- )!!!
The Curved Staircase
whi Fromthe slightly curving staircase model to the spiral
t. ch calls In on Itself. From the single to the double and the
t~Ple versions. These are the staircases that have prompted
peermost daring displays of virtuosity in design, masonry and
speclive, as well as the boldest sword duels and the most
spectacular descents by dance troupes ..
[O.lB.]
Escalera de trazo curvo
Desde la ligeramente curvada hasta la que se enroUa
sabre 51misma, en espiral; desde la sencilla, hasta 1adoble, a
la triple. Son escaleras que han permitido los mas osados alar-
des de prcyecto, de aparejo petreo, de representaci6n en
perspectiva, las luchas mas encarnizadas entre espadachines,
los descensos mas espectaculares de un cuerpo de baile ...
[O.TB.J
 The Curved Staircase
A great deal of knowledge about and admiration for the
great painting of ages gone by can be found in the work of
Guillermo Perez Villa Ita (Tarifa, Spain, 19481, whose paintings
from the 19705 and t980s are full of references to and eve-
cations of the past. In some of his writings, the artist has
been very critical of the international avant-garde, suggesting
that the tradition can only be rejuvenated at this point by
adding a healthy dose of irony to the melancholy of irremedia-
ble loss. The fact is that the modern claSSICS,from Duchamp
to Mondrian, can also be traced in his work, but there are
echoes of other artists too. La estancia (The Room) 119831,
for example, shows a wall painted with an "Informalist" back-
ground. In a tribute to chaogenous abstraction, Perez Villalta
portrays himself as a Rodinesque "Thinker" and as an Ecce
Homo about to receive the crown of thorns from his alter ego
painted In the background. This dream painting (the artist is
napping on the right) also features a splendid curved stairca-
se, without a handrail and suspended in the air, which would
serve admirably to illustrate at least three of Tusquets's typo-
logies. The stairway that Pontormo painted for Joseph in
Egypt (c 15(8) immediately comes to mind, as does Edward
Burne-Jones's The Golden 518/( (1880), but this one by Perez
Villa Ita IS smaller and vacant. To which higher state of dreams
or life might it lead' What tragedy, trick or joke awaits us if we
try to climb its fragile steps' [J.A.R.1
Minimalist essence of the curved, winding or spiral
staircase .. [0. T. B.J
Escalera de trazo curvo
Mucho conocimiento y admiracion par la gran pintura
antigua hay en Guillermo Perez Villalta (Tarifa, 1948), CUYOS
cuadros de los afios setenta y ochenta estan plagados de citas
y evocaciones del pasado. El artista se ha mash-ado muy cnti-
co en algunos textos con la internacional vanguardista, como
si fuera posible ya un remozamiento de la tradicion que no
sume una buena dosis de ironia a la melancolia de la perdida
irremediable. La cierto es que los clasicos de la modernidad
estan tambien presentes en su trabajo, desde Duchamp a
Mondrian. Pero no s610 ellos: en La estancia (1983), par ejem-
plo, vemos un muro pintado con un fonda "informalisra'' que
es un homenaje a la abstraccion caogenu. Aunque 10 esencial ---\
no es eso, sino una alegoria de caracter figurativo en la que el
artista se autorretrata como "pensador" a 10 Rodin y como
Ecce Homo, a punta de recibir la corona de espinas de su otro
III~
\
yo pintado en el fondo. En esa ensonacion (el artist-a, a la dere-
r
cha, esta durmiendo la siesta) figure tambien una estupenda
escalinata curva, sin barandilla y en el aire, que bien podria
valer para ilustrar (al menos) tres de las tipologfas de
Tusquets. Nos acordamos inmediatamente de la que pinto
Pontormo para Jose en Egipto (hacia 1518), 0 de la que figura
en The Golden Stair, de E. Burne-lones (1880), pero esta esca-
lera de Perez Villalta es mas pequefia y esta vacia. ~Aque esta-
do superior del sueno a de la vida puede conducir? iQue tra-
gedia, que juego 0 que broma encontraremos si intentamos
ascender per sus fragiles peldafios? [JAR.]
Guillermo Perez vtnatta.
La estancia, 1985
Oil on canvas / Oleo sobre tela; 167 x 283 em
Colecclon de ta Fundacicn Juan March
Sintesis minirnalistade eualquier escalera de trazo curvo, de cual-
quier escalera helicoidal, de eualquier escalera de caracol.. [OTB.1
 Escalera de trazo curve
The CurvedStaircase

Billy Wilder,

Sunset Boulevard I EI crepUsculo de los dioses.

