The place as a method:
Lessons in persistent architecture from El Taray
by Esperanza Campaña
Given the intentional crudeness of its language, its fragmented layout around collective spaces as well as how it incorporates aerial connections and galleries, some authors have referred to El Taray (Segovia, 1962-1964) as a neobrutalist housing complex. Indeed, it belongs to a moment in the history of Spanish and international architecture where trends had moved beyond rationalism and there was a renewed interest in the city, all of which was linked mainly with the experiences of Team 10. Overcoming the discourse of labels and classifications, this communication presents El Taray as a timeless response to a pressing need for adaptation to extreme political, social and environmental conditions.
Esperanza Campaña is guest senior lecturer at Umeå School of Architecture and is Faculty of the MAS in Collective Housing at the School of Architecture of Madrid in the specialty of Housing Theory. In 2017 she presented her doctoral thesis “The life in between. Neighbourhood Unit of El Taray — Segovia, 1962-1964” at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
