Bolboforma of Eocene and lower Oligocene sediments of Maud Rise, Weddell Sea

Five species of Bolboforma have been found in middle Eocene to lower Oligocene sediments from Maud Rise, Weddel Sea, Antarctica (Leg 113, Holes 689B and 690B), the first reported Bolboforma from the Antarctic Paleogene. The previous oldest known occurrences of Bolboforma in the world's oceans were of late Eocene age and this study extends the known range to the middle middle Eocene (~ 44 Ma). Highest species diversity of Bolboforma in the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica occurred during the late Eocene, after which all but one important species disappeared before the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (36.5 Ma). The remaining species, B. irregularis, disappeared soon after, during the earliest Oligocene. The disappearance of Bolboforma in this region of Antarctica coincided with significant climatic cooling that occurred at the end of the Eocene and during the earliest Oligocene, when subpolar replaced temperate conditions. Bolboforma is not known from younger sediments in the Antarctic except for a brief interval during the late early Miocene, an interval of Neogene climatic warmth. The presence of Bolboforma in Eocene to lower Oligocene sequences in the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica is therefore consistent with this taxon's previously recognized association with temperate water masses. Bolboforma is of limited biostratigraphic value at present, because of relatively long stratigraphic ranges and diachronous extinctions. Previous suggestions that Bolboforma represents an encystment stage of phytoplankton require further critical study because the deposition, in large numbers, at paleodepths up to 2250 m in the open ocean, is an unlikely strategy for an encystment phase of a phytoplanktonic organism. A new species, Bolboforma antarctica, is described, exhibiting a stratigraphic range from middle middle Eocene to the upper Eocene (~ 44 to 39 Ma).

Benthic foraminifera in Tertiary sediments of DSDP Leg 90 holes

Eocene through Pliocene benthic foraminifers were examined from seven sites located at middle and lower bathyal depths on the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea, from another site at lower bathyal depths in the Coral Sea, and from a site in the intermediate-depth, hemipelagic province of the Chatham Rise, east of southern New Zealand. Age-related, depth-related, and bioprovincial faunal variations are documented in this chapter. One new species, Rectuvigerina tasmana, is named. The paleoecologic indications of several key groups, including the miliolids, uvigerinids, nuttallitids, and cibicidids, are combined with sedimentologic and stable isotopic tracers to interpret paleoceanographic changes in the Tasman Sea. Because the total stratigraphic ranges of many bathyal benthic foraminifers are not yet known, most endpoints in the Tasman Sea are considered ecologically controlled events. The disappearances of Uvigerina rippensis and Cibicidoidesparki and the first appearances of U. pigmaea, Sphaeroidina bulloides, and Rotaliatina sulcigera at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary can be considered evolutionary events, as also can the first appearance of Cibicides wuellerstorfi in Zone NN5. Species which are restricted to the lower bathyal zone except during discrete pulses, most of which are related to the development of glacial conditions, include Melonis pompilioides, M. sphaeroides, Pullenia quinqueloba, Nuttallides umbonifera, and U. hispido-costata. Middle bathyal indigenes include U. spinulosa, U. gemmaeformis, Ehrenbergina marwicki, R. sulcigera, and all rectuvigerinids except Rectuvigerina spinea. Although the miliolids first occurred at lower bathyal depths, they were more common in the middle bathyal zone. Although the Neogene hispido-costate uvigerinids first developed at lower bathyal depths and at higher middle latitude sites, in the later Neogene this group migrated to shallower depths and became predominant also in the middle bathyal zone. Despite the relatively similar sedimentologic settings at the six middle bathyal Tasman sites, there was extensive intrageneric and intraspecific geographic variation. Mililiolids, strongly ornamented brizalinids, bolivinitids, Bulimina aculeata, Osangularia culter, and strongly porous morphotypes were more common at higher latitudes. Osangularia bengalensis, striate brizalinids such as Brizalina subaenariensis, Gaudryina solida, osangularids in general, and finely porous morphotypes were more common in the subtropics. There was strong covariance between faunas at lower middle latitude, lower bathyal Site 591, and higher middle latitude, middle bathyal Site 593. The following oceanographic history of the Tasman Sea is proposed; using the stable isotopic record as evidence for glacials and examining the ecologic correlations between (1) miliolids and carbonate saturation, (2) nuttallitids and undersaturated, cooled, or "new" water masses, (3) uvigerinids with high organic carbon in the sediment and high rates of sediment accumulation, and (4) cibicidids and terrestrial organic carbon. The glacial located near the Eocene/Oligocene boundary is characterized by the penetration of cooler, more corrosive waters at intermediate depths in high southern latitudes. This may have caused overturn, upwelling pulses, in other Tasman areas. The development of Neogenelike conditions began in the late Oligocene (Zone NP24/NP25) with the evolution of several common Neogene species. A large number of Paleogene benthics disappeared gradually through the course of the early Miocene, which was not well preserved at any Tasman site. Corrosive conditions shallowed into the middle bathyal zone in several pulses during the early Miocene. The development of glacial conditions in the middle Miocene was accompanied by major changes throughout the Tasman Sea. Sediment accumulation rates increased and high-productivity faunas and corrosive conditions developed at all but the lowest-latitude Site 588. This increase in productivity and accumulation rate is attributed to the eutrophication of Antarctic water masses feeding Tasman current systems, as well as to invigorated circulation in general. It overlaps with the beginning of the Pacific High-productivity Episode (10-5 Ma). During the latest Miocene glacial episode, corrosive conditions developed at lower bathyal depths, while cooler water and lower nutrient levels shallowed to middle bathyal depths. Lower input of terrestrial organic carbon may be related to the lower nutrient levels of this time and to the termination of the Pacific High-productivity Episode. The moderate glacial episode during the mid-Pliocene (Zone NN15/NN16, ~3.2 Ma) corresponds to a decline in sediment accumulation rates and a reorganization of faunas unlike that of all other times. New genera proliferate and indices for cool, noncorrosive conditions and high organic carbon expand throughout the middle bathyal zone coeval with the sedimentation rate decreases. By the latest Pliocene (about 2.5 Ma), however, during another glacial episode, faunal patterns typical of this and later glacials develop throughout the Tasman Sea. Benthic foraminiferal patterns suggest increased input of terrestrial organic matter to Tasman Sea sediments during this episode and during later glacials.

