El centro comercial : una teoría tipológica : claves para el reconocimiento de una arquitectura ignorada

Existe en el panorama edificado un patrimonio construido que se reconoce como Centro Comercial. Un conjunto entendido, en sentido genérico, como familia arquitectónica que tiene características propias y específicas que la identifican. El objeto de la presente tesis doctoral consiste en argumentar que este conjunto constituye un nuevo tipo en el panorama de las tipologías arquitectónicas. Un tipo con entidad propia, que se conecta a una forma diferente de entender la idea de modelo. Un concepto que va más allá de la consideración tradicional del término. Modelo virtual. Este tipo, que surge de una estructura teórica que hemos denominado teoría tipológica, se constituye en una herramienta más para el estudio y el desarrollo proyectual de los espacios arquitectónicos, tanto del propio Centro Comercial como del conjunto de la disciplina arquitectónica, como referencia legítima. El presente trabajo de tesis se inicia con un bloque introductorio denominado Método. Definimos en él una metodología que hemos llamado emocional. Trata de la oportunidad de la tesis. Del porqué de un título que recoge la palabra ignorada. Del interés que suscita el asunto en el contexto del momento presente. Oportunidad e interés en base a una vida profesional dedicada al mundo del Centro Comercial y a la importancia del patrimonio elegido como objeto de estudio. También ha sido un aliciente detectar como las planificaciones del territorio y de los ámbitos de las relaciones colectivas no han sido capaces de integrar un resultado satisfactorio. Quizás por no considerar la complejidad de sus muchas facetas. En consecuencia, el texto busca la esencia del Centro Comercial como soporte para la crítica de su impacto en los nuevos escenarios de relación que la sociedad y el entorno físico imponen. Ámbitos donde los mecanismos históricos del asociacionismo tradicional han dado paso a otros, como el Centro Comercial, de exaltación del individualismo, pero demandados por una sociedad que se identifica con ellos. Espacios que, con Galbraith, existen por de la perversidad intrínseca del binomio consumo-producción que inducen la perplejidad. Ésta pasa a formar parte de la esencia del nuevo espacio comercial, como quedó de manifiesto en el Congreso de Minnesota de 1997, sobre el Centro Comercial. Una sociedad que ha girado hacia el logro material en términos de culto, ocasionando creciente valor significante del consumo. Razón última de la humanidad al decir de Rem Koolhaas. Culto que desemboca en la urgencia de alcanzar niveles de estatus y de identificación con el grupo. Dos parámetros que marcan la relación con el otro. Relación de comparación que excita la necesidad de posesión de objetos que llevaban a recrear en el consumidor la ilusión de ser especiales, de no pasar desapercibidos. El producto de consumo, el objeto, se eleva a la consideración de valor social. En el Centro Comercial se venden valores. Marketing de valores. El deseo del individuo, no la necesidad, queda involucrado en el proceso. La oportunidad y el interés de este estudio surgen además para aclarar el significado de un espacio que sirve al consumidor y a su entorno. Un significado que alcanza sentido, entre otros, por la aparición de un nuevo contexto tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Suburbanización, automóvil, nivel de vida, un nuevo papel de la mujer. La Era del Consumo. Una era que genera la paradoja de un individuo con autodeterminación y autosuficiencia crecientes, en un mundo cada vez más condicionado y controlado por dinámicas de ofertas mediatizadas e ilimitadas. La arquitectura en este contexto ha de juzgarse por su relación con un hombre contemporáneo que camina hacia una progresiva excepcionalidad. Cerramos la presentación justificando el término ignorada que aparece en el Título de la Tesis. Subrayamos la escasa existencia de estudios estructurados que relacionen Centro Comercial y arquitectura. Realidad que se constata partiendo del libro de Pevsner, Historia de las Tipologías Arquitectónicas, de 1976. Analizamos también la aceptación que el Centro Comercial, valorado en algunos ámbitos como arquitectura populista. Primer Capítulo, los antecedentes. Se propone un recorrido histórico por la arquitectura comercial de todos los tiempos. El Documento busca concretar las características de la arquitectura comercial a lo largo de la historia para determinar relaciones entre ella y el Centro Comercial. Estas correspondencias van a permitir contestar la pregunta retórica que nos hacemos al inicio del Capítulo: ¿Es la arquitectura del Centro Comercial una arquitectura subsidiaria, o tiene personalidad propia independiente de la del mundo comercial? Con Zevi40, queremos dejar constancia que la relación arquitectura-historia es imprescindible en la tarea proyectual. Un análisis novedoso solo es posible desde la búsqueda de unas raíces auténticas. Así mismo, con Guy de Maupassant, estamos convencidos que “La arquitectura, a través de los siglos, ha tenido el privilegio de dar un símbolo a cada una de las épocas, de resumir con un pequeñísimo número de monumentos típicos, el modo de pensar, de soñar de una raza y de una civilización”. Este recorrido se inicia interpretando la arquitectura comercial minoica. Llegaremos, paso a paso, hasta el siglo XX, los grandes itinerarios comerciales y el Centro Comercial. Se descubren una serie de invariantes que permiten comparar y extraer conclusiones. Resulta novedoso constatar que el Centro Comercial nace para dar respuesta al hombre contemporáneo en su afán consumista. También lo es la rápida implantación y evolución del Centro Comercial en un corto periodo de sesenta años frente al ritmo sosegado de otras soluciones comerciales. Novedad es ver como el comercio y sus arquitecturas nacen abiertos, bajo tenderetes y el Centro Comercial se presenta cerrado. Así mismo, las referencias sacras constituyen un elemento de novedad para la reflexión, en un contexto materialista. Y tantas otras. En Minos, la óptica comercial ofrece otra visión de su legendaria cultura. ¿Palacio o plataforma logística?, gestión centralizada del intercambio, ¿vida pública y vida privada? Así, hasta llegar al siglo XIX. Sus las galerías y sus pasajes acristalados concebidos en primera instancia como medida de recomposición urbana. Espacio entendido desde lo público-privado, desde lo interior-exterior, desde el dentro-afuera, desde lo cerrado-abierto. Con los nuevos mercados de abastos, representan una revolución en el ámbito de la funcionalidad, de la máquina, de la gestión moderna y de las relaciones del ciudadano con la ciudad apoyado en base al intercambio de bienes de consumo. El Centro Comercial es heredero de esta transformación. El Gran Almacén, por otra parte, es el reflejo de otra gran revolución. La que va ligada a la producción y comercialización en masa, las comunicaciones, el precio fijo y el aumento del nivel de vida. El Centro Comercial reinterpreta estas situaciones insertándolas en un nuevo modelo de gestión. En el siglo XX, maestro en técnicas de venta, aparece el hipermercado. El Híper, con su carga de pedagogía, se incorpora al esquema orgánico del Centro Comercial. La tienda en si misma constituye la pieza base de dicho puzle orgánico. Es en esta época cuando la tienda empieza su despegue autónomo como arquitectura, aportando su experiencia. Tras ello, llegamos a las grandes rutas comerciales, que proponemos como metáfora del shopping. Cerramos el capítulo concluyendo con Eugenio Ferrer que “si establecemos una relación entre el espacio y el capitalismo, entonces podemos inferir que los espacios del consumo de masas (ECM) son configuraciones nuevas respecto al pasado (...), pero el sistema que lo introduce no lo es del todo”. Segundo Capítulo. Búsqueda de claves que permitan el reconocimiento del Centro Comercial. Llegados a este punto y con la perspectiva del tiempo cabe preguntarnos, ¿qué entendemos pues por Centro Comercial? ¿Cómo lo percibimos? Abordamos ahora el problema de la percepción del Centro Comercial y su significado. Además de constituirse en símbolo, referencia siempre presente, la eficacia del Shopping es una de las principales causas de su poder de atracción. El Centro Comercial resulta de la síntesis de la revolución del consumo y de la revolución de la gestión. Espacio eficaz del entretenimiento como destino. El usuario resuelve su vida cotidiana dentro de un hábitat que considera propio y que se entiende como el lugar hiperbólico de la transacción comercial. Espacio de la abundancia para el disfrute. Una arquitectura involucrada en esta eficacia. Su sentido del lugar no es otro que el Shopping, que se desenvuelve de forma análoga en todas partes. El hogar del consumidor. Las nuevas catedrales. Las catedrales del consumo. Destino místico. Lugar de peregrinación para el consumidor fervoroso. Espacio sagrado que integra al usuario en la cultura dominante. Cultura del consumo. Templos, donde el tiempo ha perdido su sentido. Paraíso. Un espacio donde la altura, la luz natural, la dimensión general refuerzan el carácter sacro de un espacio para una nueva religión laica. Un espacio seguro, protegido que nos acerca a ideas como la de útero materno, con su carga de calidez y de significación erótica aplicado al encuentro compra-comprador y, ligado a ello, la literatura especializada habla del Centro Comercial como nave espacial hiperesterilizada o de agujero negro que absorbe la energía cultural. Más allá, la simulación, donde se percibe un simulacro de ciudad. Simulacro coherente con todo lo que el Shopping desencadena a su alrededor. El lugar de los sueños, de la fantasía. Aquí los productos se han metamorfoseado en fetiches, en significados. Televisión tridimensional, donde el usuario actúa guiado por una pulsión similar al zapping. Espacio lúdico de la fascinación por comprar o de imaginar que se compra. Espacio de simulaciones que llevan a la ensoñación. Un nuevo lugar que sustituye al espacio cotidiano, con el señuelo de la protección, en un contexto imaginariamente público. Espacio de