be striking, and indeed it was, it's just that some people found it too striking." - Miguel Fisac, July 1969 ['Arquitectura' Magazine].

Architecture Classics: La Pagoda / Miguel Fisac - Image 12 of 14 — Cortesía de Fundación Miguel Fisac

If the 'Pagoda' had been located in a more central position in the city, the entirety of its merits could have been better appreciated: the refined contrast between the clear, distinct glass rectangles and the concrete skin, rough and contoured; the brilliant structural solution composed of eight metal pillars externally defined by the hyperbolic paraboloids; the relationship between the vertical core and the open floors; the views framed through the metal joineries; the suggestive rotation of one floor concerning the next, and so on. The resulting building, a stylized and ever-changing figure in the sunlight, quickly became the symbol of the new Spanish architecture and, precisely because of its expressiveness, was well-received by the majority of the people of Madrid. However, as the years would demonstrate, none of them would be able to champion the defense of the collective heritage; something typical of the common Madrilenian, naturally resistant.

The scandal of the demolition shed an entirely new light on the building and elevated it to the status of a monument it never had in life. The JORBA Laboratories complex had fallen into disuse in the 1990s. When the LAR Group bought it to use as the headquarters for new offices, they found that their initial rehabilitation idea could not be carried out because Fisac's original project no longer complied with the new fire safety regulations of the City Council. Unable to convince the City Council to preserve the original construction, which held high technical and symbolic value, they proposed carrying out the project on another adjacent plot. Faced with the City Council's new refusal, the demolition of the building was proposed. It was then suggested to add the 'Pagoda' to the catalog of buildings of special protection drafted by the Heritage Commission of the Community of Madrid. Once again, attempts to protect the mythical structure were rejected, and finally, in July 1999, taking advantage of the scarcity of people that came with the Madrid summer, the demolition of the building began almost furtively. With each pickaxe blow, the 'Pagoda' was gradually stripped of its walls, enclosures, and finishes.

Were the "experts" not sensitive to the aesthetic and constructive values of the 'Pagoda,' which, on the contrary, seemed evident to the eyes of the LAR Group, the ultimate responsible for its demolition? Ricardo Aroca, president of the Urban Debates Club and until shortly before, the director of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid [ETSAM], accused the conglomerate of municipal technicians, architects, and specialists of yielding to dominant economic and political interests, emphasizing their rejection of the committees that, in his opinion, handpicked the fate of many buildings. However, the reality was that professional jealousy, along with regal rationalistic fundamentalism, were precisely the reasons why these specialists in 20th-century architecture refused to protect the 'Pagoda.'

The 'Pagoda' never came to be considered a monument. It wasn't for the experts, who deemed it irrelevant extravagance, and neither was it for the people of Madrid. Looking at it from the perspective offered to us today, there is no doubt that the 'Pagoda' had many more possibilities of becoming a future monument than other works that have survived the test of time; works that enjoy an expression praised by many architects. This myth of Spanish architecture failed to survive within the cultural and social milieu of Madrid at the time; it failed to activate or develop its possible monumental values; ultimately, it failed to be understood for what it was and what no one wanted to see: architectural heritage.

References

[1] Rivera, David. ‘El momento que nunca fue’. Article included in ‘Miguel Fisac: la delirante historia de la Pagoda’, 2013. Caja de Arquitectos Foundation.