Due to the contours of the place, with its steep slopes and sparse flat spaces, it has been necessary to adapt the layout of the town to the necessities that society develops as time goes by.
This is why we come across difficulties of different sorts when building and above all when adapting their use to the wishes of man. The transformation of geographical space is constant. The adaptation required by man´s interests is sometimes at the cost of other values such as beauty or personal wellbeing. Sometimes economic requirements are given greater weight than the essence of nature.
When there is an industrial impetus and rapid, uncontrolled population increase, overcrowding is the first sign and the consequence are buildings adapted to an urgent situation looking no further than the immediate solution.
As a result, the beauty of the scene is fractured with no overall scheme, and the urban landscape deteriorates.
In this amalgam, it is good to create a space which will give a self-consistent character to the surroundings and identify them in orden to conserve their personality.
Giving priority to the factory rather than social wellbeing. This is why we are faced by buildings of considerable height, sometimes narrow, inconvenient for the worker but useful and in accordance with the surroundings.
The structures are strong, tough. Those bastions are built to withstand the passage of time, the weight of hefty machines and the corrosion of acids …
The façades are redolent of fortitude and solidity. Straight lines and right angles prevail over all others, the rationalism of the face of the building with the windows aligned in an orthodox manner. Each aperture has its function. Light, so much appreciated in these somber, dank latitudes, must pierce the walls as much as possible to make the day´s labours less heavy and their performance better.
Using natural energy to the full.
Note: The captions were written in 2001, on the occasion of the publication of the book Eibar, the factory city.