la hiperrealidad donde no se distingue la realidad de la fantasía, donde tras episodios de confusión y desconcierto, se borran las fronteras con lo imaginario. Espacio mágico, escenario del gran espectáculo del consumo, controlado milimétricamente, al modo de la visita a un gran monumento, que ha de sobrevivir a los tiempos para dar testimonio de nuestro momento. Un icono, un símbolo que transmite un mensaje, que solo el consumidor es capaz de interpretar. Una agitada mezcla, sin precedentes, de percepciones que hablan de perplejidad y asombro ante el fenómeno del Centro Comercial, su espacio y las reacciones del hombre contemporáneo. ¿Cuáles serían las claves que nos permitirían reconocer la calidad esencial de un Centro Comercial, en esta concurrencia de perplejidades? Primero, la función de servicio. Un espacio donde ocurren muchas más cosas que lo obvio, que la compra. Un edificio que se involucra con el entorno de la mano de lo inesperado, la sorpresa y las expectativas. Esta vocación de servicio conecta Centro Comercial y naturaleza arquitectónica. Función que sugiere percepciones ligadas a la experiencia de compra. Organismo que vive y late al unísono con su visitante, colocándose al servicio de sus necesidades, de su afán de consumo, del que vive. Segundo, la comunidad servida. El Centro comercial sirve a una sociedad concreta. La sociedad consumista. Una nueva sociedad que se identifica con el edificio desarrollando un sentido de comunidad al nivel de sus deseos. Esta comunidad que se configura a su alrededor, constituye el activo más poderoso para el éxito de su realidad cotidiana y de su futuro. Tercero, un compromiso de carácter holístico. La economía de la experiencia aplicada al afán consumista de una sociedad identificada con su Centro, da lugar a una experiencia holística planificada. Diseño emocional. Colaboración para el éxito de un conjunto de establecimientos comerciales que participan en la aventura espacio-comercial del Centro Comercial. Ellos son los inductores primarios del consumo. Pero esta colaboración tiene su culminación en la amplificación del mensaje, como un inmenso altavoz, que proviene de la unidad configurada por todos ellos. El reflejo de esta amplificación de mensajes, desde la poderosa unidad constituida, es el aumento de la rentabilidad, fin último de la operación. Cuarto, la forma a través de una identificación de carácter gestáltico. Desde la lectura gestáltica que hacemos de la unidad holística, se advierte una poderosa capacidad de comunicación del sistema con su contexto. Centro y entorno se tornan entonces cómplices que complementan sus realidades. El Centro Comercial, arquitectura estructurada como sistema se percibe –ha de percibirse- como forma unitaria que procede de una mirada de raíz gestáltica que continuamente la recompone desde una óptica espacial y física, ligada a la experiencia individual. Esta unidad formal, más allá de la forma real, se constituye en esencia de de su arquitectura. Quinto, el Centro Comercial como sistema. Un sistema soportado por la Teoría General de Sistemas. La consideración del Centro Comercial como sistema es consecuencia de su estructura holística. El todo no se comporta como la suma de las partes y estas no lo hacen como lo harían en solitario. De aquí surge la necesidad de diálogo permanente entre la comercialización –proceso de incorporación de partes- y su traducción al mundo del diseño –proceso de articular arquitectónicamente las partes. Como sistema así configurado, el Centro Comercial se inserta en el paradigma contemporáneo, lo que genera realidades duales que no son excluyentes y reacciones de perplejidad e incertidumbre que el sistema corrige con su capacidad de autorregulación. Aparece también el espectador cuántico, el visitante, el consumidor, que interactúa con el sistema. Desde las herramientas que nos aporta la idea de sistema complejo, afrontamos el Mix Comercial -en definitiva la eficaz localización de las piezas en orden a sus relaciones y al organismo resultante- y su incidencia en la arquitectura que estamos concibiendo. Una arquitectura impredecible por lo mutable, que se erige en reto de la operación y del diseñador. Diseño que, de la mano del concepto de sistema se convierte en herramienta a mayor gloria de la operación global. El debate del estilismo no será más que el resultado del análisis en busca del éxito de esta operación. Sexto, una arquitectura de la negociación. Negociación como mecanismo proyectual y como resultado. La solución de proyecto nunca resulta evidente en el Centro Comercial como consecuencia de lo imprevisible del propio proceso de configuración. Su concreción solo puede ser fruto del compromiso de todos los agentes por conseguir el objetivo de la operación. Esto se consigue desde el equilibrio de intereses. Comerciales y de diseño. Un compromiso con la negociación y una negociación íntimamente ligada a la coordinación. Séptimo, el espacio y el tiempo. El debate espacio-tiempo condiciona y estructura la percepción del Centro Comercial. Introducimos conceptos como cronotopo –el instante y el lugar donde ocurre algo- y paradoja –incoherencia de la relación causa efecto- que sitúan el vínculo entre el tiempo y el espacio del Centro Comercial en un contexto de Shopping. En el discurrir paralelo del tiempo histórico –el tiempo de fuera- y del tiempo interior, el de dentro del Centro Comercial –tiempo presente o intemporalidad-, se produce el triunfo social del Centro Comercial que se traduce en haber sabido resolver en el espacio y en el tiempo las paradojas postmodernas del hombre contemporáneo. Octavo, de lo global. Globalidad que no es ajena a lo local. Una arquitectura que insertada en la dinámica de una economía de ámbito mundial, refleja las contradicciones que ella impone, fundamentalmente en los procesos de inclusión y exclusión, afectando de manera decisiva al debate de lo local, que el Centro Comercial debe incorporar como herramienta ineludible de reconocimiento. Terminamos el capítulo segundo manifestando como estas ocho claves, asumidas en su conjunto, confirman que el Centro Comercial puede aparecer como un todo conceptual cohesionado, pasando a formar parte de una familia arquitectónica coherente, cuya estructura funcional somos capaces de establecer. El Capítulo Tercero presenta con detalle la figura del arquitecto Víctor Gruen, creador reconocido del moderno Centro Comercial. Presentamos su trayectoria profesional observando como las diferentes claves analizadas en capítulos anteriores van apareciendo de manera natural a lo largo de ella "Victor Gruen may well have been the most influential architect of the twentieth century." Malcolm Gladwell. The Terrazo Jungle. Fifty Years Ago, The Mall Was Born. America Never Would Be The Same. 2004. In The New Yorker. Hombre complejo, conflictivo. Las paradojas a lo largo de su carrera fueron notables. Sin embargo siempre apareció como un hombre recto. Garret Eckbo, reconocido paisajista y colaborador de Gruen en el Centro Comercial peatonal del Centro urbano de Fresno, California, se asombraba de que alguien como Gruen hubiese sido capaz de combinar cortesía y humanidad en la carrera de ratas (sic) en la que se convirtió el universo de la comercialización americana y mantener la integridad542. Philip Johnson, en 1962, ponderando las muchas habilidades de Gruen manifestó que no estaba seguro si alguno de ellos, arquitectos artistas, hubiera sido capaz de hacer lo que Gruen hizo. A más, sobre Gruen, manifestó lo siguiente: "... El va más allá de la creación de un bello edificio. En jugar con la gente y sugerir lo que tienen que hacer, es un maestro. Y obtiene buenos resultados como hace la escultura. El suyo es un arte cívico, un sentido cívico.... Él es capaz de sentarse y poner cosas juntas. No es pomposo ni vano. Yo no me reuniría con él para hablar del diseño (de edificios). Víctor siente que cuando se habla de diseño se está ignorando todo el contexto... Su arquitectura es poderosamente limpia, no vuela la fantasía. Pero cuando te haces con su complejidad, ves que has descubierto algo más allá del diseño.... No puedes decir que haya alguien como él. La arquitectura tiene la suerte de tenerle como arquitecto..." Philip Johnson. Article in Fortune Review. 1962. El Documento de tesis cierra la visión de Gruen realizando un recorrido por los diferentes capítulos de su libro esencial, Shopping Towns Usa: The Planning of Shopping Centers. Solo su índice resulta un monumento al proceso de gestación del Centro Comercial. El libro, aquí simplemente mostrado en su estructura básica como un silencioso testigo, es la referencia canónica los Centros Comerciales contemporáneos, desde su aparición. . El Cuarto Capítulo del Documento de tesis es una recapitulación del trabajo anterior, en el que se sintetizan los conceptos de función y estilo relacionados con el Centro Comercial, se define en qué consiste cada uno de ellos y como, a partir de ahí, podemos afirmar que nos encontramos ante un tipo arquitectónico nuevo en el panorama de la disciplina arquitectónica. Terminamos el Capítulo integrando el Centro Comercial con un cuerpo teórico de referencias que se remiten a un tipo arquitectónico concreto y particular, acogiendo su singularidad como fenómeno arquitectónico autónomo. Como Conclusión de la tesis, resultado de todo lo anterior es decir, como consecuencia de la integración de un torrente de percepciones e intuiciones en un cuerpo teórico de referencias, deducidas de la existencia de unas claves que estructuran y penetran la esencia del singular modelo estudiado, haciéndolo detectable y seductor, resultan las características de un tipo arquitectónico con entidad propia que ordena, orienta y supedita la realidad y la existencia de esta nueva arquitectura. Una arquitectura nunca antes definida como tal, en el panorama tipológico de la disciplina. Teoría tipológica para una nueva arquitectura, que hemos ido proponiendo a lo largo del trabajo y que es coherente con los diferentes parámetros que se han analizado. Un conjunto edificado que, desde el estudio de sus claves esenciales y de sus invariantes perceptibles, aparece