LEER EN CASTELLANO ︎︎︎
Old El Águila Brewery
REGIONAL ARCHIVE AND LIBRARY OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRIDBy commission of the Heritage Department of the Community of Madrid.
MADRID, 2021
In the 1970s, advanced economies underwent a cycle of transformations that led to a new framework for economic development. Within a few years, a significant portion of the industrial fabric located on the outskirts of large cities was relocated, resulting in a surplus of disused spaces.
In Madrid, the El Águila beer factory closed in 1985 when the Dutch company Heineken centralized production in a more modern plant in San Sebastián de los Reyes. After years of abandonment, the old brewery became the first purely industrial building to be declared a BIC1 in Madrid in 1990.
From 1996 to 2003, the Mansilla+Tuñón studio constructed a new complex to house the Regional Archive and Library, making it one of the pioneering examples of industrial building reconversion in the region. Throughout its history, the building has adapted to the demands of a changing economic model.
When I was commissioned to photograph the complex, I focused on its current production and portrayed it as the workspace it has always been. The classification, custody, care, and preservation of historical documents are laborious activities that led me to think of the documentary memory as the new product of the old plant. During the process, I focused on visiting the different departments and sections that make up the activity of the center to portray them in their daily work.
1. A BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest". It includes not only material heritage, like monuments or movable works of art, but also intangible cultural heritage.
In Madrid, the El Águila beer factory closed in 1985 when the Dutch company Heineken centralized production in a more modern plant in San Sebastián de los Reyes. After years of abandonment, the old brewery became the first purely industrial building to be declared a BIC1 in Madrid in 1990.
From 1996 to 2003, the Mansilla+Tuñón studio constructed a new complex to house the Regional Archive and Library, making it one of the pioneering examples of industrial building reconversion in the region. Throughout its history, the building has adapted to the demands of a changing economic model.
When I was commissioned to photograph the complex, I focused on its current production and portrayed it as the workspace it has always been. The classification, custody, care, and preservation of historical documents are laborious activities that led me to think of the documentary memory as the new product of the old plant. During the process, I focused on visiting the different departments and sections that make up the activity of the center to portray them in their daily work.
1. A BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest". It includes not only material heritage, like monuments or movable works of art, but also intangible cultural heritage.
