Madrid Reborn in Little More Than Half a Century

In little more than half a century, Madrid has evolved from what several Spanish writers, from Benito Pérez Galdós to Camilo José Cela, famously described as a provincial town into the vibrant metropolis it is today. This remarkable transformation is the subject of a volume in the Cities collection, published by ACS Group under the supervision of engineer and economist Miguel Aguiló.

Titled The Building of Present Day Madrid, the book explores how, in the space of just seven or eight decades, “an unremarkable mid-twentieth-century European capital has become a dynamic and cosmopolitan metropolis”. Its central focus is the role that architecture and engineering have played in reshaping the city, driving profound physical, economic, social and cultural change.

Organised into nine chapters, the volume traces a journey that begins with “the existing urban features encountered by today’s builders”, including the escarpment overlooking the Manzanares River, and examines the major interventions undertaken to “provide mobility through roads and streets, build upwards with structures, overcome obstacles with bridges, and regulate the flow of water and resources”.

Although the book concentrates on contemporary Madrid, it also offers a concise overview of the major milestones in the city’s development, from its origins as an Arab settlement perched above the river to the transfer of the Spanish court from Toledo in 1561. It revisits the Madrid of the Habsburgs, with the five-year interlude during which Valladolid served as Spain’s capital; the impetus given to urban development by the first Bourbon monarch, Philip V, who commissioned the Royal Palace on the site of the Royal Alcázar, destroyed by fire in 1734; and the acceleration of that process under Charles III, described by Aguiló as “the true driving force and creator of much of monumental Madrid”.

The narrative continues with the arrival of the first railway in 1850; the definitive solution to the city’s water supply problem through the Canal de Isabel II in the late nineteenth century; Arturo Soria’s Ciudad Lineal at the turn of the twentieth century; the opening of Madrid’s first metro line in 1919; and the city’s expansion northwards. This expansion included the extension of the Castellana, the construction of Nuevos Ministerios and the development of new railway infrastructure, including Chamartín Station and the tunnel linking it to Atocha, all promoted during the Second Republic. Then came the two-decade hiatus that followed the Civil War.

After the slowdown of the post-war years, Madrid began to take off again in the 1960s, as rapid economic development transformed Spanish society and the country's economy. The decisive leap towards the Madrid of today came after the end of the dictatorship and the arrival of democracy.

As historian Juan Pablo Fusi writes in his 2012 essay A Brief History of Spain, quoted in the volume:

“Madrid’s urban renaissance since 1975 was extraordinary: new museums, including the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza; new university faculties and schools; libraries; auditoriums; hotels; major shopping centres; numerous underpasses; new metro lines; parks; major ring roads; new railway stations and airport terminals; urban extensions and new neighbourhoods; and spectacular buildings, including Torre Picasso, Torre Europa, Puerta de Europa I and II, Terminal T4 at Barajas Airport, and the Caja Madrid, Cristal, Sacyr and Espacio skyscrapers.”

Spanning 321 pages and richly illustrated with maps, plans and photographs, the book also includes an overview of ACS Group’s most significant projects in Madrid, together with an extensive bibliography on the city.