ahora más cercano, más familiar. Tanto que es posible destilar desde este conocimiento cercano e íntimo, una síntesis útil como referencia proyectual y como referencia para las grandes cuestiones que preocupan al discurrir del debate arquitectónico y sus ideas. El debate de la disciplina. El objeto de esta tesis, que consistía en establecer que el conjunto edificado que conocemos como Centro Comercial se constituye en un nuevo tipo en el panorama de las tipologías arquitectónicas, entendido el Centro Comercial en sentido genérico como familia arquitectónica con características propias y específicas que la hacen autónoma y reconocible, queda a nuestro juicio argumentado y justificado. ABSTRACT Within the frame of the built heritage there is a construction that is recognized as Shopping Center. An ensemble understood as an architectural family with its own specific recognizable characteristics. This thesis aims to explain that this building complex constitutes a new type in the panorama of architectural typology. This typology, with its singular identity, is connected to a way of understanding the idea of the model beyond an orthodox conception of the term understood as virtual model. This typology comes from a theoretical structure that we called typological theory, and it serves as yet another tool to reference the study and development design of the architectural spaces. In this first section, the Method, we emotionally explore the opportunities of this thesis. Why this typology has been ignored and the interest this work has in the present moment. An opportunity and an interest explained from an experience of a life dedicated to the world of Shopping Centers. The text then introduces the need for a rigorous knowledge of the Shopping Center’s essence in order to understand its impact in the frame of a new society and a new physical environment. A frame time where the historical mechanisms of association of civic community have given way to other gathering spaces like the Shopping Center, which encourages individualism, but is demanded by a society that relates to them. Spaces that, according to Galbraith, are a result of the intrinsic perversity of the unstoppable movement of the wheel of consumption-production. A society that has turned to worship of material achievement. Worship that provokes the appearance of an increasing value of consumption, according to Koolhaas, the only goal of humanity. Worship that ends in the need to reach certain status levels in the plane of a permanent comparison where the need of possession excites the consumer and gives them the illusion of being special. The product of consumption rises up to consideration of social values, entering a dynamic of marketing values, not only objects, but the desire of the individual remains. The study appears also to clarify the meaning of a space that serves the consumer and its context. A meaning that makes sense with the appearance of the suburbanization, the massive utilization of the car, the increase of living standards and the new role of women in the society after the Second World War, giving rise to the Age of Consumption. A world now determined and controlled by media and unlimited offers, where it’s necessary to place them in the context of the ordinary. An architecture that has to be judged precisely for its relation with this specific contemporary man. This section ends justifying the term ignored that appears in the Title of the Thesis, considering it in relation with the lack of studies structured about the Shopping Center and its architecture, drawing from Pevsner's work, A history of building types, 1976. Finally, the Shopping Center is analyzed with the most critical of thoughts, which considers it as populist architecture. The First Chapter, Precedents, proposes an historical tour of the commercial architecture throughout history. The Document looks to place on record the characteristics of the commercial architecture to set the connection between them and the Mall itself. These correspondences are going to allow us to answer the rhetorical question: is it the architecture of the Shopping Center a subsidiary architecture, or does it have its own personality independent from that of the commercial world? The reason of this historical search, citing Bruno Zevi, is that it is indispensable to establish the relationship between architecture and history, understating that an analysis is only possible when researching for their roots. Moreover, according to Guy de Maupassant, we are sure that architecture has had the privilege, across the centuries, of symbolizing as it were each age(…), through the harmony of lines and the charm of ornamentation all the grace and grandeur of an epoch. This historical reading, inseparable from a consistent design action, begins interpreting the commercial architecture of the Minoan to the 20th Century. Though this analysis of the big commercial itineraries and the study of the Shopping Center itself. A reading where we have found a series of constants that make it possible to draw conclusions from this comparison. The Mall appears to give response to the needs of a consumerist society. Comparing to the calm pace of the evolution of other commercial solutions, it is relevant its fast implantation and evolution in a short period of sixty years. Though via different solutions, the commercial spaces are considered taking into account the public-private relation, the interior-exterior, the inside-out, the closed-opened. Through that, the 19th century galleries and the food markets represent a revolution in functionality, in the machine, the modern management and the relations of the citizen within the city. All of this, the Mall inheritor feels. Likewise, the Department Store is the reflection of another great revolution. Production and commercialization en-mass, communications, the fixed price and increase of the living standard. The Mall reinterprets these situations inserting them in a new model of management. Already in the 20th century Mall and mass technologies of sale, the hypermarket is enthusiastically incorporated into the configuration of this organic scheme, constituting the base of one of the models, the French, that will be highly developed in the European continent. The shop itself constitutes, on the other hand, the key piece that completes the puzzle of the Mall and is in this epoch when it starts taking off as architecture, has an autonomous character. After all this, finally, we come to the big commercial routes, which we propose as metaphor of the shopping. Citing Eugenio Ferrer we can conclude that “If we establish a relation between the space and the capitalism, then we can infer that the spaces of the consumption of masses (ECM) are new configurations with regard to the past (...), but the system that introduces it it is not completely” Now we arrive at this point and with the perspective of time it is necessary to ask us, what do we understand about the Shopping Center? How do we perceive it? The second Chapter approaches the problem of the perception of the Mall and from this it is possible to detect and to identify key drivers that orientate the architectural comprehension of the space. The efficiency of the Shopping Center is its main power of attraction. A world that has ensued from the synthesis of the revolution of consumption and management. An effective cavern-like place of entertainment where the user, the consumer, the postmodern man solves his daily life inside a considered habitat. The hyperbolic place of commercial transaction. An abundance of space, that makes us perceive it as destination of entertainment. An architecture has evolved this efficiency, where the sense of place is at one with the sense of the Shopping. The home of the consumer. The new cathedrals. The cathedral of consumption. The place of peregrination for the fervent consumer. A sacred space that integrates the user in the dominant culture. A temple, where time itself has stopped existing. In this paroxysm, an expression of the Garden of Eden or Paradise itself. A space where the height, the natural daylight and the spatial dimension reinforce the sacred character of a new lay religion. Another common perception is that of a protected area, which leads to metaphors and considerations that suggest the idea of maternal womb, with its weight of erotic meaning, referring to the encounter of the shopper making a purchase. The literature also tells us about its perception as a sterile space capsule, a black hole that absorbs all cultural energy. Likewise, a world simulation where a mock city is perceived at first instance. Consistent with all that shopping triggers inside. A city, a space conceived as a place of dreams, fantasy, where the products have been metamorphosed into fetishes. Entertaining a television, three-dimensional television, where the user acts guided by a drive similar to zapping. A play area where the latest fascination is in the act of buying. Space simulations that unite and transcend creating atmospheres that lead to reverie. A new space replacing the daily space with the lure of safe space in a public context. A hyper-reality space with reality and fantasy, where borders are erased with imaginary episodes of confusion and bewilderment, without distinction. The charm and fascination of a space that reads like magic. The magic of a space which is defined as stage extravaganza, the large theatre, the consumer surveys in the fine control mode in which you visit a national monument. The shopping center has to survive the times to be a testimony of our time. An icon, a symbol that conveys a message, the message reads ‘consumer’. In short, a Shopping Center is a mix of unprecedented insights that speak of a widespread phenomenon of bewilderment. Its space and the reactions of contemporary man unfold in it like a fish in water. What are the key aspects which allow us to recognize the essential quality of a shopping center in this concurrence of perplexities? First, we want to record a service function of space much deeper than the immediately obvious, i.e. a purchase