PhD

This dissertation aims to show the important role that gas stations played in the introduction of modern movements in architecture in postwar Spain, and to highlight how these small constructions, scattered all over the territory, functioned as a kind of research laboratory in those years of radical change in architecture. The thesis encompasses case studies during a forty-year period starting in 1927, the year in which both the Porto Pi gas station, designed by Casto Fernández-Shaw, was completed and the stateowned petroleum products company of Spain was established.

The suitability of this type of construction for experimentation rests on three fundamental factors. Firstly, as a completely new typology, it made it easier to leave tradition behind. Secondly, it was directly connected to the automobile, itself a symbol of modernity, and lastly, but just as important, is its small size as compared to other typologies.

These factors turned gas stations into a new typology in which to try new forms and introduce modern architectural currents coming from Europe; rendering these constructions more accessible to society than those more rooted in tradition. With the purpose of showing that, this dissertation offers a comparative study between gas stations and previous and later works of the same architects.

As a complement to this research, the work includes a catalogue of interesting buildings of this typology, with the aim of helping to disseminate, and to distinguish and conserve those still existing, with the purpose of avoiding irreparable cultural loss, as they are a fundamental part of Spanish architectural heritage.