Gran Vía, Madrid

Although art critic Luis Gil Fillol was not a lover of the United States, in an article written in 1926 he attested to the 'indelible' impression that New York leaves on seeing it for the first time. That same year, to the painter José Moreno Villa it seems to him from the boat “a gothic, feudal city, of crowded and tall masses”. Then he noticed that its essential problem, which is the lack of land on which to build, is overcome with the use of technology to speed everything up and invert the proportions in favor of man. Going fast - by subway, cab or elevator - makes it possible to exchange space for time. Constructing towering buildings creates narrow but voluminous habitats. “Magnitude combined with narrowness": the Spanish artist is moved to contemplate the architectural effort required to solve such a problem. But the skyscraper,” he says, ”which began as a technical solution, has ended up shaping a way of life. That is why, as Paul Linder had said in Arquitectura magazine, it was “the coat of arms of America [and] the America of skyscrapers is Manhattan,” a wonderful place when you enter “the harbor, at sunset, when the sun crosses the colossus of stone and iron.” The composition of the ground and the lack of space explain the origin of the skyscraper as a genuine New York phenomenon. For the same reason it was difficult, and even unnecessary, to adapt it to European reality. In his opinion, it was possible that large office buildings and shopping malls could be built, but he did not believe that they would exceed ten stories in height...[+]