occurs. A building that appears to be involved with the environment and its people from the hand of the unexpected circumstances; surprise and attention. And that, in turn, also involves the visitor beyond the purchase. This dedication to service closely links the mall with its architectural nature. It is not the function of a lifeless machine. It is a feature that suggests unsuspected perceptions linked to the purchase, which speaks of an organism that lives and breathes in unison with the visitor. Second, in addition to the vocation of service-oriented desire for consumption, the Mall environment serves a particular society - The consumer society. A new society which relates to building a sense of community developed to the level of their desires. This community also constitutes the most powerful asset to the success of the daily life of the Shopping Center. Third, we emphasize that the so called economy of the experience is combined with the consumer zeal of a company that is identified by the Shopping Center. It connects to form a holistic and planned experience. This experience takes shape in the entity that ensues from the premeditated association and synergy, in the sense of a collaboration for success. A set of concrete commercial and independent establishments, take part in the spatial and commercial adventure that is the Mall and they are the instigators of the consumption. This holistic behavior finds culmination in the amplification of a claim that becomes unitary, like an immense force that leads to an increased profitability to all the levels. Consummation is a reference of one human being overturned in an architecture assimilated into a legitimate, emotional design with stability. A holistic quality is born of the essence of the building - and by virtue of the Conditions of Alexander, Christopher Alexander, determines the system condition of the Shopping Center. Fourth, we propose to establish what character the Mall will form when joined with the concept of its typology. This is going to allow the architectural work to be formed. As a result of the holistic structure that we see, the Mall is perceived as a system whose parts have their own function, justifying their existence in the ecosystem. Across a gestalt there is a powerful capacity of communication between the system and its context. We visualize on the one that stands out our building, turning both, Center and environment, in accomplices of a few special relations who complement each other in his realities. This relationship within a complex and diverse environment gives the Mall a range of unique spatial perceptions, the result of disparate experiences, which because of its root origin of gestalt, are integrated into a unified and coordinated manner fully intelligible and organized. This is the final formal essence of the Shopping Center. We can conclude here that the Mall as architecture is a structured system and should be perceived as a unit both from a physical and spatial perspective as this is the essence of its architecture. Fifth, the Mall as a system. A system which is being supported by a broad theoretical corpus, the General Systems Theory, which offers sufficient methodology to descend into consideration and give an enlightened conclusion on the overall understanding of the Mall. Consideration of the Mall as a system is a result of its holistic structure. The whole does not behave like any of the parties and they do not behave the way they used to before belonging to the whole, because they inhibit many of their qualities to their advantage. It arises the need for an ongoing dialogue between marketing processes and its translation into the physical world, the design. The system generates multiple perceptions to be integrated into a body which is to be understood as unitary. As a system, the Mall is inserted into the contemporary paradigm, creating dual realities that are not exclusive and are reactions of uncertainty that the system be properly designed at all levels, faced with their ability to self-regulate. Likewise, considering the visitor, the customer, like the quantum spectator who interacts with the system permanently. Moreover, a complex system confronts us with the Commercial mix, the effective location of parts in order to relate to the body and its importance in the architecture we are conceiving. Unpredictable architecture, which stands as the challenge of the operation and the designer. Design that becomes the tool of the system to create success for the overall operation. The discussion of the styling is merely the result of analysis that also seeks the success of the system, i.e. the styling should send the right message for the environment to ensure its survival. Sixth, the idea of negotiation as an architecture project, a mechanism inherent to the status of the proposed system. The project solution is never evident at the Shopping Center because of the unpredictability of the process itself. It can only be the fruit of the commitment of all stakeholders to achieve the objective of the operation. This is achieved from the balance of interests, of commercial and design. A commitment to negotiation and a negotiation linked to coordination. The pursuit of stability is key, as instability is always present and constantly requires strategies to build the object you are configuring. Seventh, proposes space-time itself as a circumstance that determines and structures the perception of the Mall in a singular way. We introduce concepts as chronotope and paradox to help us place the relationship between time and space within the Mall in the context of shopping. A consequence of the parallel flow of historical time - the time outside - and the time inside the Mall, the big shopping center formula is precisely that of having the feeling of timelessness in the space. The social triumph of the mall is the ability to resolve in space and in time all postmodern paradoxes and, beyond that, of contemporary man, condensing into a small space and time an enormous amount of cultural symbols, often contradictory, but they attract the practice of consumerism. Eighth, global level. Globalization which doesn’t ignore the local level. Architecture that is inserted into the dynamics of a global economy, reflects the contradictions that it imposes, mainly in the processes of inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion and exclusion affect the debate of the local level, which the Mall must incorporate as an unavoidable tool of recognition. The eight fundamental principles, when applied as a whole, confirm that the built heritage, which corresponds to the general Mall idea, can be presented as a cohesive conceptual whole. This becomes part of a coherent architectural family, whose functional structures are able to be established. The Third chapter presents in a detailed way the figure of the architect Victor Gruen, recognized as the creator of the modern Mall. Studying his professional experience, it is shown how the different keys analyzed in previous chapters are appearing in a natural way. "Victor Gruen may well have been the most influential architect of the twentieth century." Malcolm Gladwell. The Terrazo Jungle. Fifty Years Ago, The Mall Was Born. America Never Would Be The Same. 2004. In The New Yorker. He was a complex, troubled man and the paradoxes along his career were notable. Nevertheless, always he appeared as a straight man. Garret Eckbo, the recognized landscape painter and collaborator of Gruen was astonished how Gruen had been capable of combining comity and humanity in this career of rates, into that the American commercialization turned, Johnson, in 1962, weighting many Gruen's skills demonstrated that he was not sure if anyone of them, architects artists, had been capable of doing what Gruen did. He goes beyond just the creation of a beautiful building. In playing on people and suggesting what they ought to do, he is a master. (…) his architecture is clean - hardly architecture, no flights of fancy. But when you get hold of its complexity, you've got something beyond the design... You can't say there's someone like him. Architecture is lucky to have him as an architect." Philip Johnson. Article in Fortune Review. 1962. The Document of the thesis closes with Gruen's vision of realizing a tour through the different chapters of his essential book, Shopping towns USA: The Planning of Shopping Centers. It’s mere index turns out to be a monument to the process of the gestation of the Mall. The book, simply acted in its basic structure as a silent witness, as the canonical reference for the contemporary Malls. The Fourth Chapter of the Document of the thesis is a recapitulation of the previous work, which synthesizes the concepts of function and style related to the Shopping Center, and clearly defines how they are defined so we can conclude that we have found an architectural new type in the panorama of the architectural discipline. Therefore, the Conclusion of the thesis integrates this development in a theoretical body of references that relate to an architectural specific and particular type, which receives the singularity of the Shopping Center as an architectural independent phenomenon as it has tried to demonstrate from the beginning of the work. To conclude, as a result of the integrative process and the development of the theoretical body of references, the essential characteristics of the order and concept of the architectural typology form the existence of a new architecture; architecture never before defined as such, in the theoretical typology of the discipline. A theoretical typology for a new architecture is proposed throughout the discussed research and forms a conclusion of the different parameters that have been analysed. As a building complex, from the study of the essential characteristics and of the perceptible constants, the typology is more clearly defined and thus, becomes a useful tool and precedent for the consideration of the discipline. The thesis then justifies how the building complex known as Shopping Center constitutes a new type of architectural typology.

