Interview with Simon Smithson by\u00a0Jose Antonio Zarzalejos<\/p>\n
A tall, slim and British man. That is the first image conveyed by Simon Smithson, one of the most renowned architects in Europe, partner and right-hand man of Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Prize and co-designer of large buildings such as Terminal 4 at the Madrid-Barajas Airport. That project earned him the prestigious Stirling prize, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Smithson is also a professional dedicated to Spain and Latin America and at his and Richard Rogers\u2019 hands a project is being shaped that, he claims, \u201cin terms of scale is the most important in any European city.\u201d That project is the development of northern Madrid in the operation called Distrito Castellana Norte.<\/p>\n
The large problems of cities are mobility and pollution, which is why the private use of cars will decrease, and it will be shared with other means of transport<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Smithson welcomes me into his studio in Madrid, located on a light-filled floor on the central Calle Vel\u00e1zquez. He speaks broken and guttural, albeit intelligible, Spanish in a near monotone. When I ask him what is happening in cities and their new prominence, as they are on their way to housing more than 80 percent of the world\u2019s population, he takes his time to respond:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are returning to a structure similar to that of Renaissance Italy, when cities were more important than States and this phenomenon is also linked to employment. Since the industrial revolution, the reason for migrating to the city has been employment, to work. The big jobs are tertiary and this is the main reason for urbanization, having a pool of employees who live in metropolises that offer them good jobs. Cities have also started competing with each other and becoming more important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would this movement from country to city explain the electoral and ideological differentiation between urban and rural citizens? Smithson supposes that the conditioning factors of the city explain this phenomenon, but does not delve into a matter that is perhaps more related to politics and sociology than urbanism. Although, then he immediately explains that the problems of modern-day cities are specific:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion, I believe that the main issues are mobility, traffic and, consequently, pollution and environmental sustainability. The car will not disappear, but it will have to coexist with new technologies (referring to electric and hybrid vehicles) and public transportation. For example, London already approached this problem, and one of the most significant revolutions was the phenomenon of bicycles as a clean and fast means of transport. There are other urban movements such as pedestrianization, which is a notable characteristic of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026and what about habitability, and run-down areas of cities?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u201cWell\u2013nods the architect thoughtfully\u2013I believe that these situations in the suburbs are related to the extension of public services. In Madrid the population growth in recent years has been between 10 and 14 percent, although in occupation of area it is double or triple. The new developments in Madrid\u2013and in other cities\u2013are low density, which entails high costs in urban maintenance, such as lighting, cleaning and public transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under these circumstances, how should cities grow? Horizontally or vertically? Once again, Simon Smithson takes his time to reflect:<\/p>\n
\u201cDensity is not necessarily related to height. That is a bit of a myth. My preference is a combination of a vertical and horizontal city. The height of buildings is somewhat mysterious. After the 9\/11 attacks in New York, they said they would reduce building heights, but nonetheless there are more towers under construction than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
In London, the bicycle revolution took place as an alternative, and in New York, the phenomenon of pedestrianization<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Smithson has thought inevitably leads to another: Does architecture impose style on a city or does the city determine the style? For the British architect, there is no definitive answer to the question. Again, he takes a long pause before answering:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trend since the 1950s indicates that buildings throughout the world will end up being similar, but there are other schools of thought that think that buildings should reflect a city\u2019s spirit. Several factors influence the style of buildings, the raw materials used in construction, climate, and accessibility and, although the technology is shared, buildings must reflect the conditions typical of the citizens\u2019 environment, especially the weather. A good building captures the spirit of the metropolis. In Madrid, people live more in the street; in London, they prefer to stay indoors. There is another factor in the dialogue of buildings in cities: They have responsibility with respect to their occupants, but also for the context of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smithson leads projects in Latin America. He confesses that the project in Venezuela is \u201con hold\u201d. It was a bus station originally, but then shifted to a more complete and aesthetic public space, multi-use, which would also be used as a community space. However, he does speak enthusiastically about a project under construction in Bogota, financed by a private businessman who wants to recover the city\u2019s historic center, which was constructed in the nineteen fifties after the riots known as \u201cEl Bogotazo\u201d (April 1948) that destroyed a large part of the city. \u201cThe dream is that the Colombian capital will have the best public space in the country,\u201d says the architect, showing optimism for the project that is already in the construction phase. \u201cThe first tower will be opened in Bogota in 18 months. There will be offices, a hotel and residential housing.\u201d He also refers to the BBVA headquarters in Mexico, a project about which he feels great satisfaction and pride.<\/p>\n
There are more towers under construction than ever, despite the impact of the 9\/11 attacks<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