Maastrichtian calcareous nannofossils of Kronsmoor-Section

The latest Campanian-earliest Maastrichtian interval is well known as a period of intense climate cooling. This cooling caused a distinctive bipolar biogeographic distribution of calcareous nannofossil assemblages: High latitude settings were dominated by newly evolving endemic taxa, former cosmopolitan species disappeared at the same time and equatorial communities experienced an invasion of cool water taxa. The impact of this cooling on northern mid-latitude assemblages is, however, less well known. In order to overcome this gap we studied the Kronsmoor section (northwest Germany). This section provides a continuous upper Campanian - lower Maastrichtian succession with moderately to well preserved nannofossils. Uppermost Campanian assemblages are dominated by Prediscosphaera cretacea; other common taxa include Prediscosphaera stoveri, Watznaueria barnesiae and Micula staurophora. The lower Maastrichtian is characterized by lower numbers of P. cretacea and frequent Kamptnerius magnificus, Arkhangelskiella cymbiformis and Cribrosphaerella ehrenbergii. These changes reflect, in part, the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary cooling since some successful taxa (e.g. K. magnificus) are related to cool surface waters. Other shifts in the nannofossil communities were perhaps the result of a changing nutrient regime. Stronger latitudinal gradients may have increased wind velocities and thus the eolian input of ferruginous dust required by N-fixing bacteria. The enhanced high latitude deep-water formation probably changed the bottom-water environment in disfavor of denitrificating organisms. A decline of chemical weathering and fluviatile transport may have reduced the amount of bioavailable phosphate. These processes led to an increased nitrate and a decreased phosphate content shifting the nutrient regime from nitrate towards phosphate limitation.

Pollen record and dating of sediment core GIK16776-1 off Liberia

Based on pollen analysis of a sediment core from the Atlantic Ocean off Liberia the West African vegetation history for the last 400 ka is reconstructed. During the cold oxygen isotope stages 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3 and 2 an arid climate is indicated, resulting in a southward shifting of the southern border of the savanna. Late Pleistocene glacial stages were more arid than during the Middle Pleistocene. A persistence of the rain forest in the area, even during the glacial stages, is recorded. This suggests a glacial refuge of rain forest situated in the Guinean mountains. Afromontane forests with Podocarpus occurred in the Guinean mountains from the stages 12 to 2 and disappeared after. The tree expanded from higher to lower elevations twice in the warm oxygen isotope stage 11 (pollen subzones 11d, 11b) and at least twice during the warm stage 5 (pollen subzones 5d, 5a), indicating a relative cool but humid climate for these periods.

Upper Maestrichtian to Eocene benthic foraminifera in ODP Leg 121 holes

Late Maestrichtian to late Eocene bathyal benthic foraminiferal faunas at Sites 752,753, and 754 on Broken Ridge in the eastern Indian Ocean were analyzed as to their stratigraphic distribution of species to clarify the relation between faunal turnovers and paleoceanographic changes. Based on Q-mode factor analysis, eight varimax assemblages were distinguished: the Stensioina beccariiformis assemblage in the upper Maestrichtian to upper Paleocene; the Cibicidoides hyphalus assemblage in the upper Maestrichtian; the Cibicidoides cf. pseudoperlucidus assemblage in the upper Paleocene; the Anomalinoides capitatusldanicus assemblage in the uppermost Paleocene to lower Eocene; the Cibicidoides subspiratus assemblage in the lower Eocene; the Nuttallides truempyi assemblage in the lower and middle Eocene; the Osangularia sp. 1 - Hanzawaia ammophila assemblage in the upper Eocene; and the Lenticulina spp. assemblage in the uppermost Eocene, Oligocene, and lower Miocene. The presence of the Osangularia sp. 1 - Hanzawaia ammophila assemblage is related to the shallowing episode on Broken Ridge (upper bathyal), as a result of the rifting event that occurred in the middle Eocene. The most distinct faunal change (the disappearance of about 37% of the species) occurred between the S. beccariiformis assemblage and the A. capitatusldanicus assemblage, at the end of the upper Paleocene. A. capitatusldanicus, Lenticulina spp., and varied forms of Cibicidoides replaced the Velasco-type fauna at this time. The timing of this event is well correlated with the known age at South Atlantic sites (Thomas, 1990 doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.113.123.1990; Kennett and Stott, 1990 doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.113.188.1990; Katz and Miller, 1990 doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.114.147.1991). The primary cause of the extinction of the Stensioina beccariiformis assemblage is elusive, but may have resulted from the cessation of deep-water formation in the Antarctic (Katz and Miller, 1990), and subsequent arrival of warm saline deep water (Thomas, 1990; Kennett and Stott, 1990). Another possibility may be a weakened influence of high-salinity water formed at the low latitudes such as the Tethys Sea. The extinction event corresponds to the change from higher delta13C values in benthic foraminifers to lower ones. An interpretation of delta13C values is that the eastern Indian deep water, characterized by young and nutrient-depleted water, became old water which was devoid of a supply of new water during the latest Paleocene to early Eocene. Prior to this benthic event, signals of related faunal change were detected in the following short periods: early and late Paleocene, near the boundary of nannofossil Zone CP4, and Zone CP5 of the late Paleocene at Site 752. Among common taxa in the upper Maestrichtian, only seven species disappeared or became extinct at the Cretaceous/ Tertiary boundary at Site 752. The benthic foraminiferal population did not change for up to 2 m above the boundary, in contrast to the rapid decrease of the plankt onic foraminiferal population at the boundary. A decrease in the number of benthic foraminifers occurs after that level, corresponding to an interval of decreased numbers of planktonic foraminifers and higher abundance of volcanic ash. Reduced species diversity (H') suggests a secondary effect attributable to the dissolution of foraminiferal tests. The different responses of planktonic and benthic foraminifers to the event just above the boundary suggest that the Cretaceous/Tertiary event was a surface event as also suggested by Thomas (1990). In addition, a positive shift of delta13C in benthic foraminifers after the event indicates nutrient-depleted bottom water at Site 752.

Effects of ocean acidification on respiration, growth and C:N ratio of arctic Hyas araneus larvae

Early life stages of marine crustaceans respond sensitively to elevated seawater PCO2. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms have not been studied well. We therefore investigated the effects of elevated seawater PCO2 on oxygen consumption, dry weight, elemental composition, median developmental time (MDT) and mortality in zoea I larvae of the spider crab Hyas araneus (Svalbard 79°N/11°E; collection, May 2009; hatch, December 2009). At the time of moulting, oxygen consumption rate had reached a steady state level under control conditions. In contrast, elevated seawater PCO2 caused the metabolic rate to rise continuously leading to a maximum 1.5-fold increase beyond control level a few days before moulting into the second stage (zoea II), followed by a pronounced decrease. Dry weight of larvae reared under high CO2 conditions was lower than in control larvae at the beginning of the moult cycle, yet this difference had disappeared at the time of moulting. MDT of zoea I varied between 45 ± 1 days under control conditions and 42 ± 2 days under the highest seawater CO2 concentration. The present study indicates that larval development under elevated seawater PCO2 levels results in higher metabolic costs during premoulting events in zoea I. However, H. araneus zoea I larvae seem to be able to compensate for higher metabolic costs as larval MDT and survival was not affected by elevated PCO2 levels.