La estética de la deformación en la era de la cultura de masas : un proyecto de Alison y Peter Smithson

Alison Margaret Gill y Peter Denham Smithson son, o eran, ambos murieron hace ya algunos años, dos arquitectos. Así dicho, esto suena a obviedad. Sin embargo no lo es, porque siempre han sido compactados en una unidad proyectual, bien bajo las siglas Alison y Peter Smithson, o bien, más puntualmente todavía, como los Smithson. Cuando Leibniz en 1696 le dice a la princesa electora Sofía que en algo tan puntual y homogéneo aparentemente como una gota de agua, vista al microscopio, resulta haber más de un millón de animales vivos, se puede empezar a vislumbrar el resultado de la Tesis. El resultado de este trabajo no se contempla un millón de partículas pero sí dos. La obra de Alison y Peter Smithson esta conformada desde su inicio probablemente por la particularidad de que en ella intervienen tanto Gill como Smithson, aunque cada uno sea en mayor o menor medida la o el responsable de un proyecto. Puesto al microscopio el proyecto del que se ocupa la Tesis, el concurso de 1953 para la ampliación de la Universidad de Sheffield, se estima que está compuesto de dos partes diferentes y que como Los Smithson o como una gota de agua, su unidad es una mera convención, una forma de designarlo y tratarlo, que falsea en algo su apreciación, aunque, como se verá, es lo que provoca el extraño efecto que como imagen ejerce. El Capítulo I descubre la duplicidad. Reyner Banham fijó en 1955, en el artículo The New Brutalism, el modo de encarar el proyecto de Sheffield cuando proyectó sobre él lo más novedoso que en el campo de la pintura ocurría en ese momento, el Art Autre. Michel Tapié ve en el informalismo presente en las obras que él engloba como un <> rasgos que puede presentar a la luz de conceptos que extrae de Riemann, matemático del s. XIX, introductor de una nueva geometría. La Tesis remonta por tanto hasta Riemann, a la búsqueda del concepto del que penden tanto Tapié como Banham. El concepto es la variedad continua; un conjunto, cuyos elementos pueden recorrer la extensión de la variedad mediante una deformación continua, como si dijéramos, diluyéndose unos en otros sin cortes entre sí. Los ejemplos del informalismo serían, por tanto, los puntos de la variedad, formas inestables o detenciones aleatorias en este transitar continuo de un mismo objeto. La visión de cuerpos en cortes aleatorios a la evolución otorga a sus formas cualesquiera la condición de extrañeza o perturbación, produciendo un impacto en la mente que lo graba instintivamente en la materia de la memoria. Así, es la memorabilidad, dada precisamente por el impacto que supone ver cuerpos en estado evolutivo, sin una forma precisa, la propiedad que gobierna a los objetos que caen bajo el Art Autre, y es la memorabilidad el rasgo distintivo de Sheffield para Banham. Este sentido evolutivo que se puede asociar a los elementos de una variedad entra en consonancia con una variedad de estados en evolución en el marco de las especies orgánicas. No sólo como individuo sino también como especie. La coincidencia no sólo es formal, también es temporal entre el descubrimiento de Riemann de la variedad continua y el de Darwin de la evolución de las especies. Ve Darwin que algunos ejemplares presentan en su cuerpo conformaciones normales de especies diferentes, que puede entenderse como una anormalidad o defecto evolutivo, lo que él llama <>. Un ejemplar monstruoso no es capaz de abrir una escisión de la variedad y en este sentido rompe su cadena evolutiva. Es un elemento, por tanto extraño a la variedad. Lo peculiar que expone Darwin, es que la monstruosidad puede ser provocada artificialmente por motivos estéticos, como ocurre en determinados animales o plantas ornamentales. Bien, esto es exactamente lo que descubre la Tesis en el proyecto de Sheffield. La unión en un solo proyecto de dos conformaciones de naturaleza diferente. El Capítulo II indaga en la naturaleza dual de Sheffield. Y la descubre en la aplicación de dos principios que tienen múltiples derivas, pero interesante en una en particular, referida al espacio. Uno es el Principio de Posición. Bajo él se contempla la situación del concurso dada en su globalidad, en una visión totalizadora que permite buscar y destacar posiciones singulares y tener un control preciso del proyecto desde el inicio. Se dice que es la opción normal en arquitectura comprender el espacio en su conjunto y que el trazado de ejes y el reparto del espacio obedecen a este principio. Son así vistos la propuesta ganadora del equipo GMW y fundamentalmente el trazado de ejes en la obra de Le Corbusier. Una parte de Sheffield es un producto típico de este modo de proceder. Hay un segundo principio que es el Principio de Transición Continua. En los términos expuestos para la variedad de Riemann, sería como si en lugar de ver cuerpos en estados concretos, por deformados que pudieran ser, nos introdujéramos dentro de la propia variedad acoplándonos al curso de la evolución misma, en un acto de unión interior con la marcha de la evolución. Para ejercer esta acción se toma como punto inicial el extremo del edificio universitario existente, el Firth Court, y se lleva cabo un estiramiento continuo. En esto radica lo que la Tesis distingue como la ampliación, el cuerpo que se enrosca paulatinamente. Para exponer este concepto, la Tesis se apoya en un ejercicio llevado a cabo por Raymond Unwin en Hampstead, el close, o estiramiento lateral del borde de un viario para hacer surgir el espacio útil residencial. A partir del concepto de close, se deriva en la urbanística americana de principios del s. XX el concepto de cluster, que pasa a ser uno de los argumentos principales de la teoría de Alison y de Peter Smithson en los años 50. El Capítulo III plantea la dificultad de mantener la dualidad de Sheffield a primeros de los 50, sometido el proyecto de arquitectura a la unicidad que impone el criterio hegemónico de Rudolf Wittkower desde “Los Fundamentos de la Arquitectura en la Edad del Humanismo”. Como en el Capítulo I, la obligación que se traza la Tesis es remontar los orígenes de las cosas que se tratan, y en este caso, entrar en las fuentes del principio proporcional. Se descubren así los fundamentos de la proporción aritmética y geométrica en el seno del pitagorismo, sus problemas y su evolución. La postura de los dos arquitectos frente a Wittkower es de admiración, pero también de libertad. Esta libertad suya es la que defiende la Tesis. Cotejando lo que da de sí la arquitectura basada en los principios proporcionales con otra arquitectura estancada en el paso del Renacimiento al Barroco como es la arquitectura perspectiva y proyectiva, la arquitectura oblicua, recuperada a la sazón por medio de la intervención en la Tesis de Panofsky, se dirimen aspectos colaterales pero fundamentales de una renovación de los planteamientos: hay planteamientos que se dicen esencialistas y objetivos y otros funcionales y que derivan en subjetivos y relacionales. Sobre estas dos marcos de categorías el propósito que persigue la Tesis es dar cuenta de los dos principios que rigen lo visto en el Capítulo II, el Principio de Posición y el Principio de Transición Continua, responsables ambos, al 50%, de la monstruosidad detectada en Sheffield, que no es negativa, sino, como decía Darwin, la combinación en un solo cuerpo de conformaciones normales en animales de especies diferentes, incluso con fines estéticos. En Sheffield existe, y esta dibujada, la figura de una cabeza escultural con un doble rostro. Todo el trabajo de la Tesis se encamina, en definitiva, a explicar, con toda la claridad y extensión que me ha sido posible, en qué consiste ese doble rostro. ABSTRACT Peter and Alison Smithson’s work is, is from its start, very influenced by both Alison Margaret Gill and Peter Denham Smithson. The matter of study of this Thesis, the 1953 competition for the expansion of the University of Sheffield, estimated after its exam, which is composed by two different parts, which, together produce a strange effect as an image. Reyner Banham in 1955 described the image in his article “The New Brutalism” as the key argument (most iconic) for the Sheffield’s project. The way his image powerfully influences sensitivity, by perturbation, makes this a singular and memorable image. This feature, only present in Sheffield, over any other building of the time, even from the same architects, allow Banham to associate the project to Art Autre, thought by Michel Tapié as a new artistic movement, to which Sheffield will belong, in the architecture part. Tapié sees in the informalism of works considered Art Autre some aspects that can bring concepts he extracts from Riemann, XIX Century mathematician, father of the new geometry. This Thesis discovers Riemann’s concept of continuous variety, a set whose elements are able to go through variety by a continuous deformation, diluting themselves without touching each other. Examples of informalism would be, points of that variety, unstable forms or random detentions in the continuous transit of the same object. Therefore, the condition of memorability comes precisely from the impact that seeing bodies in state of evolution creates. That evolutive sense that can be associated to elements of a variety, comes together with a variety of states of evolution in the world of organic species. Not only as an individual, but as well as a species. Coincidence between Riemann and Darwin’s discoveries is not only formal, but as well temporary. Darwin observes that some individuals of concrete species present on their bodies some features, typical of other species, which may be interpreted as evolutive failure. But the most peculiar part of what Darwin exposes is that monstrosity can indeed be artificially made for aesthetical purposes, like it happens in certain animals and plants. Well, this is what the Thesis discovers in Sheffield’s project. The union in a single project of two different nature forms, of which none on the parts is a deformation of the other, but they are both irreducible. Once both parts are collated, a new system which adapts well is discovered. It is a system created by Leibniz in the XVII Century, created to distinguish to principles that clear the difference between the equation methods and differential calculus. This principles are the Principle of Position and the Principle of Continuity. This two principles, translated to the spatial analysis field are key for the two parts of the project. On the one hand, the part developing in a lineal axis belongs to the Principle of Position. This means that that there is a global vision of space after which it is decided which operation to follow, which in this case consists of establishing an axis between two singular positions of the university area. The part which is being deformed while it goes is studied as a continuous action of stretching an existing building, the Firth Court, in which there is no previous spatial analysis. The only way to understand and to explain this action is by the Principle of Continuity. So, all in all, the Thesis changes the view of Sheffield from an Art Autre work to a “monstrosity”, without the negative meaning of it, just as a combination of two different nature formations, which, at the same time, justifies its power as iconic image. Finally, I would like to point out that in the Sheffield’s project there is (drawn and also physically) a sculptural head which has the feature of representing both, a man and a woman’s face. All the work of this Thesis leads to explaining the double nature of the project, taking this double expression head as inspiration.

