Vanguard and tourism in La Peña’s reservoir. The lost “albergue de carretera” (roadside inn)

Abstract

This article rediscovers the “Miguel Rábanos” shelter, located in Huesca near the “La Peña” reservoir, as the lost “albergue de carretera” (roadside inn) of the “Paradores Network”, a work by architects Carlos Arniches and Martín Domínguez, and it is assessed within the context as being one of the first examples of rationalism in Spanish architecture. Its journey is analyzed since it was built as a new type of hotel intended for an elite tourism in the thirties, until its later service as a mountaineer’s shelter. The building has been rescued from oblivion to become the greatest living exponent of the extinct government roadside inn network, which combined tradition together with architectural innovation. The building survived up until the nineties due to its continuous use and maintenance, and now in the twenty-first century, without any apparent use, one seriously questions its future reuse.