City Streets - The City Center of Madrid ; Gran Via Studies

The city of Madrid has a unique texture of narrow streets and manzanas or city blocks that are very compact and dense. Each manzana is composed of  low rise buildings, most of which do not exceed four to five stories. This "street type" is repeated across the terrain and cut through with larger avenues such as the Gran Via. 

The Gran Via today is an icon of Spanish consumerism. Although it  hosts a space for consumerism this busy avenue is a container of Spanish history. Alot of the buildings along this street identify with other European styles such as German Expressionism, international styles such as Chicago style, and early archi-types of the  Madrid Baroque style. 

Upon my visit, I was taken by the historical richness of each street in madrid. But when I visited the Gran Via what captivated me the most was how the historical container accepted what was modern. I began to map out the extensive forms of appropriation that took place in this area. Appropriation that took place through sound, movement, modern commerce, street art and graphiti. To me the area surrounding the Gran Via as an example of parasitic perfection that punctured through the historic fabric of the city, creating an avenue that encompassed both the new current modern state and the history of the city. These drawings and photographs explore this condition, experiencing how these new modern forms of expression begin to break through the historical container they have come to inhabit.

Gran Via Leading into off avenue commercial streets : Calle Fuencarral

Photo-Blog: Images of FuenCarral

 Residential appropriation, Grafiti Street art and noise from commercial grounds

Images of The Gran Via

Categories: acrylic, architecture, cities, cityscape, exploration of mass, light, mardrid, spain, spray paint, sun, time, watercolors