Escaparates de la modernidad : la tienda como laboratorio de arquitectura

El proyecto de una tienda concentra un poco de todo aquello que interesa al arquitecto: conforma una suerte de encrucijada en la que se dan cita, junto a cuestiones disciplinares que la hacen muy atractiva y ponen a prueba su habilidad como proyectista, la necesidad de aunar recursos compositivos procedentes de otros terrenos periféricos a la arquitectura para dar una respuesta adecuada a los requerimientos específicos de imagen y persuasión que la actividad comercial comporta. Las difíciles condiciones de partida, habitualmente configuraciones espaciales no excesivamente favorables, donde las preexistencias y los contornos coartan y encierran un espacio al que hay que dotar de un nuevo orden; el tamaño reducido y las posibilidades de control total de la obra que de éste se derivan; el corto plazo de tiempo y la rapidez de respuesta que la estrategia comercial impone; su posición estratégica, en relación directa con la calle, y la mayor evidencia que, por tanto, se le asigna a la fachada y al escaparate como ‘primeros anuncios’ de la actividad; la integración y el comentario recíproco entre arquitectura y objeto que tiene lugar en su seno…, son algunas de las razones que explican este interés y justifican que la tienda −ese espacio acotado tan apto para el invento y la innovación−, constituya un banco de pruebas donde poder ensayar nuevos conceptos de la arquitectura al reunir espacial y temporalmente los condicionantes ideales requeridos para la experimentación y la comprobación de hallazgos. Aunque escasas, existen en la arquitectura contemporánea tiendas que han logrado ocupar por méritos propios un lugar destacado dentro de la obra de sus autores. Entre las merecedoras de ese reconocimiento habría que citar la ‘mítica’ sastrería Kniže proyectada por Adolf Loos a comienzos del siglo XX en Viena, el Negozio Vitrum que Giuseppe Terragni diseñara en Como en los años treinta, o la sucursal londinense de las líneas aéreas de Iraq construida en los sesenta por Alison y Peter Smithson. La elección, lejos de ser gratuita, obedece a razones fundadas. Dentro de las circunstancias temporales en las que se gestaron −las tres fueron proyectadas y construidas a lo largo del pasado siglo en un arco que abarca algo más de cincuenta años (1907-1961)−, los ejemplos seleccionados aúnan toda una serie de ‘coincidencias’ entre las que no resulta difícil establecer ciertos paralelismos: las tres marcan la talla de unos creadores que fueron capaces de dedicar la misma intensidad creativa a estos temas ‘menores’, corroborando que el carácter de la arquitectura también puede hacerse grande en lo pequeño; las tres, debido al momento de madurez en el que se abordó su diseño, reflejan su condición de laboratorio experimental al servicio de los intereses proyectuales que en ese momento ocupaban la mente de los arquitectos; las tres corroboran hipótesis ya apuntadas en arquitecturas anteriores, prueban líneas de trabajo no materializadas por falta de oportunidad y testan de manera menos comprometida soluciones que luego se trasladarán a obras con mayor vocación de permanencia; obras −y esto es algo especialmente sorprendente− con las que mantuvieron una estrecha relación en el espacio y en el tiempo, convirtiéndose incluso en plataformas de experimentación paralelas: baste en este sentido con apuntar la cercanía física −a ‘metros’ de distancia− y temporal −realizadas en los mismos años− entre la sastrería Kniže (1907- 1913;1928) y la Casa en la Michaelerplatz (1910-11); la tienda Vitrum (1930) y la Casa del Fascio (1929; 1932-36) o las oficinas de venta de las Iraqi Airways (1960-61) y la sede del The Economist (1959-64). Esta potencialidad que la tienda encierra para erigirse en laboratorio de experimentación y ensayo de la arquitectura, constituye la clave de la investigación que la tesis propone. ABSTRACT A little of everything that interests the architect is concentrated in the designing of a shop: it forms a kind of crossroads bringing together, apart from certain disciplinary questions rendering it particularly attractive and testing one’s ability as a designer, the need to coordinate compositional resources from fields peripheral to architecture in order to devise an adequate response to the specific requirements of image and persuasion that are part and parcel of business activity. The difficult start-up conditions, the generally not overly favourable spatial configurations ‒where the pre-existing conditions and shape of the site encroach on and enclose a space which has to be given a new order‒, the reduced size and possibilities afforded in terms of controlling the work, the short time frame and the rapid response imposed by the business tactics and its strategic position and direct frontal relationship with the street, make the shopfront and the display window are the ‘first advertisements” of the activity, or the integration and the reciprocal commentary between architecture and what takes place within: these are but some of the reasons explaining this interest and justifying the claim that the shop –a dimensional space so well suited to invention and innovation− constitutes a test-bed for trying out new concepts of architecture, combining in space and time the ideal conditions for experiment and the examination of its findings. Albeit not numerous, there are shops in contemporary architecture which have managed on their own merit to obtain a special place among the works of their authors. Among those earning such recognition, one should mention the ‘mythical’ Kniže tailoring establishment designed by Adolf Loos at the beginning of the 20th century in Vienna, the Negozio Vitrum designed by Giuseppe Terragni in Como in the thirties, or the London offices of Iraqi Airways built in the sixties by Alison and Peter Smithson. This selection, far from gratuitous, is based on well-founded reasons. Within the circumstances of the time-frame in which they were developed −the three were designed and built during the 20th century in a period that spans just over fifty years (1907-1961)− the chosen examples bring together a whole series of ‘coincidences’ where it is not difficult to draw certain parallels: the three bear witness to the stature of creators who were capable of devoting the same creative intensity to these ‘minor’ themes, thus corroborating the fact that the nature of the architecture can also be great in less important works; the three, thanks to the moment of maturity in which their design was carried out, reflect their condition as an experimental laboratory at the service of the particular designing interests which at the time occupied the minds of these architects; the three confirm hypotheses already displayed in previous architectures, they test lines of work which had not materialised through lack of opportunity, and in a less comprised manner check solutions that were later transferred to works with a greater vocation for permanence; works −and this is something especially surprising – with which they maintained a close relationship in time and space, even becoming parallel experimental platforms: in this sense, we need only to mention the physical proximity –just metres away− and proximity in time –built within the same years− between the Kniže shop (1907-1913; 1928) and the House of Michaelerplatz (1910-11); the Vitrum shop (1930) and the Casa del Fascio (1929;1932-36); and the Iraqi Airways sales offices (1960-61) and the headquarters of The Economist (1959-64). The potential of the shop to set itself up as an experimental laboratory and architectural rehearsal constitutes the main focus of the research put forward by this thesis.

Efficient use of a small genome to generate antigenic diversity in tick-borne ehrlichial pathogens

Ehrlichiae are responsible for important tick-transmitted diseases, including anaplasmosis, the most prevalent tick-borne infection of livestock worldwide, and the emerging human diseases monocytic and granulocytic ehrlichiosis. Antigenic variation of major surface proteins is a key feature of these pathogens that allows persistence in the mammalian host, a requisite for subsequent tick transmission. In Anaplasma marginale pseudogenes for two antigenically variable gene families, msp2 and msp3, appear in concert. These pseudogenes can be recombined into the functional expression site to generate new antigenic variants. Coordinated control of the recombination of these genes would allow these two gene families to act synergistically to evade the host immune response.

Interactions between Senescence and Leaf Orientation Determine in Situ Patterns of Photosynthesis and Photoinhibition in Field-Grown Rice1

Photosynthesis and photoinhibition in field-grown rice (Oryza sativa L.) were examined in relation to leaf age and orientation. Two varieties (IR72 and IR65598-112-2 [BSI206]) were grown in the field in the Philippines during the dry season under highly irrigated, well-fertilized conditions. Flag leaves were examined 60 and 100 d after transplanting. Because of the upright nature of 60-d-old rice leaves, patterns of photosynthesis were determined by solar movements: light falling on the exposed surface in the morning, a low incident angle of irradiance at midday, and light striking the opposite side of the leaf blade in the afternoon. There was an early morning burst of CO2 assimilation and high levels of saturation of photosystem II electron transfer as incident irradiance reached a maximum level. However, by midday the photochemical efficiency increased again almost to maximum. Leaves that were 100 d old possessed a more horizontal orientation and were found to suffer greater levels of photoinhibition than younger leaves, and this was accompanied by increases in the de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle. Older leaves had significantly lower chlorophyll content but only slightly diminished photosynthesis capacity.