USA, 1950
Kobal Collection

irresistible juego de espejos que Wild.er ejercita can l1:-ano ~1

The action of Billy Wilder's film Sunset Boulevard takes . e that Wilder cre- maestra en homenaje al propio Stroheim, uno de sus direc-
Toda la peticula El crepusculo de los dioses, dirigida por in an irresistible and masterly mirror gam .
place almost entirely on its staircases. These are the stairs of . . If
ates in tribute to Stroh elm hlrnse , a ne of his favourrte feridos Porque otras escaleras Iastuosas, las de La
Billy Wilder, esta practicarnente cont.enida en sus escaleras.
the mansion owned by Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), an directors. The film also includes other lavish starrcadseS't d tores PKre~IY peli~ula inacabada dirigida par Stroheim y prota-
Son las escaleras de la mansion de Norma Desmond (Gloria rewa , bOO la pellcula
ageing Paramount Studios has-been, who is the dominating f . hed tllrn rrec e . d par Swanson, aparecen tam len en .'
Swanson), una vieja Estrella de la Paramount en decadencia those featured in Queen Keily, the un mrs I' hts
gOlllza a y sombra de un esplendor que ya solo es del Cine.
partner in a relationship with a young scriptwriter (William que mantiene una relacion absorbente con un joven guionista by Von Stroheim which starre d GIetta Swanson' . the Ig
.
como uz l 'H Dreie Pero
s exclUSively to EI director artistico de 1a pebcula fue ~ns rei r. . .
Holden). The mansion (or rather its staircases) is the quintes- (William Holden). Una mansion -unas escaleras- que con- and shadows of a splendour t h a t b e long
sence of all the tradition of Hollywood's past splendour. There . , I mas significativo es que esa escalinata apoteostca
centra toda la tradici6n det pasado esplendor de Hollywood. cinema. D' But perhaps qurzas 0 ddt' piedra
are echoes of certain films by Orson Welles, like Citizen Kane Se pueden escuchar los ecos de algunas peliculas de Welles, The film's artistic director was Hans reier. . del Hollywood clasico no era un decora 0 e car on ., '
and The Magnificent Ambersons, with staircases that seem to thtaking "Classlc . I
sino una esca era re . al que formaba parte de 1a mansion
. en
como Citizen Kane y E1 esplendor de los Ambersons, con la what IS most significant is that the brea . he
evoke lost power, magnificence, loneliness and time running . f paorer mac e la que se rodo la pelicula, un castillo seudorenacentls~a cons-
impresion de unas escaleras que nos hablan del poder perdi- Hollywood" staircase was not a piece 0 d to the
out. Sunset Boulevard is also reminiscent of the stately sou- . hich belonge truido en 1924 para un ex-consul de Estados Unidos en
do, de la magnificencia. de la soledad, del tiempo que se stage scenery but a real staircase, w d _Renaissance
thern mansions featured in Wyler's films, such as The Little M' 'co recomprada posteriormente por J. Paul Getty. La
acaba. Tarnbien resuenan las mansiones sudistas de las pell- mansion in which the film was shot, a pS~~h a United States
