Lecture: Tourist construction in the Balearic Islands (1939-2005)

Lecture, Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya, 16th July 2020.

From 2015 on, the demarcation of Girona of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya organises the conference series Síntesis Arquitectóniques to present thesis on architecture and urbanism.

Due to sanitary reasons, this year’s edition has been held in online format and has dealt with island territories. The cycle was initiated by Toni Vidal and his thesis Atlas del Puerto de Maó. He was followed by Rocío Narbona with Cartografía operativa para el proyecto de paisaje turístico de Canarias. I closed this year edition with the presentation of my thesis La construcción turística en las Islas Baleares (1939-2005). Arquitectura, urbanismo, fotografía.

My lecture consisted on a synthesis of the methodology and the contents of the thesis, highlighting issues such as the historic and social context.

The conference can be seen in the COAC and COAC Girona YouTube channels.

Tourist construction in the Balearic Islands (1939-2005). Architecture, urbanism and photography

Oral defense of the doctoral thesis. PhD in History, History of Art and Geography, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 6^th June 2019.

Tourist architecture has not been analysed from a historic and artistic perspective until recent times, despite the impact of tourism on contemporary society. Tourism has been the main economic resource in the Balearic Islands and buildings for leisure have caused a radical change in the archipelago’s morphology. Nevertheless, these architectures have been scarcely studied in the field of art history with the only exception of the works by Dr. Miguel Seguí.

In last years, I have been preparing my doctoral thesis on architecture and urbanism created for tourism purposes from 1939 to 2005. I have studied the buildings and the urban plans mainly, identified property developers, analysed legislation and have highlighted the most outstanding creations. Besides, I have examined the dissemination of the projects in photography considering commercial approaches, such as postcards, and professional perspectives, as the ones reflected in architectural press.

So, the thesis covers from the slow recovery of tourism after Spanish Civil War, when traditionalism was the main architectural style, to the very beginnings of 21^st century and the kitsch phenomena

+info: abstract in Teseo

+info: News on the oral defense on the website of the Universitat de les Illes Balears