Stars and brown dwarfs in the σ Orionis cluster (Research Note) III. OSIRIS/GTC low-resolution spectroscopy of variable sources

Context. Although many studies have been performed so far, there are still dozens of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the young σ Orionis open cluster without detailed spectroscopic characterisation. Aims. We look for unknown strong accretors and disc hosts that were undetected in previous surveys. Methods. We collected low-resolution spectroscopy (R ~ 700) of ten low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in σ Orionis with OSIRIS at the Gran Telescopio Canarias under very poor weather conditions. These objects display variability in the optical, infrared, Hα, and/or X-rays on time scales of hours to years. We complemented our spectra with optical and near-/mid-infrared photometry. Results. For seven targets, we detected lithium in absorption, identified Hα, the calcium doublet, and forbidden lines in emission, and/or determined spectral types for the first time. We characterise in detail a faint, T Tauri-like brown dwarf with an 18 h-period variability in the optical and a large Hα equivalent width of –125  ±  15 Å, as well as two M1-type, X-ray-flaring, low-mass stars, one with a warm disc and forbidden emission lines, the other with a previously unknown cold disc with a large inner hole. Conclusions. New unrevealed strong accretors and disc hosts, even below the substellar limit, await discovery among the list of known σ Orionis stars and brown dwarfs that are variable in the optical and have no detailed spectroscopic characterisation yet.

Controlador integrado baseado em conceito híbrido e controle geométrico para embarcações posicionadas dinamicamente.

O conceito de controle híbrido é aplicado à operação de alívio entre um FPWSO e um navio aliviador. Ambos os navios mantêm suas posições e aproamentos pelo resultado da ação do seu Sistema de Posicionamento Dinâmico (SPD). O alívio dura cerca de 24 horas para ser concluído. Durante este período, o estado de mar pode se alterar e os calados estão sendo constantemente alterados. Um controlador híbrido é projetado para permitir modificacões dos parâmetros de controle/observação se alguma alteração significante do estado de mar e/ou calado das embarcações ocorrer. O principal objetivo dos controladores é manter o posicionamento relativo entre os navios com o intuito de evitar perigosa proximidade ou excesso de tensão no cabo. Com isto em mente, uma nova estratégia de controle que atue integradamente em ambos os navios é proposta baseda em geometria diferencial. Observadores não lineares baseados em passividade são aplicados para estimar a posição, a velocidade e as forças externas de mares calmos até extremos. O critério para troca do controle/observação é baseado na variação do calado e no estado de mar. O calado é assumido conhecido e o estado de mar é estimado pela frequência de pico do espectro do movimento de primeira ordem dos navios. Um modelo de perturbação é proposto para encontrar o número de controladores do sistema híbrido. A equivalência entre o controle geométrico e o controlador baseado em Multiplicadores de Lagrange é demonstrada. Assumindo algumas hipóteses, a equivalência entre os controladores geométrico e o PD é também apresentada. O desempenho da nova estratégia é avaliada por meio de simulações numéricas e comparada a um controlador PD. Os resultados apresentam muito bom desempenho em função do objetivo proposto. A comparação entre a abordagem geométrica e o controlador PD aponta um desempenho muito parecido entre eles.

Changes in the Photoreceptor Mosaic of P23H-1 Rats During Retinal Degeneration: Implications for Rod-Cone Dependent Survival

Purpose. To investigate the spatiotemporal relationship between rod and cone degeneration in the P23H-1 rat. Methods. Control Sprague-Dawley (SD) and P23H-1 rats of ages ranging from P30 to P365 were used. Retinas were processed for whole mounts or cross sections and rods and cones were immunodetected. We used newly developed image analysis techniques to quantify the total population of L/M cones (the most abundant cones in the rat) and analyzed the rings of rod-cone degeneration. Results. In P23H-1 rats, rod degeneration occurs rapidly: first the rod outer segment shortens, at P30 there is extensive rod loss, and by P180 rod loss is almost complete except for the most peripheral retina. The numbers of L/M cones are, at all postnatal ages, lower in P23H-1 rats than in control SD rats, and decrease significantly with age (by P180). Rod and cone degeneration is spatiotemporally related and occurs in rings that appear already at P90 and spread throughout the entire retina. At P180, the rings of rod-cone degeneration are more abundant in the equatorial retina and are larger in the dorsal retina. Conclusions. This work describes for the first time that in the P23H-1 rat, rod and cone degeneration is spatiotemporally related and occurs in rings. Cone loss follows rod loss and starts very soon, even before P30, the first age analyzed here. The characteristics of the rings suggest that secondary cone degeneration is influenced by retinal position and/or other intrinsic or extrinsic factors.

Dynamic bonding of metallic nanocontacts: Insights from experiments and atomistic simulations

The conductance across an atomically narrow metallic contact can be measured by using scanning tunneling microscopy. In certain situations, a jump in the conductance is observed right at the point of contact between the tip and the surface, which is known as “jump to contact” (JC). Such behavior provides a way to explore, at a fundamental level, how bonding between metallic atoms occurs dynamically. This phenomenon depends not only on the type of metal but also on the geometry of the two electrodes. For example, while some authors always find JC when approaching two atomically sharp tips of Cu, others find that a smooth transition occurs when approaching a Cu tip to an adatom on a flat surface of Cu. In an attempt to show that all these results are consistent, we make use of atomistic simulations; in particular, classical molecular dynamics together with density functional theory transport calculations to explore a number of possible scenarios. Simulations are performed for two different materials: Cu and Au in a [100] crystal orientation and at a temperature of 4.2 K. These simulations allow us to study the contribution of short- and long-range interactions to the process of bonding between metallic atoms, as well as to compare directly with experimental measurements of conductance, giving a plausible explanation for the different experimental observations. Moreover, we show a correlation between the cohesive energy of the metal, its Young's modulus, and the frequency of occurrence of a jump to contact.

Rehabilitating, repairing and restoring against demolishing, tearing down and destroying: the recovery of the military fort for the Santa Pola town museum

This communication develops the process of interventions of the Renaissance fortress of a new plant built in 1554–57 in Santa Pola. It is one of the earliest examples built with reference to military architecture theoretical treaties (XV–XVI) and best preserved. The study runs its own story from its initial military use, through the use of civil equipment until the final cultural and Museum Center. First, the project of Italian origin is examined and its use as barracks for troops for a duration of three centuries (1557–1850), pointing out the architectural constants of war machinery in a defense position and its origin as a rainwater collector and cistern: a perfect square with two bastions in which a plan of the uprising is preserved (1778). Secondly, we study the changes in the mentioned architecture throughout a century and a half (1850–1990) after its change of ownership (from the state to the municipality), and as a result of the new use as a city hall and public endowment: a market and health and leisure centre, which meant the demolition of defensive elements and the opening up to the outside of the inner parade ground. And thirdly, the new transfer of the municipal offices brings in the beginning of a project of transformations (1990–2015) that retrieves the demolished elements at the same time as it assigns the entire fort for a cultural centre: exhibition, research and history museum, promoting the identity between the citizens and the building which stands in the foundations of their city. The conclusions take us through an interesting route that goes from the approach of defensive tactics, its use as administrative headquarters to the current cultural policy of preservation. In addition, all the known plans of the fort are recovered (of military, civil and cultural use), some unpublished, as well as the project of the North wing that has guided the last operation and which has been set as a pattern of reference.