His challenge, and that of the entire studio, led by Richard Rogers, is the momentous development project in the north of Madrid:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe north and south districts of the city are not connected. It is as if a chunk of the city were missing. Madrid is a relatively new invention. The Salamanca neighborhood, Gran V\u00eda, La Castellana… these are all spaces from the last century. Cities, including Madrid, have to change in order to survive. Paris completely understood this, as did London with the Olympic Games, and Barcelona for the 1992 Games. There is a convergence of needs that ensure that this project moves forward, along with a general air of enthusiasm. This can be felt in the meetings with neighbors. People understand the project\u2019s importance for Madrid, more than any other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the project more important than many other projects currently in the portfolio at the studio of Richard Rogers and Simon Smithson? He does not hesitate: \u201cI think it is. It will be spectacular. Madrid is a great city, along with Paris and London, but the metropolis must keep changing and growing, ambitiously like what happened with initiatives like Madrid-Rio.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dream is that the Colombian capital will have the country\u2019s best public space in its city center<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I suggest that there does however seem to be something of a phobia of urbanization: \u201cYes, that is true. There is resistance to return to the life of cities before the crisis, and some city development models were not the best\u2013speaking of the PAUs (urban action development plans) in Spain\u2013but the Castellana Norte project is different, because it goes further than the construction projects of the past. Madrid could be like Paris and thus take on its status, bearing in mind that there is a better life quality in Spain\u2019s capital.\u201d He stresses the importance that this operation in north Madrid has for the verticality of Paseo de la Castellana, which houses political and cultural institutions. This will be its prolongation.<\/p>\n
The time is drawing near, but Britain leaving the European Union is still pending.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to search for a compromise. We, British are artists at reaching them. In addition, we will reach a compromise with the EU. Europe is more important than mere commercial agreements; it is a space of democracy and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interview with Simon Smithson by\u00a0Jose Antonio Zarzalejos A tall, slim and British man. That is the first image conveyed by Simon Smithson, one of the most renowned architects in Europe, partner and right-hand man of Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Prize and co-designer of large buildings such as Terminal 4 at the Madrid-Barajas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"class_list":["post-472698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular - LLYC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interview with Simon Smithson by\u00a0Jose Antonio Zarzalejos A tall, slim and British man. That is the first image conveyed by Simon Smithson, one of the most renowned architects in Europe, partner and right-hand man of Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Prize and co-designer of large buildings such as Terminal 4 at the Madrid-Barajas […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LLYC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LLYC.Global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-24T05:22:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"andrea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@llorenteycuenca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@llorenteycuenca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"andrea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular - LLYC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular","og_description":"Interview with Simon Smithson by\u00a0Jose Antonio Zarzalejos A tall, slim and British man. That is the first image conveyed by Simon Smithson, one of the most renowned architects in Europe, partner and right-hand man of Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Prize and co-designer of large buildings such as Terminal 4 at the Madrid-Barajas […]","og_url":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/","og_site_name":"LLYC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LLYC.Global\/","article_published_time":"2017-10-24T05:22:41+00:00","author":"andrea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@llorenteycuenca","twitter_site":"@llorenteycuenca","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"andrea","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/"},"author":{"name":"andrea","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9f32ed7279b71b2ef5295806812ff9b4"},"headline":"UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular","datePublished":"2017-10-24T05:22:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/"},"wordCount":1362,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Ideas"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/","url":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/","name":"UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular - LLYC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-24T05:22:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9f32ed7279b71b2ef5295806812ff9b4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/uno1-cities-must-change-to-survive-which-is-why-the-development-of-the-north-of-madrid-will-be-spectacular\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UNO+1: Cities must change to survive, which is why the development of the north of Madrid will be spectacular"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/","name":"LLYC","description":"Consultoria de comunicaci\u00f3n marketing y asuntos p\u00fablicos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9f32ed7279b71b2ef5295806812ff9b4","name":"andrea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad24e19084a368dba52090fbba4f136747eb294cec890e3452f7924d43eb6c97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad24e19084a368dba52090fbba4f136747eb294cec890e3452f7924d43eb6c97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad24e19084a368dba52090fbba4f136747eb294cec890e3452f7924d43eb6c97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"andrea"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}