Editorial

Abstract

Theatres and concert halls are ever-awaiting spaces, always prepared for stage action, and always ready to create a whole world. The performance itself —as well as the actor-spectator relationship they shelter—, barely exists while the execution is taking place, and only remain in the collective memory in extraordinary cases. Inside the theatre everything is possible: it is the place for rituals and discoveries, and every performance resurges thanks to the cast, the set design, the audience itself and even the sociopolitical circumstances that gave birth to it. For many reasons, few genres in the architectural field are as appealing as theatres. From their beginnings as places for public performances, they had to cope with providing large audiences with more than just enjoyment. Radial configurations that dealt with visual, acoustic and mechanical issues, consolidated in Greece to meet these expectations. Since the Renaissance, the creation of blindsheltered spaces has represented a real challenge in theatre’s quest for urban integration. Theatre and architecture have a necessary, intricate relationship that goes back for centuries, even though certain performances have always occurred in spaces not specifically planned for them. No doubt, it is an extraordinary spatial laboratory that evokes illusions. With singular perspective accentuations, the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza speaks for itself in this matter. The biography of theatre is both extended and intense, for it distinguishes itself with tragedies of its own, with fire being amongst the most common. There may not be another architectural typology that combines such risk and fragility. Think for example of the Bolshoi in Moscow, La Fenice in Venice, the Liceu in Barcelona, La Scala in Milan, the Novedades in Madrid, the Covent Garden in London, and even the first and last Coliseo, in our own city. Theatres are socially significant spaces; some have even merited an identical reconstruction, enticing controversy and opposition from restoration and Modern Architecture’s dogmas, which proclaim and defend innovation. La Fenice and the Liceu have been rebuilt from their ashes by Aldo Rossi and Ignasi de Solá-Morales, respectively. The Sagunto theatre in Rome was not so lucky. Completed in 1990 by Giorgio Grassi and Manuel Portaceli, who aimed to reestablish the functional concept of this extraordinary Roman forum, authorities considered —after seventeen years of legal battle— that the intervention was illegitimate and forced the monument to return to its ruinous state. This number of Bitácora includes five essays that explore matters of preservation, restoration and reconstruction of this particular spatial typology, written by Ivan San Martín with Roberta Vassallo; José Terán Bonilla; Vanessa Loya; Antoni Ramon; and Jany Castellanos, with illustrations by Jorge Tamés y Batta. Celia Facio interviewed Eduardo Saad regarding his lectures on “Sound, Silence: Acoustics and Architecture”, delivered in December 2008. Saad manages to demonstrate how senses other than sight are entirely ignored in architecture: that which escapes the eye is underestimated. Then it is almost inevitable to remember that, for the Judeo-Christian and Mayan traditions, sound, will, and word precede and govern conception. Before they exist, space and things are to be named. For these cultures, conception and creation dwell in the energy of sound. Therefore, it would be hard to find a more adequate cover for this issue than the Acoustic Mass II (Covent Garden) by Guillermo Kuitca, who, in this visual composition, represents the configuration of a theatrical space originated by reverberation. Although somehow related, the remaining texts deal with different subjects: regarding modern heritage and liturgy as well as stages, Juan B. Artigas establishes the Nueva Basílica de Guadalupe as one of the greatest works of Mexican 20th Century architecture. Diana Ramiro recounts the vital trajectory of an exceptional character devoted to the promotion and preservation of cultural heritage in Mexico: Luis Ortiz Macedo. Cristóbal Jácome explores subjects concerning optical illusions, ambiguity in spatial construction, and the artist’s identity in “The Eye, the Lens and the Sphere”. In “Imaginary Architectural Constructions and Cinematographic Art”, Marcelo Vizcaíno mentions ceaseless interactions between urban figurations and real cities. Finally, Jimena García and Ernesto Valero present a plan for an elevated train in the Bosque de Chapultepec that not only links its three sections (revitalizing one of them), but also establishes an innovative relationship between public transportation and the enjoyment of the city, a right each and every one of its inhabitants is entitled to. As such, heritage, performance, and enjoyment permeate this issue.