The Aguirre Schools of Madrid: Neo-Mudéjar, building and craft
Ediciones Asimétricas has published this monographic edition about our headquarters, as a sample of the Neo-Mudéjar style of architecture, with the cooperation of Casa Árabe. The book was authored by Alejandro del Real Mateos
April 15, 2021
MADRID
The Aguirre Schools building (1887), current headquarters of Casa Árabe in Madrid, a work by Emilio Rodríguez Ayuso (1845-1891), is one of Madrid’s most important examples of what is known as the Neo-Mudéjar style of architecture, a historicist trend that arose in the late nineteenth century. Despite its importance, the building had never been the subject of a monographic study to date.
This work published by Ediciones Asimétricas is an attempt to fill the gap, offering a rigorous examination of the building’s most relevant historical and technical aspects.
The most notable feature of the building is its exposed brick façade, a fine example of how the architects of the time managed to take advantage of patterned ceramics. This study analyzes this façade in detail, emphasizing the complexity of masonry combinations used in its construction. This analysis shows that the elaborate external surface of the building conceals, as is logical, a complicated internal layout of bricks and joints, while also making it possible to understand that the façade, subject to rigid rules governing dimensional coordination, required careful planning which had to be adhered to from the design stage to construction.
The technical features of nineteenth-century architecture are often hidden behind the expressive force of historicist languages. The Aguirre Schools building and, in particular, its façade are a prime example of this: it is truly a historicist recreation, but also, as the many illustrations included in this book show, an exercise in producing applied combinations of major complexity. The book notes the importance of both these facets within this work of architecture.
Alejandro del Real Mateos is a technical architect who graduated from the Madrid’s Superior Technical School of Building and holds a master’s degree in historical building construction and technology from Madrid’s Superior Technical School of Architecture. He contributed to the Third Rioseco Monastery Event Days organized by the University of Burgos with a presentation titled “The presence of the snail on the stairs in the Monastery of Santa María de Rioseco,” as well as giving other courses to increase awareness about the monastery and aid in its recovery. During his professional career with ABM Architects, he has taken part in the development of refurbishment projects and the construction of different new buildings.
ESCUELAS AGUIRRE DE MADRID. Neomudéjar, construcción y oficio (The Aguirre Schools of Madrid: Neo-Mudéjar, building and craft)
Del Real Mateos, Alejandro
ISBN: 978-84-17905-65-1
Format: 14.8 x 21 cm.
Pages: 104
Binding: Paperback with flaps
Retail price: €22.00 (including VAT)
Fold-out plan attached