Late pleistocene and holocene sedimentation in the central and eastern Persian Gulf

The sandfraction of the sediment was analysed in five cores, taken from 65 m water depth in the central and eastern part of the Persian Gulf. The holocene marls are underlayn by aragonite muds, which are probably 10-11,000 years old. 1. The cores could be subdivided into coarse grained and fine grained layers. Sorting is demonstrated by the following criteria: With increasing median values of the sandfraction - the fine grained fraction decreases within each core; - the median of each biogenic component, benthonic as well as planktonic, increases; - the median of the relict sediment, which in core 1179 was carried upward into the marl by bioturbation, increases; - the percentages of pelecypods, gastropods, decapods and serpulid worms in the sandfraction increase, the percentages of foraminifera and ostracods decrease; - the ratios of pelecypods to foraminifera and of decapods to ostracods increase; - the ratios of benthonic molluscs to planktonic molluscs (pteropods) and of benthonic foraminifera to planktonic foraminifera increase (except in core 1056 and 1179); - the ratio of planktonic molluscs (pteropods) to planktonic foraminifera increases; - the globigerinas without orbulinas increase, the orbulinas decrease in core 1056. Different settling velocities of these biogenic particles help in better understanding the results : the settling velocities, hence the equivalent hydrodynamic diameters, of orbulinas are smaller than those of other globigerinas, those of planktonic foraminifera are smaller than those of planktonic molluscs, those of planktonic molluscs are smaller than those of benthonic molluscs, those of pelecypods are smaller than those of gastropods. Bioturbation could not entirely distroy this "grain-size-stratification". Sorting has been stronger in the coarse layers than in the finer ones. As a cause variations in the supply of terrigenous material at constant strength of tidal currents is suggested. When much terrigenous material is supplied (large contents of fine grained fraction) the sedimentation rates are high: the respective sediment surface is soon covered and removed from the influence of tidal currents. When, however, the supply of terrigenous material is small, more sandy material is taken away in all locations within the influence of terrigenous supply. Thus the biogenic particles in the sediment do not only reflect the organic production, but also the influence of currents. 2. There is no parameter present in all cores that is independently variable from grain size and can be used for stratigraphic correlation. The two cores from the Strait of Hormus were correlated by their sequences of coarse and fine grained layers. 3. The sedimentation rates of terrigenous material, of total planktonic and benthonic organisms and of molluscs, foraminifera, echinoids and ophiuroids are shown in table 1 (total sediment 6.3-75.5 cm/1000 yr, biogenic carbonate 1.9-3.6 cm/1000 yr). The sedimentation rates of benthonic organisms are nearly the same in the cores of the Strait of Hormus, whereas near the Central Swell they are smaller. In the upper parts of the two cores of the Strait of Hormus sedimentation rates are higher than in the deeper parts, where higher median values point to stronger reworking. 4. The sequence of coarse and fine grained intervals in the two cores of the Hormus Strait, attributed to variations in climate, as well as the increase of terrigenous supply from the deeper to the upper parts of the cores, agrees with the descriptions in the literature of the post Pleistocene climate as becoming more humid. The rise of sea level is sedimentologically not measurable in the marly sediments - except perhaps for the higher content of echinoids in the lower part of core 1056. These may be attributed to the influence of a migrating wave-base. 5. The late Pleistocene aragonite mud is very fine grained (> 50%< 2 p) and poor in fossils (0.5-1.8%) biogenic particles of total sediment. The sand fraction consists almost entirely of white clumps, c. 0.1 mm in diameter (1177), composed of aragonite needles and of detrital minerals with the same size (1201). The argonite mud was probably not formed in situ, because the water depth at time of formation was at most 35 m at least 12 m. The sorting of the sediment (predominance of the fine grained sand), the absence of larger biogenic components and of pellets, c. 0.2-0.5 mm in diameter, which are typical for Recent and Pleistocene locations of aragonite formation, as well as the sedimentological conditions near the sampling points, indicate rather a transport of aragonite mud from an area of formation in very shallow waters. Sorting as well as lenticular fabric in core 1201 point to sedimentation within the influence of currents. During alternating sedimentation - and reworking processes the aragonitic matrix was separated from the silt - and sand-sized minerals. The lenses grade into touches because of bioturbation. 6. In core 1056 D2 from Hormus Bay the percentages of organic carbon, total nitrogen and total carbonate were determined. With increasing amounts of smaller grain sizes the content of organic matter increases, whereas the amount of carbonate decreases. The amounts of organic carbon and of nitrogen decrease with increasing depth, probably due to early-diagenetic decomposition processes. Most of the total nitrogen is of organic origin, only about 10% may well be inorganically fixed as ammonium-nitrogen. In the upper part of the core the C/N-ratio increases with increasing depth. This may be connected with a stronger decomposition of nitrogen-containing organic compounds. The general decrease of the C/N-ratios in the lower part of the core may be explained by the relative increase of inorganically fixed ammonium-nitrogen with decreasing content of organic matter.

A prospective study of the use of alternative therapies by men with localized prostate cancer

Although the use of alternative therapies is highly prevalent amongst men with prostate cancer, research about the predictors of such use is limited. The current study aimed to describe prospectively the use of alternative therapies by men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer and identify predictors of alternative therapy use. In all, 111 men newly diagnosed with localized prostate cancer (93% response) were recruited to the study prior to treatment. Men's use of alternative therapies and psychological variables including: psychological distress, orientation to health care, decisional conflict, and health locus of control, were assessed at three time points-(1) before treatment; (2) 2 months after completion of treatment; and (3) 12 months after completion of treatment. Demographic information was also obtained. The percentage of men using alternative therapies was 25, 17 and 14% before treatment, 2 and 12 months after treatment, respectively. In general, the most commonly used therapies were dietary changes, vitamins and herbal and nutrient remedies. Alternative therapy use was not related to final treatment choices. Before treatment, men who used alternative therapies were more uncertain about prostate cancer compared to men who were not using these therapies. Men who were using alternative therapies 12 months after treatment were less psychologically distressed that men who were not using these therapies. Health locus of control and orientation to health care were not found to be related to men's use of alternative therapies. In conclusion, men's use of alternative therapies after localized prostate cancer varied across time in terms of the incidence of use, the types of therapies used, and the psychological correlates of therapy use. Informational support that targets uncertainty about prostate cancer may assist men at diagnosis who are considering alternative therapy use. The potential for alternative therapies to have a supportive function in patient care requires further investigation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continuous-variable Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox with traveling-wave second-harmonic generation

The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and quantum entanglement are at the heart of quantum mechanics. Here we show that single-pass traveling-wave second-harmonic generation can be used to demonstrate both entanglement and the paradox with continuous variables that are analogous to the position and momentum of the original proposal.

Chloride as a signature indicator of soil textural and hydrologic stratigraphies in variable charge deep profiles

Soil properties that influence water movement through profiles are important for determining flow paths, reactions between soil and solute, and the ultimate destination of solutes. This is particularly important in high rainfall environments. For highly weathered deep profiles, we hypothesize that abrupt changes in the distribution of the quotient [QT = (silt + sand)/clay] reflect the boundaries between textural units or textural (TS) and hydrologic (HS) stratigraphies. As a result, QT can be used as a parameter to characterize TS and as a surrogate for HS. Secondly, we propose that if chloride distributions were correlated with QT, under non-limiting anion exchange, then chloride distributions can be used as a signature indicator of TS and HS. Soil cores to a depth of 12.5 in were taken from 16 locations in the wet tropical Johnstone River catchment of northeast Queensland, Australia. The cores belong to nine variable charge soil types and were under sugarcane (Saccharun officinarum-S) production, which included the use of potassium chloride, for several decades. The cores were segmented at I m depth increments and subsamples were analysed for chloride, pH, soil water content (theta), clay, silt and sand contents. Selected bores were capped to serve as piezometers to monitor groundwater dynamics. Depth incremented QT, theta and chloride correlated, each individually, significantly with the corresponding profile depth increments, indicating the presence of textural, hydrologic and chloride gradients in profiles. However, rapid increases in QT down the profile indicated abrupt changes in TS, suggesting that QT can be used as a parameter to characterize TS and as a surrogate for HS. Abrupt changes in chloride distributions were similar to QT, suggesting that chloride distributions can be used as a signature indicator of QT (TS) and HS. Groundwater data indicated that chloride distributions depended, at least partially, on groundwater dynamics, providing further support to our hypothesis that chloride distribution can be used as a signature indicator of HS. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effect of gaze direction on neck muscle activity during cervical rotation

Control of the neck muscles is coordinated with the sensory organs of vision, hearing and balance. For instance, activity of splenius capitis (SC) is modified with gaze shift. This interaction between eye movement and neck muscle activity is likely to influence the control of neck movement. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eye position on neck muscle activity during cervical rotation. In eleven subjects we recorded electromyographic activity (EMG) of muscles that rotate the neck to the right [right obliquus capitis inferior (OI), multifides (MF), and SC, and left sternocleidomastoid (SCM)] with intramuscular or surface electrodes. In sitting, subjects rotated the neck in each direction to specific points in range that were held statically with gaze either fixed to a guide (at three different positions) that moved with the head to maintain a constant intra-orbit eye position or to a panel in front of the subject. Although right SC and left SCM EMG increased with rotation to the right, contrary to anatomical texts, OI EMG increased with both directions and MF EMG did not change from the activity recorded at rest. During neck rotation SCM and MF EMG was less when the eyes were maintained with a constant intra-orbit position that was opposite to the direction of rotation compared to trials in which the eyes were maintained in the same direction as the head movement. The inter-relationship between eye position and neck muscle activity may affect the control of neck posture and movement.