Resumen de El diario Informaciones, la desconocida obra de Luis Gutiérrez Soto: transformaciones y destrucción en la imagen de un periódico
The journalism industry developed through an industrial and urban architecture that lasted 150 years; from the mid-19th century to the year 2000.From that date, they became something else: the buildings turned into multimedia centers that erased what previously characterized them throughout their existence: the rotary presses. There were three typologies ofnewspapers buildings: Facade buildings, Stratified buildings, and Navebuildings. The evening newspaper “Informaciones” (1922-1983) belongedto the third type; with a large machinery room that was covered and illuminated from the front. The building emerged in an urban gap betweenMadrid's San Roque and Madera streets, which conditioned its constructionand use. The newspaper was released while using “El País” newspaperheadquarters, a José Monasterio´s work (1909), built on the same site.In1940, due to the damages caused by the war, the then director Victor de laSerna commissioned Luis Gutiérrez Soto to rebuild and make the first expansion of the building. Throughout Gutiérrez Soto career, this buildingmarked a transition. An unusually pragmatic architecture, almost anonymous. It is interesting how the economic justification was done for the project, a praxis far from the personal ostentation or of business representation, in the middle of a depressed economy. Long gone are his expressionistcinemas and housing buildings, and his historicist phase (miming ‘El Escorial’ style) represented in "El Ministerio del Aire" is still yet to come.The main building overlooked San Roque Street, was dedicated to the edition of the newspaper for the provinces and was the most urban; Theiropenings reflected the rhythm of the neighboring houses but with a notableornamental dryness, which was deliberately manifested with an austerecorporate image and was crowned by the newspaper logotype in relief.Since its closure, the building underwent several transformations andchanges of use that disfigured it completely, until 2003, when the headquarters of the IDAE took it. This is an unknown work by Gutiérrez Sotothat represented the effort of the press industry to survive in the middle ofthe city.