Gridded bathymetry from multibeam echosounder EM122 data of the cruise M84/2, off Eregli (2011)

We investigated gas bubble emissions at the Don-Kuban paleo-fan in the northeastern Black Sea regarding their geological setting, quantities as well as spatial and temporal variabilities during three ship expeditions between 2007 and 2011. About 600 bubble-induced hydroacoustic anomalies in the water column (flares) originating from the seafloor above the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) at ~700 m water depth were found. At about 890 m water depth a hydrocarbon seep area named "Kerch seep area" was newly discovered within the GHSZ. We propose locally domed sediments ('mounds') discovered during ultra-high resolution bathymetric mapping with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to result from gas hydrate accumulation at shallow depths. In situ measurements indicated spatially limited temperature elevations in the shallow sediment likely induced by upward fluid flow which may confine the local GHSZ to a few meters below the seafloor. As a result, gas bubbles are suspected to migrate into near-surface sediments and to escape the seafloor through small-scale faults. Hydroacoustic surveys revealed that several flares originated from a seafloor area of about 1 km**2 in size. The highest flare disappeared in about 350 m water depth, suggesting that the released methane remains in the water column. A methane flux estimate, combining data from visual quantifications during dives with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with results from ship-based hydroacoustic surveys and gas analysis revealed that between 2 and 87 x 10**6 mol CH4 yr-1 escaped into the water column above the Kerch seep area. Our results show that the finding of the Kerch seep area represents a so far underestimated type of hydrocarbon seep, which has to be considered in methane budget calculations.

Observed El Niño conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific in October 2015

A strong El Niño developed in early 2015. Measurements from a research cruise on the RV Sonne in October 2015 near the equator east of the Galapagos Islands and off the shelf of Peru, are used to investigate changes related to El Niño in the upper ocean in comparison with earlier cruises in this region. At the equator at 85°30' W, a clear temperature increase leading to lower densities in the upper 350 m, despite a concurrent salinity increase from 40 to 350 m, developed in October 2015. Lower nutrient concentrations were also present in the upper 200 m, and higher oxygen concentrations were observed between 40 and 130 m. Except for the upper 60 m at 2°30' S, however, there was no obvious increase in oxygen concentrations at sampling stations just north (1° N) and south (2°30' S) of the equator at 85°30' W. In the equatorial current field, the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) east of the Galapagos Islands almost disappeared in October 2015, with a transport of only 0.02 Sv in the equatorial channel between 1° S and 1° N, and a weak current band of 0.78 Sv located between 1° S and 2°30' S. Such near-disappearances of the EUC in the eastern Pacific seem to occur only during strong El Niño events. Off the Peruvian shelf at ~9° S, where the sea surface temperature (SST) was elevated, upwelling was modified, and warm, saline and oxygen rich water was upwelled. Despite some weak El Niño related SST increase at ~12 to 16° S, the upwelling of cold, low salinity and oxygen-poor water was still active at the easternmost stations at three sections at ~12° S, ~14° S and ~16° S, while further west on these sections a transition to El Niño conditions appeared. Although in early 2015 the El Niño was strong and in October 2015 showed a clear El Niño influence on the EUC, in the eastern tropical Pacific the measurements only showed developing El Niño water mass distributions. In particular the oxygen distribution indicated the ongoing transition from 'typical' to El Niño conditions progressing southward along the Peruvian shelf.

Pollen analysis of soil samples from the A.D. 79 level. Boscoreale, Oplontis, and Pompeii

Fifty samples of Roman time soil preserved under the thick ash layer of the A.D.79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius were studied by pollen analysis: 33 samples from a former vineyard surrounding a Villa Rustica at Boscoreale (excavation site 40 x 50 m), 13 samples taken along the 60 m long swimming pool in the sculpture garden of the Villa of Poppaea at Oplontis, and four samples from the formal garden (12.4 x 17.5 m) of the House of the Gold Bracelet in Pompeii. To avoid contamination with modern pollen all samples were taken immediately after uncovering a new portion of the A.D. 79 soil. For comparison also samples of modern Italian soils were studied. Using standard methods for pollen preparation the pollen content of 15 of the archaeological samples proved to be too little to reach a pollen sum of more than 100 grains. The pollen spectra of these samples are not shown in the pollen tables. (Flotation with a sodium tungstate solution, Na2WO4, D = 2.05, following treatment with HCl and NaOH would probably have given a somewhat better result. This method was, however, not available as too expensive at that time.) Although the archaeological samples were taken a few meters apart their pollen values differ very much from one sample to the other. E.g., at Boscoreale (SW quarter). the pollen values of Pinus range from 1.5 to 54.5% resp. from 1 to 244 pine pollen grains per 1 gram of soil, the extremes even found under pine trees. Vitis pollen was present in 7 of the 11 vineyard samples from Boscoreale (NE quarter) only. Although a maximum of 21.7% is reached, the values of Vitis are mostly below 1.5%. Even the values of common weeds differ very much, not only at Boscoreale, but also at the other two sites. The pollen concentration values show similar variations: 3 to 3053 grains and spores were found in 1 g of soil. The mean value (290) is much less than the number of pollen grains, which would fall on 1 cm2 of soil surface during one year. In contrast, the pollen and spore concentrations of the recent soil samples, treated in exactly the same manner, range from 9313 to almost 80000 grains per 1 g of soil. Evidently most of the Roman time pollen has disappeared since its deposition, the reasons not being clear. Not even species which are known to have been cultivated in the garden of Oplontis, like Citrus and Nerium, plant species with easily distinguishable pollen grains, could be traced by pollen analysis. The loss of most of the pollen grains originally contained in the soil prohibits any detailed interpretation of the Pompeian pollen data. The pollen counts merely name plant species which grew in the region, but not necessarily on the excavated plots.

Politics of the 1945 Constitution:Democratization and Its Impact on Political Institutions in Indonesia

Introduction : Before 1998, no one could think about the amendment of the 1945 Constitution. The 1945 Constitution was a product of nationalist who had hard fought for independence from the Dutch colonization. This historical background made it the symbol of independence of the Indonesian nation. Thus, it has been considered as forbidden to touch contents of the 1945 Constitution whereas political leaders have legitimized their authoritarian rulership by utilizing a symbolic character of the Constitution. With the largest political turmoil since its independence, that is, a breakdown of authoritarian regime and democratic transformation in 1998-1999, however, a myth of the "sacred and inviolable" constitution has disappeared. A new theme has then aroused: how can the 1945 Constitution be adapted for a new democratic regime in Indonesia? 　　　The Indonesian modern state has applied the 1945 Constitution as the basic law since its independence in 1945, except for around 10 years in the 1950s. In the period of independence struggle, contrary to the constitutional provision that a kind of presidential system is employed, a cabinet responsible for the Central National Committee was installed. Politics under this institution was in practice a parliamentary system of government. After the Dutch transferred sovereignty to Indonesia in 1949, West European constitutionalism and party politics under a parliamentary system was fully adopted with the introduction of two new constitutions: the 1949 Constitution of Federal Republic of Indonesia and the 1950 Provisional Constitution of Republic of Indonesia. Since a return from the 1950 Constitution to the 1945 Constitution was decided with the Presidential Decree in 1959, the 1945 Constitution had supported two authoritarian regimes of Soekarno's "Guided Democracy" and Soeharto's "New Order" as a legal base. When the 32-year Soeharto's government fell down and democratization started in 1998, the 1945 Constitution was not replaced with a new one, as seen in many other democratizing countries, but successively reformed to adapt itself to a new democratic regime. In the result of four constitutional amendments in 1999-2002, political institutions in Indonesia are experiencing a transformation from an authoritative structure, in which the executive branch monopolized power along with incompetent legislative and judicial branches, to a modern democratic structure, in which the legislative branch can maintain predominance over the executive. However, as observed that President Abdurrahman Wahid, the first president ever elected democratically in Indonesian history, was impeached after one and a half years in office, democratic politics under a new political institution has never been stable. 　　　Under the 1945 Constitution, how did authoritarian regimes maintain stability? Why can a democratic regime not achieve its stability? What did the two constitutional amendments in the process of democratization change? In the first place, how did the political institutions stipulated by the 1945 Constitution come out? Through answering the above questions, this chapter intends to survey the historical continuity and change of political institutions in Indonesia along with the 1945 Constitutions and to analyze impact of regime transformation on political institutions. First, we examine political institutions stipulated by the original 1945 Constitution as well as historical and philosophical origins of the constitution. Second, we search constitutional foundations in the 1945 Constitution that made it possible for Soekarno and Soeharto to establish and maintain authoritarian regimes. Third, we examine contents of constitutional amendments in the process of democratization since 1998. Fourth, we analyze new political dynamics caused by constitutional changes, looking at the impeachment process of President Abdurrahman Wahid. Finally, we consider tasks faced by Indonesia that seeks to establish a stable democracy.

