Ana Mayoral Moratilla

Research

Subject

Power Construction and Architectural Reconstruction. The case of Madrid’s Ciudad Universitaria

First and second supervisors

Abstract

This research investigates the reconstruction of Madrid’s ‘Ciudad Universitaria’ during the period after the Spanish Civil War, in order to better understand its role in the instauration of Franco’s dictatorial regime.

The symbolism of this university campus during the war and its importance as a public institution made its reconstruction a key exercise, facilitating the formation of a new social and political identity. Hence, the interplay between its architectural reconstruction and the new political system will be analysed. Particularly, this thesis focuses on the building of the ‘School of Philosophy’ due to its relevance in the process. Consequently, this research aims to contribute to the cross-disciplinary study of the interaction between architecture and power.

Biography

Ana studied architecture at the University of Seville, Spain (2014) and graduated from Harvard University in 2017, where she pursued the theoretical Master in Design Studies (Mdes) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, obtaining the Brazil Cities Initiative Research Grant from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) and the Paul M. Heffernan International Travel Award. Focusing on the interaction between architecture, power and heritage, she has developed several research projects, published articles and participated in different international congress. Additionally, she published the book 'Aljarafe, más que un colegio: La Arquitectura Pedagógica de Fernando Higueras y Antonio Miró' (2018).

Ana has worked at the Andalusian Institute for Historic Heritage (Spain) and as a research associate at the research lab Nuevas situaciones. Otras arquitecturas (University of Seville, Spain). Currently, Ana is pursuing her PhD at The Bartlett School of Architecture and teaches history and theory of architecture at the Academy of Arts University (California, USA).

Publications

Castellano Bravo, B. , Bouzas Abad, A., Gómez Villa, J.L., del Espino Hidalgo, B., Mayoral Moratilla, A., (2019), Testing the HeritageCare Methodology for Preventive Conservation of Built Cultural Heritage in Southwestern Europe: case studies in Andalusia for Service Level 1, International congress ‘Technoheritage, Seville. Spain
Mayoral, E. and Navarro, J., (2018), Aljarafe, Más Que Un Colegio: La Arquitectura Pedagógica de Fernando Higueras y Antonio Miró, Recolectores Urbanos Publishers
Mayoral Moratilla, A., Papavarnavas, M., (2018), Designing on Contested Memories, International congress ‘Technoheritage, Tirana, Albania
Mayoral Moratilla, A., Papavarnavas, M., (2018), The lost urban landscape. The acropolis of Athens, International congress ‘Aproximaciones contemporáneas al paisaje urbano. II Jornadas Investigacion Paisaje Urbano’, Madrid, Spain.
Mayoral Moratilla, A., (2016), Juan O´Gorman´s UNAM: architecture as fantasy for a national identity. OBL/QUE, A Journal on Critical Conservation, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge (MA), US
Collazoul, N., Garcia, C. A., Escobar, N., Herrera, J.Macor, D. Mayoral Moratilla, A., Rufilli, A., (2013), in Tejedor Cabrera, A., Itálica: tiempo y paisaje. Universidad Internacional de Andalucía. pp. 176-184

Image: Photo by Ana Mayoral Moratilla