Foxes or The Heiress, markedly female-dominated establis- eXl.,' cercana a la Paramount aunque no exactamente en
culas de Wyler, como La loba 0 La heredera, mansiones de castle built in 1924 for a former consul a I ~etty. Close to mansion. I d I - s cin
hments in which the staircase separates the private woman's Sunse t Boulevard fue demo1ida a fina es e os ana -
afirmacion femenina en las que la escalinata separaba el in Mexico, and later repurchased by J. Pau dt was demo- , . I d d corado para
world -located on the upper floor- from the public domain, cuenta, despues de servir, parCIa mente, e e
mundo pnvado de 1al11ujer-situado en e1 piso superior- de 1a Paramount but not right on Sunset Boulev:~t ~; the set for
where the descent IS staged. It is hardly surprising that Wilder zona publica, abajo, donde se produda la puesta en escena del lished in the late 1950s, after serving as P Rebelde sin causa. ,_
should have considered Bette DavIs -the heroine of The Little Una Escalera de sombras y luces, melodrama.tlea Y terro-
descenso. No es de extraiiar que Wilder pensase en Bette Rebel without a Cause. . b th melodramatic
Foxes- and Montgomery Clift, the opportunistic male lead in II a como se evidencia en la magistral secuencl~ final de la
Davis -protagonista de La loba- y Montgomery Clift, que It is a stairway of shadow and light, 0 mate
The Heiress, as possible alternatives for the starring roles in . fI 's consum r ~ '1 cuando Norma Desmond baja la escahnata comO
encarnaba a1 oportunista protagonista de La heredera, como and terrifying, as can be seen In the 1m d d scends it like
Sunset Boulevard. ~~ac:s~eUa renacida. como una princesa envejecida, a~te la
posibles alternativas para protagonizar su pelicula. final sequence, In which Norma Desmond b e press and ta polida que viene a detenerla por el aseslllato
It is this self-referential nature that makes the staircase the
Ese caracter autorreferencial hace que esta pieza de a star reborn, an ageing princess, vlewe ( the murder prensa Y ca el final de
transcend its instrumental function as a piece of scenery. de su amante Una escena crepuscular, que mar . t
decorado trascienda a su funci6n instrumental. Las escaleras by the police who have come to arrest h~ ~~e end of an una epoca a ·la que no se puede regresar. que con~~r e
Staircases take over the film. The star's shadow passes up
se apoderan de la peticula, por elias discurre la sombra de la of her lover. This crepuscular scene ma~.s the very his-
and down them; they form the "pathway of the princess", 1a propia historia del cine en un hito argumental de 10 vieJo Y
estrella, son "el camino de la princesa". asistida por un se:- era to which there is no gOing back, ma Ing the old and
who IS attended by a loyal servant, a flim director who had
vidor fiel, un director de cine que 1a ha seguido en su margI-
.
tory of cinema .
a narrative Ian d ma rk between 10 nuevo, llRJ
followed her into exclusion. Eric von Stroheim plays this role nacion. Un papel interpretado por Eric von Stroheim. en un new. [J.B.J
, 1

