Urbanism, architecture and nature at UAM: representing a privileged environment

The artistic heritage of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) counts with one of the most representative Works of the Madrid ceramics Alfaraz, a unique work of genuine artistic creation which was incorporated into our architecture to embellish an important area as is the main lobby of the old Rectory building (now Pabellón A). A wonderful ceramic mural which is 2.67 m. high and 3.56 m. wide, it was designed and signed by architect Miguel Durán-Loriga in 1971.

It is very personal interpretation of what is now called “the old quarter” of the Campus at Cantoblanco (where UAM is located), a peripherical geographical space ordered by the streets, the blocks of buildings and the scenery, which the viewer perceives as if from one of the highest points of the area, the road on the north side which leads to the nearby towns of Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes.

The ceramic mural in relief is made up of a considerable number of pieces, with different forms, sizes and volume, made using an artisan process which makes the figures unique. For this work the author used his most characteristic style, highlighted by the personal grammar of the forms, the live colours and the particular traits of the drawing. Simple geometric shapes predominate, schematic and repeated; with lines, circles, spirals, triangles, cubes, cylinders, rectangles, squares, bevelling and other shapes in their most mathematical form. With them, he represented the central group of Faculties and other important buildings of the time, like the Rectory, The Institute for Teaching Sciences, the Library and the Thermal Centre (the upper part), the Dining Halls and the Sports Centre (on the right-hand side), as well as the sports fields and other buildings (at the bottom).

Linked to the architectural figurations is the brilliantly exuberant nature, shown in the landscape and gardens, with many details which imitate trees, the trimmed hedges and the field areas. These elements show the intended symbiosis of the University population with natural spaces, caring for the environment as a quality guideline for studying, for working and for human relationships. and the marriage of social organisation and the ecosystem.

Although it seems that everything is symbolised two-dimensionally, it is a trick which disappears when we get close to the mural: when the surface rises up it emerges outwards and proclaims the tri-dimensionality of the forms. It is no longer a painting, specifically, nor is it ceramic in the sense of an auxiliary popular element. it is a different achievement in which the painter and artist-potter are hard to separate. Shapes with volume which the creator reinforced using paint applied by hand to emphasise the chiaroscuro and contrast the parts: orange, cobalt blue, grey, yellows and greens, at times in a pure state, and at others at different degrees and intensities, always used with very little voluntary clouding.

José Antonio Sebastián Maestre, Doctor of History at Arte UAM, author of La presencia de lo moderno en el patrimonio artístico de la UAM (the presence of modernity in the artistic heritage of the UAM), published and edited by the institution on the occasion of its 50^th anniversary