New methods to reduce leakage errors in planar near-field measurements

This paper describes two methods to cancel the effect of two kinds of leakage signals which may be presented when an antenna is measured in a planar near-field range. One method tries to reduce leakage bias errors from the receiver¿s quadrature detector and it is based on estimating the bias constant added to every near-field data sample. Then, that constant is subtracted from the data, removing its undesired effect on the far-field pattern. The estimation is performed by back-propagating the field from the scan plane to the antenna under test plane (AUT) and averaging all the data located outside the AUT aperture. The second method is able to cancel the effect of the leakage from faulty transmission lines, connectors or rotary joints. The basis of this method is also a reconstruction process to determine the field distribution on the AUT plane. Once this distribution is known, a spatial filtering is applied to cancel the contribution due to those faulty elements. After that, a near-field-to-far-field transformation is applied, obtaining a new radiation pattern where the leakage effects have disappeared. To verify the effectiveness of both methods, several examples are presented.

The future obligations of "project manager" as construction integral director (DIPE) in the law of buildings construction in spain (LOE)

In the year 1999 approves the Law of Construction Building (LOE, in Spanish) to regulate a sector such as construction, which contained some shortcomings from the legal point of view. Currently, the LOE has been in force 12 years, changing the spanish world of the construction, due to influenced by internationalization. Within the LOE, there regulating the different actors involved in the construction building, as the Projects design, the Director of Construction, the developer, The builder, Director of execution of the construction (actor only in Spain, similar as construcion engineer and abroad in), control entities and the users, but lacks figure Project manager will assume the delegation of the promoter helping and you organize, direct and management the process. This figure assumes that the market and contracts are not legally regulated in Spain, then should define and establish its regulation in the LOE. (Spain Construction Law) The translation in spanish of the words "Project Manager is owed to Professor Rafael de Heredia in his book Integrated Project Management, as agent acting on behalf of the organization and promoter assuming control of the project, ie Integraded Project Management . Already exist in Spain, AEDIP (Spanish Association Integrated of Project Construction management) which comprises the major companies in “Project Management” in Spain, and MeDIP (Master in Integrated Construction Project) the largest and most advanced studies at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, in "Construction Project Management" they teach which is also in Argentina. The Integrated Project ("Project Management") applied to the construction process is a methodological technique that helps to organize, control and manage the resources of the promoters in the building process. When resources are limited (which is usually most situations) to manage them efficiently becomes very important. Well, we find that in this situation, the resources are not only limited, but it is limited, so a comprehensive control and monitoring of them becomes not only important if not crucial. The alternative of starting from scratch with a team that specializes in developing these follow directly intervening to ensure that scarce resources are used in the best possible way requires the use of a specific methodology (Manual DIP, Matrix Foreign EDR breakdown structure EDP Project, Risk Management and Control, Design Management, et ..), that is the methodology used by "Projects managers" to ensure that the initial objectives of the promoters or investors are met and all actors in process, from design to construction company have the mind aim of the project will do, trying to get their interests do not prevail over the interests of the project. Among the agents listed in the building process, "Project Management" or DIPE (Director Comprehensive building process, a proposed name for possible incorporation into the LOE, ) currently not listed as such in the LOE (Act on Construction Planning ), one of the agents that exist within the building process is not regulated from the legal point of view, no obligations, ie, as is required by law to have a project, a builder, a construction management, etc. DIPE only one who wants to hire you as have been advanced knowledge of their services by the clients they have been hiring these agents, there being no legal obligation as mentioned above, then the market is dictating its ruling on this new figure, as if it were necessary, he was not hired and eventually disappeared from the building process. As the aim of this article is regular the process and implement the name of DIPE in the Spanish Law of buildings construction (LOE)

Contradictio in terminis: dialéctica de la ambigüedad en la arquitectura contemporánea

