La nascita delle manifatture accentrate nell’Europa del secolo XVIII: gli edifici a pianta centrale

Since middle ages in Europe we can find examples of preindustrial organization of production. At the same time new forms of work organization developed: domestic production, craft workshops, home-processing system, the so-called proto-industry, and finally the centralized production cycle. Around the middle of XVIII century, in territories under Bourbon rule, numerous centralized factories were built. In the protectionist view of mercantilism, the entire production cycle was enclosed within national borders; for control requirements processing phases were concentrated, attempting to create the basis for future industrial development. On the one hand this new activity led to the adaptation of established typological schemes, on the other it stimulated exponents of architectural Enlightenment to develop new schemes. A famous example is the Saline of Chaux (France, 1774-79), designed by Ledoux with circular plan. Another example of circular - more precisely annular - plan manufacture is the Real Fábrica de Paños of Brihuega (Spain, 1751-52). Although they may seem similar, the two types differ in the role attributed to the central court, which is a control space only in the first.