*3.3. The Design and Construction of SRMF*

The SRMF was among the first mechanized factories dedicated to coin minting in Europe in the 16th century, and the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Spain. It was built on a plot located by the Eresma River in Segovia. The plot had an existing building, an old mill used to produce paper, and a total surface area of 7635 m2. The requirements of the project consisted of a facility able to accommodate all the elements necessary to operate autonomously, with all the mechanical equipment involved in the manufacturing process powered by hydraulic energy.

Juan de Herrera employed an innovative but rather unusual approach in the design of the architectural layout of the SRMF; he analysed the new minting process in depth and, relying heavily on the technical advice provided by the support team of German technicians, integrated the different trades related to the manufacturing workflow and arranged them in an effective workplace distribution, which allowed for better use of the hydraulic resources available and generated significant reductions in both cost and time.

In the following sections, we will review the minting process by roller and how it relates to the architectural layout designed by Juan de Herrera, as well as the hydraulic system designed to power the mechanical elements of the factory.

3.3.1. The Minting Process by Roller and the SRMF Architectural Layout

The different activities related to the minting process by roller can be grouped into the following categories:


A list of the roles necessary for the operation of the SRMF, along with a brief description of their corresponding duties, is displayed in Table 2, below.


**Table 2.** Roles and responsibilities (prepared by the authors, based on [11]).

The sequence of activities that make up a cycle in the production of currency at the SRMF, from the beginning—when the raw material, metal, enters the production chain—until the end of the manufacturing process—when the final product, in the form of coins, is obtained—is shown in the flow charts of Figures 2 and 3. Both charts have been based on those shown in [2], on pages 60 and 61.

**Figure 2.** Intrinsic, auxiliary and administrative process (based on [2] pages 60 and 61).

**Figure 3.** Extrinsic and auxiliary process (based on [2] pages 60 and 61).

The resulting design by Juan de Herrera had a built surface of 4.423 m<sup>2</sup> and was made up of three buildings (see Figure 4). The first was called "Edificio del Patio Alto", and the other two were called "Ingenio Grande" and "Ingenio Chico". A water system located between the "Ingenio Grande" and "Ingenio Chico" buildings channelled water to power the waterwheels, located along the façade of the "Ingenio Grande".


**Figure 4.** SRMF Architectural layout with distribution of uses (Based on [11]).

The activities that made up the currency-minting production chain were organized among the different buildings of the SRMF, as follows:


**Figure 5.** "Ingenio Grande" (image property of the authors).

The fact that the equipment necessary to perform such activities had to be powered by hydraulic energy affected the arrangement of the different activities within the space. A sequential order was followed, based on the manufacturing process. A series of waterwheels were installed outside—along one of the longer walls—to power the forge blower, the hammer, the lathe, the rolling mill and the coin die machine (see Figure 6).

**Figure 6.** Functional areas (image property of the authors).

The different functional areas within the building were the following:


to reach the desired thickness. This area was linked to the "Ingenio Chico" building, since the strips were constantly moving between both buildings to alternate the lamination processes with the thermic treatment meant to restore their mechanical properties.


**Figure 7.** The rolling mill (image property of the authors).

**Figure 8.** Illustration by Reiner, Valencia ([12] Figure 3, on p. 97).