The twentieth century brought a new sensibility characterized by the discredit of cartesian rationality and the weakening of universal truths, related with aesthetic values as order, proportion and harmony. In the middle of the century, theorists such as Theodor Adorno, Rudolf Arnheim and Anton Ehrenzweig warned about the transformation developed by the artistic field. Contemporary aesthetics seemed to have a new goal: to deny the idea of art as an organized, finished and coherent structure. The order had lost its privileged position. Disorder, probability, arbitrariness, accidentality, randomness, chaos, fragmentation, indeterminacy... Gradually new terms were coined by aesthetic criticism to explain what had been happening since the beginning of the century. The first essays on the matter sought to provide new interpretative models based on, among other arguments, the phenomenology of perception, the recent discoveries of quantum mechanics, the deeper layers of the psyche or the information theories. Overall, were worthy attempts to give theoretical content to a situation as obvious as devoid of founding charter. Finally, in 1962, Umberto Eco brought together all this efforts by proposing a single theoretical frame in his book Opera Aperta. According to his point of view, all of the aesthetic production of twentieth century had a characteristic in common: its capacity to express multiplicity. For this reason, he considered that the nature of contemporary art was, above all, ambiguous. The aim of this research is to clarify the consequences of the incorporation of ambiguity in architectural theoretical discourse. We should start making an accurate analysis of this concept. However, this task is quite difficult because ambiguity does not allow itself to be clearly defined. This concept has the disadvantage that its signifier is as imprecise as its signified. In addition, the negative connotations that ambiguity still has outside the aesthetic field, stigmatizes this term and makes its use problematic. Another problem of ambiguity is that the contemporary subject is able to locate it in all situations. This means that in addition to distinguish ambiguity in contemporary productions, so does in works belonging to remote ages and styles. For that reason, it could be said that everything is ambiguous. And that’s correct, because somehow ambiguity is present in any creation of the imperfect human being. However, as Eco, Arnheim and Ehrenzweig pointed out, there are two major differences between current and past contexts. One affects the subject and the other the object. First, it’s the contemporary subject, and no other, who has acquired the ability to value and assimilate ambiguity. Secondly, ambiguity was an unexpected aesthetic result in former periods, while in contemporary object it has been codified and is deliberately present. In any case, as Eco did, we consider appropriate the use of the term ambiguity to refer to the contemporary aesthetic field. Any other term with more specific meaning would only show partial and limited aspects of a situation quite complex and difficult to diagnose. Opposed to what normally might be expected, in this case ambiguity is the term that fits better due to its particular lack of specificity. In fact, this lack of specificity is what allows to assign a dynamic condition to the idea of ambiguity that in other terms would hardly be operative. Thus, instead of trying to define the idea of ambiguity, we will analyze how it has evolved and its consequences in architectural discipline. Instead of trying to define what it is, we will examine what its presence has supposed in each moment. We will deal with ambiguity as a constant presence that has always been latent in architectural production but whose nature has been modified over time. Eco, in the mid-twentieth century, discerned between classical ambiguity and contemporary ambiguity. Currently, half a century later, the challenge is to discern whether the idea of ambiguity has remained unchanged or have suffered a new transformation. What this research will demonstrate is that it’s possible to detect a new transformation that has much to do with the cultural and aesthetic context of last decades: the transition from modernism to postmodernism. This assumption leads us to establish two different levels of contemporary ambiguity: each one related to one these periods. The first level of ambiguity is widely well-known since many years. Its main characteristics are a codified multiplicity, an interpretative freedom and an active subject who gives conclusion to an object that is incomplete or indefinite. This level of ambiguity is related to the idea of indeterminacy, concept successfully introduced into contemporary aesthetic language. The second level of ambiguity has been almost unnoticed for architectural criticism, although it has been identified and studied in other theoretical disciplines. Much of the work of Fredric Jameson and François Lyotard shows reasonable evidences that the aesthetic production of postmodernism has transcended modern ambiguity to reach a new level in which, despite of the existence of multiplicity, the interpretative freedom and the active subject have been questioned, and at last denied. In this period ambiguity seems to have reached a new level in which it’s no longer possible to obtain a conclusive and complete interpretation of the object because it has became an unreadable device. The postmodern production offers a kind of inaccessible multiplicity and its nature is deeply contradictory. This hypothetical transformation of the idea of ambiguity has an outstanding analogy with that shown in the poetic analysis made by William Empson, published in 1936 in his Seven Types of Ambiguity. Empson established different levels of ambiguity and classified them according to their poetic effect. This layout had an ascendant logic towards incoherence. In seventh level, where ambiguity is higher, he located the contradiction between irreconcilable opposites. It could be said that contradiction, once it undermines the coherence of the object, was the better way that contemporary aesthetics found to confirm the Hegelian judgment, according to which art would ultimately reject its capacity to express truth. Much of the transformation of architecture throughout last century is related to the active involvement of ambiguity in its theoretical discourse. In modern architecture ambiguity is present afterwards, in its critical review made by theoreticians like Colin Rowe, Manfredo Tafuri and Bruno Zevi. The publication of several studies about Mannerism in the forties and fifties rescued certain virtues of an historical style that had been undervalued due to its deviation from Renacentist canon. Rowe, Tafuri and Zevi, among others, pointed out the similarities between Mannerism and certain qualities of modern architecture, both devoted to break previous dogmas. The recovery of Mannerism allowed joining ambiguity and modernity for first time in the same sentence. In postmodernism, on the other hand, ambiguity is present ex-professo, developing a prominent role in the theoretical discourse of this period. The distance between its analytical identification and its operational use quickly disappeared because of structuralism, an analytical methodology with the aspiration of becoming a modus operandi. Under its influence, architecture began to be identified and studied as a language. Thus, postmodern theoretical project discerned between the components of architectural language and developed them separately. Consequently, there is not only one, but three projects related to postmodern contradiction: semantic project, syntactic project and pragmatic project. Leading these projects are those prominent architects whose work manifested an especial interest in exploring and developing the potential of the use of contradiction in architecture. Thus, Robert Venturi, Peter Eisenman and Rem Koolhaas were who established the main features through which architecture developed the dialectics of ambiguity, in its last and extreme level, as a theoretical project in each component of architectural language. Robert Venturi developed a new interpretation of architecture based on its semantic component, Peter Eisenman did the same with its syntactic component, and also did Rem Koolhaas with its pragmatic component. With this approach this research aims to establish a new reflection on the architectural transformation from modernity to postmodernity. Also, it can serve to light certain aspects still unaware that have shaped the architectural heritage of past decades, consequence of a fruitful relationship between architecture and ambiguity and its provocative consummation in a contradictio in terminis. Esta investigación centra su atención fundamentalmente sobre las repercusiones de la incorporación de la ambigüedad en forma de contradicción en el discurso arquitectónico postmoderno, a través de cada uno de sus tres proyectos teóricos. Está estructurada, por tanto, en torno a un capítulo principal titulado Dialéctica de la ambigüedad como proyecto teórico postmoderno, que se desglosa en tres, de títulos: Proyecto semántico. Robert Venturi; Proyecto sintáctico. Peter Eisenman; y Proyecto pragmático. Rem Koolhaas. El capítulo central se complementa con otros dos situados al inicio. El primero, titulado Dialéctica de la ambigüedad contemporánea. Una aproximación realiza un análisis cronológico de la evolución que ha experimentado la idea de la ambigüedad en la teoría estética del siglo XX, sin entrar aún en cuestiones arquitectónicas. El segundo, titulado Dialéctica de la ambigüedad como crítica del proyecto moderno se ocupa de examinar la paulatina incorporación de la ambigüedad en la revisión crítica de la modernidad, que sería de vital importancia para posibilitar su posterior introducción operativa en la postmodernidad. Un último capítulo, situado al final del texto, propone una serie de Proyecciones que, a tenor de lo analizado en los capítulos anteriores, tratan de establecer una relectura del contexto arquitectónico actual y su evolución posible, considerando, en todo momento, que la reflexión en torno a la ambigüedad todavía hoy permite vislumbrar nuevos horizontes discursivos. Cada doble página de la Tesis sintetiza la estructura tripartita del capítulo central y, a grandes rasgos, la principal herramienta metodológica utilizada en la investigación. De este modo, la triple vertiente semántica, sintáctica y pragmática con que se ha identificado al proyecto teórico postmoderno se reproduce aquí en una distribución específica de imágenes, notas a pie de página y cuerpo principal del texto. En la columna de la izquierda están colocadas las imágenes que acompañan al texto principal. Su distribución atiende a criterios estéticos y compositivos, cualificando, en la medida de lo posible, su condición semántica. A continuación, a su derecha, están colocadas las notas a pie de página. Su disposición es en columna y cada nota está colocada a la misma altura que su correspondiente llamada en el texto principal. Su distribución reglada, su valor como notación y su posible equiparación con una estructura profunda aluden a su condición sintáctica. Finalmente, el cuerpo principal del texto ocupa por completo la mitad derecha de cada doble página. Concebido como un relato continuo, sin apenas interrupciones, su papel como responsable de satisfacer las demandas discursivas que plantea una investigación doctoral está en correspondencia con su condición pragmática.

