The idea of a rotating architecture is a constant illusion always given by realities bordering the utopia or the nonsense. Since the machinist illusion began and was consolidated since a couple of centuries ago in the romantic or in science fiction literature, the proposals have been passed from literature to drawing and from there into the constructed reality. Wheels are a reflection of this dizzying iconography.

These fun machines were the first to raise a static movement, quickly became the great attractors of fairs with great public success. The change of perspective of the landscape observed from different vertical and horizontal positions caused the feeling of a unique experience transmitted by word of mouth.

The attempt to transfer the movement to architecture is nothing new. From the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, like some of the Constructivist and Rationalist proposals, such as the flying cities of Georgy Krutikov, to the City Walking vs Cities: Moving by Archigram, in the 1960s, to more mundane proposals as different viewpoint towers that as icons many cities have developed or tried to develop (eg the static Piruli of Madrid, the London Eye or the Dubai tower project) reflected part of that constant utopian vision to integrate, machine, architecture and movement in a unique component, an image reflecting a unattainable freedom sought by the architecture.

Examples of these architectures are not limited to the avant-garde visions drawn from some architectures or infrastructures, everyday domesticity of residential architecture has also had its glorious visionary example, nearly a century ago, with the Sunflower House. It is a house that turned around itself  in a full circle, duringo one day. The villa "Il Girasole" with a fixed circular base and a rotating L-shaped structure was built between 1930 and 1935 by Angelo Invernizzi and interior designer Ettore Fagiuoli with the help of various friends.

And what relation has all this with the paid articles currently inserted in paper and online publications, articles presented as "natural" or "natural as possible", articles that are actually undercover advertising? New advertising systems that attempt to avoid barriers are increasingly common, developed by all browsers, lately Firefox, to provide its users a more anonymous surfing to avoid the constant bombardment of advertising messages and yet eliminate or reduce the constant data collection by advertising companies of the users surfing the net. Anyone who wants to write and post messages or links to other websites is good for the development of this undercover advertising. People who can write with some knowledge but that it does not involve the costs of the intervention of a professional, whether it is an essayist, a journalist or a specialist. For a small fee, advertisers have guaranteed low profile articles with great impact on their products and networks.

So when a few days ago an article was published stating that the first smart rotatory housing in Europe was put on sale, one is surprised and smiles after it. Not because the article is not well documented, (currently being documented is no longer recognized as a necessary value, it is unfortunately only a complementary value) or because the proposal has or has not an architectural value, the smile comes due to the ingenuity with which some think about the future, a constant static wheel. A waterwheel with memory of fish -rather naive and simple, selling utopias of a century ago that try to update as futuristic ideas with articles done in a "natural" way, "as natural as possible." We are faced with a proliferation of pseudo-articles that invade every means, from the most irrelevant mass-media to the most considered.

At least the advertising, that is hated by some, when it shows us, it is required that it be explicit and not misleading. The debate about whether it is right or not do items where the sale of the product is premium over the rigor of the contents, it is a debate that should emerge quickly.

 

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José Juan Barba (1964) architect from ETSA Madrid in 1991. Special Mention in the National Finishing University Education Awards 1991. PhD in Architecture ETSAM, 2004. He founded his professional practice in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com). He has been an architecture critic and editor-in-chief of METALOCUS magazine since 1999, and he advised different NGOs until 1997. He has been a lecturer (in Design, Theory and Criticism, and Urban planning) and guest lecturer at different national and international universities (Roma TRE, Polytechnic Milan, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, UNAM Mexico, Univ. Iberoamericana Mexico, University of Thessaly Volos, FA de Montevideo, Washington, Medellin, IE School, U.Alicante, Univ. Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-U.I.C. Barcelona,...).

Maître de Conférences IUG-UPMF Grenoble 2013-14. Full assistant Professor, since 2003 up to now at the University of Alcalá School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain. And Jury in competitions as Quaderns editorial magazine (2011), Mies van der Rohe Awards, (2010-2024), Europan13 (2015). He has been invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione".

He has published several books, the last in 2016, "#positions" and in 2015 "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi " and collaborations on "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione", "La Mansana de la discordia" (2015), "Arquitectura Contemporánea de Japón: Nuevos territorios" (2015)...

Awards.-

- Award. RENOVATION OF SEGURA RIVER ENVIRONMENT, Murcia, Sapin, 2010.
- First Prize, RENOVATION GRAN VÍA, “Delirious Gran Vía”, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
- First Prize, “PANAYIOTI MIXELI Award”. SADAS-PEA, for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture Athens, 2005.
- First Prize, “SANTIAGO AMÓN Award," for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture. 2000.
- Award, “PIERRE VAGO Award." ICAC -International Committee of Art Critics. London, 2005.
- First Prize, C.O.A.M. Madrid, 2000. Shortlisted, World Architecture Festival. Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de los Ríos. Tera, Esla y Orbigo, Barcelona, 2008.
- First Prize. FAD AWARD 07 Ephemeral Interventions. “M.C.ESCHER”. Arquin-Fad. Barcelona, Sapin 2007.

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