The Curved Staircase Escalera de (raw curvo

Frank O. Gehry & Associates, ,"

"2
Maquette for the project submitted to the Museum Island competition I
Maquetn del pruyecto para el concurso de la Isla de los Musecs.
Berlin, 1997
Wood I Madera; 66 x 45,7 x 91,4 em
Frank o. Gehry & Associates

como fragmentar, romper, curvar, y que sustancia extender

Over 50 years of uninterrupted architectural production, para desfigurar sus restos: una maUa de acero, ~~ entramado
A 10 largo de cincuenta anos de constante produccion and how to fragment. break and bend, and which material he is
Frank O. Gehry has succeeded in building many of what star-
arquitectonica, Frank O. Gehry ha logrado construir muchas going to stretch in order to transform what is left, a steel mesh, de madera, un aplacado de piedra, escamas metalicas ...
ted out as mere intuitions jotted down in random sketches. En el proyecto de concurso para la Isla de los Museos de
de las intuiciones que sus dibujos deshilachados intentaban a wooden framework a stone cladding, metal scales ...
As his works progress, one can see something remarkable
anticipar, In the case of the project that Gehry submitted for the Berlin, los restos con ]05 que jugar son casi intocables: los his-
happening: how even the most simple and compact volumes tori cos edificios de Schinkel y Stuler, junto al rio Spree. En la
Mientras sus obras avanzan, puede asistirse a un fenome- Museum Island competition in Berlin, the exisfing buildings he
of his buildings are shot through with a disquieting irregularity segunda lase del concurso, en 1997, la sustancia maleable que
no especial: vel' como se extiende entre los volumenes mas had fa work with were almost sacrosanct the histone buildings
of forms. Since the 1970s, Gehry has developed a personal
simples y cornpactos de sus editicios, cierta intranquilidad de by Schinkel and Stuler on the River Spree. During the second se inyectani en su interior seran finalmente las escaleras en el
stra~egy for a?apting and reusing an already existing building:
formas irregulares. Desde los mas setenta, Gehry ha desarro- phase of the competition, in 1949, the maileable element Inl~c- atria central del Neues Museum.
the interpolation of extraneous forms that cross it with their Como LM. Pei llevo a cabo en su paradigrnatica interven-
Ila?o u~a estrategia personal para intervenir y reutilizar un edi- ted into the interior was the staircases in the central atrium 0
own spontaneous movement. As these pass through, the walls
ficio existente: la intrornision de forrnas ajenas que 10 atravie- the Neues Museum. .
cion en el Museo del Louvre. tarnbien Gehry colocara un sis-
curve and are sliced open, allowing the skylights and stairca-
san con un movimiento pro pia y esponuineo. A su paso S8 Like I.M. Pel in hls exemplary Louvre project, Gehry desig- tema de escaleras CUT vas bajo un lucernario de vidrio, aunoue
ses to project outwards. This technique is indeed a complete de un modo completarnente distinto. De nuevo las .escaler.as
doblan y se rasgan las paredes, y sobresalen lucernarios Y ned a network of curved staircases under a glass skylight, .,
concept in understanding architecture, and it is one that
escaleras. Este mecanisme se convierte en toda una forma de although Gehry's proposal was completely dlfferenf from Pel s .. son las protagonistas de la arquitectura, en un espacio amplio,
Gehry has applied to his own, original buildings. In the latter vado y central. Pem su actitud es diferente a la d.~mntos otros
entender la arquitectura, y se traslada a sus edificios de nueva Once again staircases are the stars of the architectural show In
also, Gehry first needs to build a canonical structure, at times . ' th· tt·lfude differs from ejemplos de siglos pasados. Prefieren la conVUlSIOn a la monu-
planta. Tambien en el10s Gehry necesita construir primero un a wide, empty central space. However, elr a
even an extremely mundane one. A sturdy framework that he t ·es They prefer
volumen canonico, a veces incIuso extremadamente vulgar. that of so many other examples from past ceO. un . mentalidad serena. IAQ.M.l
can use as a basis on which he is then free to decide where
Un armazon segura donde apoyarse para decidir d6nde y convulsed forms to serene monumentality. [A.Q.M.J
 The Curved Staircase Escalera de trazo curve

Leonardo da Vinci, t B fol 69 recto

Double spiral staircase, notebook B I Escalera doble de caracol, came .' ,
1487-1492
Bibliotheque de I'lnstitut de France
Giuseppe Momo,
Double staircase, Chateau de Cham bard I Esca ~ . I81.a doble del castillo de Chambord. . V ucen Museums I Escala doble de los Museos varicanos.
Double staircase, a I Roma. 1932
Loire Valley, France I Valle del Loira, Francia, c. 1530

~dreaPalladio, 97
Los Quatro libros de arquitecfura, Imprenta Real, Madrid, 17
Book I Libra; 41,5 x 28,5 x 3 em
Biblioteca del Col·legi d'Arquitecles de Catalunya