Conexión con la meseta desde el Ebro medio de las vías romanas como base de la malla territorial de España

No tenemos conocimiento de ninguna red de caminos prerromanos que sirvieran como base de una posible malla territorial de España. Sin embargo, una sociedad prerromana sin caminos, por muy fragmentada y aislada que fuera, es algo improbable y mucho menos en la Edad del Hierro. Por eso en época prerromana existían infinidad de caminos, muchos de los cuales hoy han desaparecido y otros han sobrevivido, casi siempre con sus recorridos mejorados. Los pueblos prerromanos aprovecharon vías naturales de comunicación (ríos, vados, valles, puertos naturales, llanuras, etc.) para tender sus caminos. En sus orígenes no siguieron pautas concretas, si no que los caminos se originaban por el tránsito (de personas, ganados, mercancías, etc.) de un lugar a otro. De este modo la red viaria prerromana era caótica y anárquica: todo camino tenía numerosos ramales y variantes, según las necesidades. Pendientes excesivas, anchuras variables, etc., en decir eran vías espontáneas, surgidas sin ninguna planificación aparente. Los recorridos en general eran cortos, aunque algunas investigaciones actuales están demostrando que algunas de las cañadas ganaderas más importantes, como la Galiana, y de largo recorrido, eran de origen prerromano. En el caso de la península Ibérica, y más concretamente en el caso de la Meseta, el territorio estaba fragmentado en diversos pueblos y tribus, agrupados según criterios étnicos y culturales y con contactos con los pueblos próximos que motivan la preponderancia de caminos de recorrido cortos. Solo la necesidad de llevar los rebaños (de cabras y ovejas sobre todo) desde las serranías en verano a las llanuras en invierno, motivaría viajes más largos en los que algunas cañadas ganaderas jugarían un papel más importante. Con la llegada de los romanaos, se implantó en Hispania una densa red viaria, cuya construcción se prolongó durante toda la dominación romana, siendo reparadas muchas calzadas y vías en varias ocasiones. En época romana la red caminera era variada y estaba constituida por “las calzadas” que comunicaban puntos importantes, eran muy transitadas, de ahí que la administración romana las mantuviera siempre en buen estado, para asegurar el intercambio comercial entre zonas distintas, cobro de impuestos, etc. “Los caminos de tierra (viae terrenae)” que además de las calzadas, que podemos asemejar a las actuales carreteras de primer y segundo orden, constituían la infinidad de caminos locales y comarcales. Los trazados se realizaron unos en época romana, y otros muchos apoyándose en los caminos de la época prerromana, éstas vías no se realizaban buscando el recorrido más corto entre dos puntos, ni tampoco el más cómodo y con un firme estructural de menor importancia que en las calzadas. Tampoco estaban hechos para un tipo concreto de transporte, por lo que nos encontraríamos algunos que por su anchura permitían el paso de carros, y otros que sólo permitirían el paso a pie, a caballo o en burro. Solían ser, como hemos indicado, caminos de tierra con acabados en zahorras y recorridos en su mayor parte cortos y medianos. Dentro de la malla territorial de España las calzadas constituirían las denominadas “viae publicae” que constituían la red principal y esqueleto vertebrador de Hispania. Los caminos de tierra constituirían los denominados “actus” caminos de carácter regional que configuraban la mayor parte de la red. Muchas de las “viae publicae” y de los “actus” tendrían su origen en las “viae militares” que habrían sido los primeros construidos, apoyándose en muchas ocasiones en los caminos prerromanos, por los romanos para realizar la conquista de Hispania y que luego con la Paz romana habrían tenido otro tipo de uso. Dentro de estas “viae militares” tuvieron una importancia relevancia aquellas que se utilizaron en la conquista de la Celtiberia, culminada con la caída de Numantia. Dentro de ellas tuvo una importancia fundamental la vía romana del río Alhama, objeto de esta Tesis, que facilitaría el desplazamiento de los ejércitos romanos desde Graccurris, primera ciudad romana fundada en el Ebro medio, hasta Numantia. Desde la época Augusta, la vía romana del río Alhama, pasaría a formar parte de los denominados “actus” formando parte de la malla territorial de la Península Ibérica como vía de comunicación entre la Meseta y el Ebro Medio. We do not have knowledge of any network of ways prerromanos that were serving as base of a possible territorial mesh of Spain. Nevertheless, a company prerromana without ways, for very fragmented and isolated that was, is something improbable and great less in the Age of the Iron. Because of it in epoch prerromana existed infinity of ways, many of which today have disappeared and others have survived, almost always with his improved tours. The people prerromanos took advantage of natural routes of communication (rivers, fords, valleys, natural ports, plains, etc.) to stretch his ways. In his origins concrete guidelines did not continue, if not that the ways were originating for the traffic (of persons, cattle, goods, etc.) to and from. Thus the network viaria prerromana was chaotic and anarchic: all way had numerous branches and variants, according to the needs. Excessive slopes, variable widths, etc., in saying were spontaneous routes arisen without no apparent planning. The tours in general were short, though some current investigations are demonstrating that some of the most important cattle glens, as the Galiana, and of crossed length, were of origin prerromano. In case of the Iberian Peninsula, and more concretely in case of the Plateau, the territory was fragmented in diverse peoples and tribes, grouped according to ethnic and cultural criteria and with contacts with the near peoples that motivate the prevalence of short ways of tour. Only the need to take the flocks (of goats and sheeps especially) from the mountainous countries in summer to the plains in winter, would motivate longer trips in which some cattle glens would play a more important paper. With the arrival of the romanos, a dense network was implanted in Roman Spain viaria, whose construction extended during the whole Roman domination, being repaired many causeways and routes in several occasions. In Roman epoch the pertaining to roads network was changed and constituted by " the causeways " that were communicating important points, they were very travelled, of there that the Roman administration was supporting always in good condition, to assure the commercial exchange between different zones, collection of taxes, etc. "The dirt tracks (viae terrenae)" that besides the causeways, which we can make alike to the current roads of the first and second order, were constituting the infinity of local and regional ways. The tracings were realized some in Roman epoch, and great others resting on the ways of the epoch prerromana, these routes were not realized looking for the most short tour neither between points, two nor neither most comfortable and with a structural road surface of minor importance that in the causeways. They were not also done for a concrete type of transport, for what some of us would think that for his width they were allowing the step of cars, and others that only would allow the step afoot, astride or in donkey. They were in the habit of being, since we have indicated, dirt tracks with ended in zahorras and tours in his most short and medium. Inside the territorial mesh of Spain the causeways would constitute the called ones "viae publicae" that constituted the principal network and skeleton vertebrador of Roman Spain. The dirt tracks would constitute the "actus” called ways of regional character that were forming most of the network. Many of "viae publicae" and of the "actus" they would have his origin in " viae military" that would have been the first ones constructed, resting on many occasions on the ways prerromanos, for the Romans to realize the conquest of Roman Spain and that then with the Roman Peace they would have had another type of use. Inside these "viae military" had an importance relevancy those that were in use in the conquest of the Celtiberia, reached with Numantia's fall. Inside them a fundamental importance had the Roman route of the river Alhama, object of this Thesis, which would facilitate the displacement of the Roman armies from Graccurris, the first Roman city been founded on the average Ebro, up to Numantia. From the August epoch, the Roman route of the river Alhama, would happen to form a part of the "actus” forming a part of the territorial mesh of the Iberian Peninsula as road link between the Plateau and the Average Ebro.

