(IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

The urban image of Madrid has varied throughout the different periods, but there is a common element that has always shaped the facades of the city and this is the Madrid balcony, which has evolved over the last centuries ending in disuse today. This element has undergone some evolutions due to the social changes produced in the different periods, accompanied by the technological innovations incorporated in the residential construction in Madrid which have influenced the way of making these balconies, all this is determined by the successive modifications in the municipal ordinances concerning the building. The fundamental objective of the work is the enhancement of the balcony as an architectural element that configures the image of the city. In order to do this, we first analyse the presence of this space in the houses of the different social classes, and its social function within them. On the other hand, we study the variations that the balcony has suffered and the technological innovations that have caused them, similarly to the way that the construction in collective housing evolves, the construction of the balconies themselves also evolves. In addition, it analyses how the normative evolution has conditioned the characteristics of the facades and the elements present in them, and how they have been adapting to the social realities of each moment. Finally, three streets of Madrid are selected as a case study, where the existence of certain invariable elements are verified, and the impact that they have on the image of the city the different aspects analysed. This work seeks to analyse all these factors that have determined the image of the city through the study of a singular element such as the balcony.