The 'app' provides information about the buildings such as the year of construction, its author or the architectural movement to which they belong.
From the Castelar building to the Sunflower passing through the Crown of Thorns, the Candle, the CaixaForum or the Italian embassy. The architecture of Madrid surprises you at every step and every corner: when looking up, when leaving a subway entrance or forming part of the skyline that receives and dismisses the sun on the horizon.
Incomprehensible, unmistakable and essential. This is the architectural heritage of the capital. And if not, let them tell the university students who spend hours and hours in front of the Retiro Park with their notebook and charcoal –because if you take a photo and try to draw it from home it will not be the same, a flat image will never have the dimensions or depth of reality–.
How to condense all those buildings, parks, gardens, schools, museums...? Impossible? Nope.
We introduce you architecture of Madrid , an application developed by the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) and the COAM Architecture Foundation, with the support of the Madrid City Council and the Business Forum for Madrid.
'Architecture of Madrid': 300 emblematic buildings of the capital on your mobile
MORE THAN 300 BUILDINGS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND –OR BETTER SAID, ON YOUR SMARTPHONE SCREEN–
This 'app' – free to download for Android and iOS – collects almost 300 emblematic buildings of the capital providing information about them the year of construction, the author, the architectural movement to which they belong, as well as images, plans, the address in which they are located or how to get to them.
“There is also a link with ‘more information’ that directs us to the website of our Historical Service to expand knowledge (if it exists) and a link to the building's website, if its content has a cultural value for the user”, explains Jose Alfonso Álamo, from the Department of Cultural Management of the COAM to Traveler.es
Thanks to augmented reality and the camera of your smartphone, you will be able to locate the buildings near you and how far away they are
How did the great idea of collecting the architecture of the city come about? “From the need to publicize the Architecture Guides of Madrid that the COAM has been publishing since 1982 –they explain–. These guides represent the largest container of scientific knowledge of the built heritage of the Community of Madrid”.
The 'app', available in Spanish and English, also allows locate buildings through augmented reality using the camera of the mobile device: in this way, they are shown images of nearby architectural works and how far away they are.
The application offers itineraries such as 'Madrid de los Austrias' or 'Barrio de las Letras', among many others
FROM MADRID DE LOS AUSTRIAS TO THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT PASSING THROUGH THE BARRIO DE LAS LETRAS AND EL RETIRO
There is also the possibility of following itineraries; realize searches by styles or typologies and order them by distance or year of construction.
The application also has an interactive map with the location of all the buildings.
Some of the 17 itineraries available are 'Madrid of the Austrians' –which includes works such as the Royal Palace of Madrid or the Plaza Mayor–, 'Grand Via' –with the Metropolis building, the Círculo de Bellas Artes or the Palacio de la Prensa– or 'Around the Retreat' –where in addition to the iconic park, we find the Prado National Museum, the Arab House and the Puerta de Alcalá, among others–.
In each itinerary we find a description of the route, the list of buildings that make it up and the route through Google Maps.
Browse the interactive map to discover the nearby emblematic buildings
FROM MADRID TO THE SKY
The idea is to keep the application alive, updating it periodically: "Day by day we will be adding buildings, both new constructions and historical ones", they expose.
"Also we will propose new itineraries as the content expands, we will organize some around themes (materials, typologies, architects' anniversaries, etc.) and We will support large events in the city with routes related to culture and architecture”, they comment from the COAM to Traveler.es
And the thing does not end here: “It is planned to extend the radius to the Community of Madrid. In parallel to the updating of the works in the city, we will gradually include buildings of interest in all the municipalities of the Community”, they tell Traveler.es
In principle, this 'app' is not expected to collect works from other cities, but yes we are studying the formula so that other Official Associations of Architects can replicate it.
The Castelar building, at number 50 Paseo de la Castellana, continues to be one of the masterpieces of Madrid architecture
AN 'APP' FOR CITIZENS AND TOURISTS
From the COAM they affirm that the application is useful for both tourists and citizens because it provides quality information about the heritage that surrounds us.
“For the tourist it supposes a great tool with which to explore the city for the first time, for the citizen it becomes the perfect instrument with which to rediscover Madrid and delve into the knowledge of architectures that are often unknown to the people of Madrid themselves”, sentence.
And they continue: “it is also worth noting the pedagogical facet of the project and its usefulness for students, being able to easily visualize sets of projects by authors, styles or specific typologies”.
Have you reached the end of the article without downloading the application? Well, you're already late!
An ideal tool for citizens and tourists