ill y como se la irnagina ademas curva, 10 que obtie-

'"
Curved staircases force the stone to perform a beautiful , t em,·
d arvel to us And maravi a, , I e efec
Las escaleras cur vas obllgaban a la piedra a un baile difi- the purpose of explaining this comp Irca d ne es una especr.ie de cadena de ADN petreo ell ,a que.f '-
and complicated dance and their craftsmen to cut and sculpt "
cil y bello, y a sus artesanos a cortarla y tallarla can cuidado since he also imagined It to be he I'ICOIlda,I what he achieve ,f tivamente, cuatro personas diferentes S8 cruza~an en ~rm~,
it with care so as to make it seem light and malleable, for- para hacerla parecer ligera y rnaleable, formando una linea was a sort of stone DNA chain' on w h'IC h ,In' deed.' four dif e- zamente sm . ene ontrarse nunca , aunque para evitarse
, cterta
..
ming a perfect line that twists uninterruptedly, , , pass by eae h ather , Without ever ., deberian tener muy claro desde un prmcipio a
perfecta que se retuerza sin interrupcion. rent people would giddily frustraclon,
Yet an even harder game can be devised by splitting stair- Pero aun puede inventarse un juego mas dificil y desdo- actually meeting, although they wou Id nee d to have, a very ue habitacionquieren subir, ,
cases in two, three or four, into a jungle of ramps surrounding q Es dificil encontrar un cliente con es~s n.ecesldades,
blar las cscaleras en dos, en tres 0 en cuatro, en una marana clear Idea at the outset to which room they were gorng.
a single central space which can accommodate several peo-
de rampas que rodean un mismo espacio central y par las While clients With such needs are f ew and far between, f I ro las escaleras y las rampas dobles han ~Ido Sle~pre rnuy
ple at once without their hindering each other's movement up I been most use u pe ar sin conflictos las dos circulaciones con-
que pueden circular varias personas sin molestarse en el double staircases and ramps have a ways id colli- utiles para separ 1
and down the stairs.
ascenso y en el descenso. for separating traffic in opposite, ditree tiIon s so as to f'aVOI
' , De burros en los pozos de agua. como e que
Leonardo da Vinci had already devised a double spiral , 'h f donkey traf IC In tra~(a:i·lo construy6 en Orvieto en 1527, 0 de perS?nas, como
Leonardo da Vinci ya dibujo una escalera helicoidal y Slons, They have been deVised bot or II d built
staircase, which probably influenced the design of the famous Sa I~ lentisima escalera doble de los Museos Vall canos. q~e
doble. y es probable que influyera en el disefio de la famosa water-well shafts, such as that designed by Sanga a dannarilY
interior staircase of the Ch'§teau de Chambord, since during en
escalera interior del castillo de Cham bard, ya que en e1ltlti- , I Ike the extraor I
In Orv18to in 1527, or for two peop e, I, built by Giuseppe M orne rea \·1Z0' en 1932 , abriendose cada vez mas
the last year of his life he was a guest at its royal patron,
mo ana de Sil vida fue huesped de Sil constructor, Francisco I. leisurely-paced double ramp of the Vatican Museums , h . I tuz
Francis I. Buiit In c, 1530, this broad double staircase also l ac~ :tras' dos obras {micas e inigualables son 1a esea1era
Esta ancha escalera doble, realizada en torno a 1530, tiene Giuseppe Momo In 1932, which opens up increasing Y
incorporates a smaller central spiral staircase, which ascends d ble casi magica del castilto de Graz (1499-1500), que es
ademas otra pequeita escalera de caracol en el centro, que towards the light. the double
to the tower spire.
sube hasta la aguja de la torre, . ble works are ' a az ~e acercarse Y alejarse constantemenle de. 51 mtSma,
In 1570, Palladia announced that he had heard extraor- Two more unique and Incompara z (1499-1500), cap . t rse y desapareeer y la escaJera tnple que se
Palladio nos dice en 1570 que ha aida alga extraordinario almost magical staircase at the Castle of Gra d further hasta casl anu a "B I
dinary reports about this castle, "an absolutely new and 1 convento de Santo Dommgo de onava. en
sobre este castillo, 'luna invenci6n del todo nueva y hermosi- which succeeds in constantly drawing nearer t~:~ entirely;
most handsome invention". He spoke of four staircases that esco~de ~neeCompostela. Porque lanzar a la vel esos lr.es
sima", y nos habla de cuatro escaleras que suben una sobre tram itself until it almost peters out and dlsapp t f Santo
ascended one on top of another to four different rooms, Santiago 'edra a desenroscarse en el aire con esa VIO-
otra a cuatro habitaciones diferentes, donde los que suben y . ., 'n the conven a
where the people gOing up and down could see each other and the tnple staircase hidden away I I I the latter, brazos de fina pI. tiem de bajarnos al pie de cada
bajan se ven sin encontrarse, "y sin caminar los unos par I~s Domingo de Bonaval in Santiago de composste:~Iiv:ring us
but did not meet, and "without one person encroaching on lencia y lle~arn~s s~~~:e~:e su :nstructor Andrade era un
escaleras de los otros", Esta descripci6n se corresponde mas the three slender stone limbs thrust upward, bt that
the stairway of another". This description corresponds more m :
puerta } ?etaJa a veces 1a arquitectura puede cortar 1a res--
can otro de los disefios que Leonardo produjo que con la rea- safely to each doorstep, and leaVing
. us in no dou
t.mes archi- mala bans • Y q e
closely to another of Leonardo's designs than to the Chateau
Udad de Chambord. Afortunadamente, Palladio dibuja tam- Andrade, its bUilder, was a juggler, and that some I pir.cion. lAQ.M.J
de Chambard, Fortunately, Palladia also drew a plate with
bien una lamina para intentar explicarnos esta complicada tecture can take one's breath away, [A,Q.M.1