La rehabilitación de construcciones militares para uso hotelero: la red de Paradores de Turismo, (1928-2012)

Fundamento de la tesis: Al comienzo del siglo XX, el interés por el turismo unido a la necesidad de restaurar un abundante patrimonio histórico, posibilitó en España que los poderes públicos se embarcaran en una singular experiencia: la creación de una infraestructura hotelera a partir de la rehabilitación de edificios históricos. La preservación, mantenimiento e incluso rentabilidad de una gran parte del patrimonio español se haría efectiva a través de la innovadora fórmula patrimonio‐turismo, cuya máxima expresión se materializó en la Red de Paradores desde su fundación en la segunda década del siglo pasado hasta nuestros días. Sorprendentemente, este tema no ha sido todavía investigado en su vertiente arquitectónica pese a que España ha sido pionera y modelo en la cuestión de la hotelería pública. Este trabajo aborda el estudio del caso más significativo de todos los edificios de la red, en tanto que el patrimonio que ha servido de base a los fines hoteleros del Estado ha contado con un total de seis tipos arquitectónicos a lo largo de su historia, dentro de los cuales la arquitectura militar despunta con su mayoritaria presencia dentro del contexto de los edificios históricos de la red. El carácter arquetípico de los castillos y fortalezas, arraigado en el inconsciente colectivo, les hizo especialmente atractivos como alojamiento turístico al permitir evocar la remota época medieval, pese a ser el tipo arquitectónico más comprometido para la rehabilitación hotelera. El estudio de las intervenciones operadas en estos inmuebles se revela de forma clara como escaparate de los distintos criterios de intervención patrimonial que se han sucedido en el siglo XX, hasta enlazar con la perspectiva interdisciplinar actual. La tesis abarca en, primer lugar, diferentes aspectos generales relativos al promotor hotelero, la hotelería pública de ámbito nacional e internacional, y la caracterización de los inmuebles de la red estatal española, desde el punto de vista hotelero y arquitectónico, entendida esta última en sus tres escalas de influencia: la arquitectónica, la urbana o paisajística, y la del interiorismo. Se analiza en segundo término la arquitectura militar dentro del contexto de la Red de Paradores, desde la consideración de su transformación hotelera, para lo cual ha sido necesario realizar una clasificación propia, que abarca tanto edificios que respondieron a una estructura de cuartel, como castillos‐palacio, o fortalezas que habían servido a los fines de una orden religiosa militar, además de considerarse las intervenciones en recintos históricos de carácter militar, donde se hacía obligatorio construir de nueva planta. En tercer y último lugar, se analiza a lo largo de las distintas etapas del organismo turístico las rehabilitaciones realizadas en estas construcciones militares, a la vez que se tienen en cuenta las intervenciones en los restantes edificios históricos, para evitar la descontextualización. Este recorrido comienza con la promoción de los dos primeros paradores a cargo del Comisario Regio, el marqués de la Vega‐Inclán, que sirvieron para sentar las bases de los conceptos e ideas que habrían de desarrollarse en las siguientes décadas. Posteriormente, se desarrolló y tomó forma la red con el Patronato Nacional del Turismo, en la que las primeras intervenciones en tipos militares se tradujeron en reformas interiores de locales. La etapa clave de la red, y en particular de la arquitectura militar, tuvo lugar con el Ministerio de Información y Turismo, marcada por la “repristinación” de monumentos, tras un período preparatorio con la Dirección General del Turismo en el que lo militar había quedado de telón de fondo de otros tipos arquitectónicos. Tras el auge del Ministerio llegó el período de decadencia en el que los castillos y fortalezas desaparecieron de los intereses de las Secretarias de Turismo, hasta llegar a las inauguraciones de los novedosos establecimientos del siglo XXI y el resurgimiento del tipo militar con el parador de Lorca. Metodología empleada: Este trabajo de investigación se ha servido fundamentalmente de documentación inédita, procedente de diversos archivos, además de una muy extensa toma de datos in situ. Dentro del patrimonio analizado, los inmuebles que responden al tipo arquitectónico militar se han dividido en tres grandes grupos: inmuebles rehabilitados que entraron en funcionamiento en la red, inmuebles en proceso de transformación hotelera, e inmuebles que fueron adquiridos con fines hoteleros pero que no llegaron a rehabilitarse. Para cada uno de ellos ha sido necesario determinar en qué estado llegaron a manos de la Administración Turística, cuál fue el mecanismo a través del cual se adquirieron, en qué consistió su primera rehabilitación hotelera, y cuáles fueron las ampliaciones o reformas más significativas que se realizaron posteriormente. Estos datos se han sintetizado en fichas y se han extraído conclusiones al comparar cada unidad con el conjunto. Simultáneamente se introdujeron dos factores externos: la historia del turismo que permitió hacer una ordenación cronológica de los inmuebles según etapas, y la historia de la teoría y práctica de la intervención patrimonial en España que permitió comparar los criterios patrimoniales de la Administración competente respecto de las intervenciones de la Administración Turística, cuyo contacto se haría obligatorio a partir del Decreto, de 22 de abril de 1949, que dejaba bajo la tutela del Estado a todos los castillos y fortalezas. Aportación de la tesis: Con carácter general, la tesis centra una ordenación y sistematización completa del patrimonio inmobiliario de la red, desde el punto de vista de los tipos hoteleros y arquitectónicos, además de poner por primera vez en conexión distintos modelos de hotelería pública, para constituirse en el sustrato de futuras investigaciones. El estudio realizado se ha hecho extensivo a las distintas escalas que inciden de forma interconectada en la implantación de un parador: la arquitectónica, la urbana y la del interiorismo, hasta ahora referenciado desde la exclusiva visión arquitectónica. Se han definido las etapas de la historia de la red, no ya sólo a partir del hilo conductor de la cadena sucesiva de organismos turísticos, sino que por primera vez se hace en razón de la evolución que sufren las intervenciones patrimoniales a lo largo del tiempo, a la vez que se entra en conexión con la teoría y praxis de la restauración monumental. Con carácter particular, la arquitectura militar dentro del contexto de los paradores se destaca en el período del Ministerio, en el que se experimentaron todas las posibilidades que presentaba su rehabilitación. En este sentido se ha puesto de manifiesto en este trabajo un tipo híbrido de parador, a caballo entre la rehabilitación y la edificación de nueva planta, las dos formas básicas de establecimiento creadas en la Comisaría Regia, al que se ha denominado edificación de nueva planta en recinto histórico militar. Esta nueva caracterización se ha valorado como la forma más eficiente de implantar paradores, cuyas pautas arquitectónicas abarcaron un abanico de posibilidades: imitación de modelos arquitectónicos históricos con utilización de elementos patrimoniales prestados que dieran el valor de la historia, utilización de un lenguaje moderno, o la inspiración en la arquitectura vernácula. La amalgama de elementos, estilos e intervenciones sucesivas de ampliación fue la característica común tanto para la implantación de un parador en un edificio como en un recinto amurallado. La arquitectura militar transformada en establecimiento hotelero evidencia la vocación escenográfica de las intervenciones patrimoniales, secundada por el interiorismo, además de su aportación a la arquitectura hotelera en lo referente al confort, organización y funcionamiento de sus instalaciones. La tesis ahonda en los diversos aspectos de la rehabilitación hotelera apuntados de forma parcial por algunos autores, y