The Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville. Representation of the State Versus Functionality

Abstract

This paper conducts a study of the functionality of a building for industrial use of the largest in Europe in the eighteenth century, the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville. It analyses the relationship between site, space, design and construction valuing the military engineers involved in the project and the direction of the works, with an academic training oriented to respond to fortification works, far from the development of industrial projects. As a symbol of the architecture of power represented by the State, it conveyed the idea of an empire that stood above other kinds of restrictions of the time. With the advent of new inventions such as automation and mechanisation, the space was gradually equipped with new machinery until the building was finally destined for a use far removed from its origins, namely as a military barracks and headquarters of some university faculties and the Rectorate, conveying the idea of malleability that responds to unprojected future demands.