The views

I find the affair of the penthouse that Mrs. Ayuso had bought by a public company to be serious, and I would like to read the suitability and opportunity reports that considered that public money should be invested precisely in this property. It is true that Planifica Madrid can buy and sell properties, but this does not exempt it from explaining what the public interest of the operation is. Did they consider buying other cheaper spaces? Did they publicly announce that a process of acquiring spaces to study the market was opening? Why, precisely, a penthouse? Why an apartment in a residential building, where the rest of the neighbors will surely be affected by complex security measures? Should an acquisition of such a high amount be approved by a board of directors? Did no one question this absurdity? Moreover, since the purchase has come to light in the media without anyone having been held accountable, he says that the profits from the sale will be allocated to those affected by the fires. That is, if there are profits, of course. Because it could perfectly happen that no buyer matches the price. Spain is a country that minimizes these episodes with all sorts of parodies and jokes, but how many schools are waiting for a similar investment to get out of the provisionality of the barracks and, instead, no one buys them apartments in residential neighborhoods to teach classes in decent conditions?Apparently, someone had a whim for a penthouse with a view, and this gives me an opportunity to talk about a very sensitive aspect of architecture, which is the possibility of framing the landscape. The general plan limits heights in Barcelona, which is why a flat on the sixteenth floor objectively offers the best panorama of the city. On the other hand, in Manhattan, a flat on the thirtieth floor can have mediocre views compared to those from the fiftieth. In Brooklyn, however, the few flats that rise above the twelfth floor are better than those in Manhattan, because they allow the gaze to extend over the blocks of houses between party walls, interspersed with leafy trees of the same height. And in the background, right in the back plane, you can see the skyline of Manhattan, without mountains or any other backdrop. At night, all these urban landscapes twinkle, and the penthouse residents become aware of the thousands of homes at their feet.In summer, cities empty of residents who seek, precisely, a change of scenery. And second homes, hotels, or campsites are chosen to see, exactly, the opposite. The most desired are sea views or high windows over hills, which allow one to see various depths of landscape and all the registers of colors: mown fields of yellow, light green riverine trees, and blackish wild forests. The rural world is full of built structures well integrated into geographical accidents. The location of villages on top of hills, or the placement of the church at the highest point, with a bell tower that stands out above any roof, seems logical. These environments are pleasing because they are understood at first glance: their geometry is perfectly explained by the rules of geographical implantation.

André Le Nôtre was the architect of the landscaping of the Palace of Versailles, which, for the first time, shifted the center of the layout outside the palace, to the gardens that visually extended towards the fields and forests with solutions that created the illusion that there were no walls between the royal plot and the rest of the landscape. The gardens of Versailles are not closed off by an abrupt fence, nor by a wall, nor even by a barrier. Le Nôtre devised a small water channel that subtly prevents animals and people from crossing without getting wet, but it does not break the perspective and is not visible at eye level. The Sun King would raise his gaze from the Palace and it seemed to him that he possessed everything, even to the horizon.A little bit of this is what well-preserved rural villages offer: winding streets that go around the houses and allow for perspectives towards the fields, and show, in the background, the mountains. This allows us to become aware of the environment and connect with the millennial history of human settlements: small urban agglomerations that subsist due to their proximity to the fields, fruit trees, rivers, orchards, and forests to supply themselves with stone, water, wood, and food.The peripheries of large cities have for years carried the transitions between the countryside and residential streets. That's why people take their cars to enjoy nature: mentally, there are too many barriers between their homes and a naturalized environment. But everywhere there are opportunities to improve the landscape. A ground floor can be more charming than a hot penthouse if it has a patio or garden, with a flat exit to the outside. A shady patio, from which one can open the window first thing in the morning, can be more effective than an air conditioner. And, in any case, a pomegranate tree or a hydrangea will always be a much better view than a noisy compressor.