pone de manifiesto la “ambientación medieval” operada en la arquitectura militar, que llegó a tener su máxima expresión con el criterio de la “unidad de estilo” del Ministerio de Información y Turismo. La rehabilitación hotelera dentro del contexto de la Red de Paradores, queda caracterizada en la tesis en relación a intervenciones en construcciones militares, cuya sistematización puede ser extrapolable a otros tipos arquitectónicos o cadenas hoteleras de titularidad pública, a partir del estudio que se ha avanzado en este trabajo. Thesis basis: At the beginning of the 20th century the interest in tourism added to the plentiful heritage in Spain enabled the authorities to embark on a singular experience: the creation of a hotel infrastructure from the restoration of historic buildings. Preservation, maintenance, and even profitability of a large part of the Spanish heritage would be effective through the innovative formula heritage-tourism. Its greatest expression materialized in the Paradores Network since its foundation in last century’s second decade to the present day. Surprisingly, this subject has not yet been investigated in its architectural aspect, even though Spain has been a pioneer and a model in the matter of public hotel business. This project tackles the study of the most significative case of all the network’s buildings, since the heritage which has served throughout history as a base for the State hotel purposes has altogether six architectural types, among which military architecture stands out with its majority presence in the context of the historical buildings of the network. The archetypal character of castles and fortresses, ingrained in the collective subconscious, made them specially attractive for tourist accommodation, as it allowed the evocation of far medieval times, despite being the most awkward architectural type for hotel restoration. The study of the interventions in these buildings clearly reveals itself as a showcase of the different criteria of heritage intervention along the 20th century, connecting to the present interdisciplinary perspective. Firstly, the thesis covers different general aspects regarding the hotel developer, the domestic and international public hotel business, and the description of the Spanish state network buildings from a hotel business and an architectural point of view, the latter from its three influence scales: architectural, urban or landscape, and interior design. Secondly, the transformation of the military architecture in the Paradores Network into hotels is analyzed. For that purpose it was necessary to create a specific classification, which included barrack-structured buildings, castle-palaces, or fortresses which served the purposes of military-religious orders. The interventions in those military historical places where new building became compulsory were also taken into consideration. Thirdly and lastly, the thesis analyses the restorations in these military constructions through the different stages of the tourist organization. In order to avoid decontextualization, interventions in other historical buildings were also considered. This route begins with the promotion of the two first Paradores by the Royal Commissioner, the marquis of Vega-Inclán, which paved the way for the concepts and ideas that were developed in the following decades. Subsequently, the network was developed and took shape with the National Tourism Board. The first interventions on military types were inside refurbishments. The Network’s key period, and in particular of its military architecture, took place with the Ministry of Information and Tourism, a time marked by the “restoration to its original state” of monuments. This stage arrived after a preparatory period with the State Tourist Office, when the military type was left as a backdrop for other architectural types. After the Ministry’s boom arrived a decline, in which castles and fortresses disappeared from the Tourist Department’s interests up to the opening of the 21st century new establishments and the resurgence of the military type with Lorca’s Parador. Methodology: The present research project has mainly used unpublished documentation from several archives and has done an extensive in situ data-gathering. Within the heritage analyzed, military buildings have been divided into three main groups: restored buildings that began to operate in the network, those in process of hotel transformation, and those acquired for hotel purposes, but which did not become restored. In each case, it has been necessary to determine the condition in which they arrived to the Tourist Administration, the procedure by which they were acquired, what their first hotel restoration consisted of, and which their subsequent most significative enlargements and alterations were. These facts have been synthesized in cards, and conclusions were drawn by comparing each unit with the whole. Simultaneously, two external factors were introduced: the history of tourism, that allowed establishing a chronological order according to different periods, and the history of Spanish heritage intervention’s theory and practice, that permitted to compare the heritage criteria from the competent Administration with those of the Tourist Administration’s interventions. Both Administrations came compulsorily into contact after the Decree of 22nd April 1949, by which all castles and fortresses became under the protection of the State. Thesis contribution: In general, the thesis focuses on a complete order and systematization of the network’s heritage buildings from the hotel and architectural types points of view, besides connecting for the first time different public hotel business models, becoming the substratum for future investigations. The study has included the different scales that impact interconnected on the establishment of a Parador: architectural, urban and interior design, only referenced to date from an architectural point of view. The Network’s history stages have been defined according to not only a consecutive series of tourist organizations, but also, and for the first time, to the evolution of heritage interventions over time, thus connecting with the theory and praxis of monumental restoration. In particular, within the Paradores, military architecture stands out in the Ministry’s period, in which all kind of restoration possibilities were explored. In this sense, the present project puts forth a hybrid type of Parador between restoration and new building, the two basic ways of establishment created in the Royal Commission, termed new building in military historic enclosure. This new characterization has been evaluated as the most efficient for establishing Paradores, whose architectonic guidelines include a wide range of possibilities: the imitation of historical architectonic models with use of borrowed heritage components that provide historical value, the use of modern language, or the inspiration in vernacular architecture. The amalgam of elements, styles and consecutive enlargement interventions was the common feature of the establishment of a Parador, both in a building or in a walled enclosure. The military architecture transformed into a hotel establishment gives proof of the scenographic vocation of heritage interventions, supported by interior design, as well as of its contribution to hotel architecture, related to its comfort, organization and the functioning of its facilities. The thesis delves into the diverse aspects of hotel restoration, partially pointed out by several authors, and puts forth the creation of a “medieval atmosphere” in military architecture, which came to its highest expression with the “unitary style” criteria of the Ministry of Information and Tourism. Hotel restoration within the context of the Paradores’ Network is defined in this thesis in relation to interventions in military constructions, whose systemization can be extrapolative to other architectural types or public hotel chains, based on the study which has been put forward in this project.