All you need to know about the great Ricardo Bofill

ricardo fofill

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History and life about Ricardo Bofill

ricardo bofilWe can say that, perhaps, Ricardo Bofill was the most mediatic Spanish architect and one of the most successful worldwide. His beginnings were not easy, since he used to mix politics and architecture, which led to his expulsion from the  Barcelona School of Architecture.

To his good fortune he ended up graduating from the Geneva School of Architecture, of international standing, where he began to sketch the first lines of his character and his post avant-garde architectural style.

His first great challenge was the remodeling and refurbishment of an old cement factory on the outskirts of Barcelona to install the first office of his studio, Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura (RBTA), founded in 1963, which later expanded to Paris. But Ricardo is not just another architect, he is also an urban planner.

ricardo bofill cement factoryThe prThe project for the expansion of the city of Moscow, which included an urban transport network, his landscaping proposals for parks and gardens in Puerto Rico and Beijing are just a few examples of the other facet of the architect. Although the Turia Gardens, in Valencia, and the Manzanares Park, in Madrid, are his two great national urban planning works.

ricardo bofillRicardo Bofill has generated almost 70 years of professional career marked by classical and postmodernist works, with a more eclectic ornamentation on the facades of his buildings, far from the modernist movement, with gable roofs instead of flat roofs.

Glass and steel are his reference materials, although he also uses more classical elements and fuses them with them. It was in the middle of his career in the 90s when the architect also began to include glass and steel to make his works unique buildings.

Buildings in which the colors white and gray stand out, as can be seen in the Twin Center in Casablanca, Morocco, a work by the Spaniard in 1998. In some of his projects, in addition, he often makes use of more aesthetic resources such as columns or arches, with the clear purpose of achieving a work marked with his personal style but with a futuristic character, subject to solid structures and clean lines.

Ricardo Bofill's success is best understood with the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid, the Muralla Roja in Calpe, the Sanctuary of Meritxell in Andorra, the National Theater of Catalonia or the T2 of Malaga airport, the T1 and T2 of Barcelona airport and the W Hotel in Barcelona.

Internationally, Ricardo Bofill has spent much of his career mainly in Europe, but also in parts of America, Asia and North Africa, including the Cartier headquarters in Paris, the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Marrakech, the 'Corso Court' building in Prague, the Arsenal Auditorium in Metz, France, the United Arrows Harajuku shopping center in Tokyo and the new Qingdao airport in China.

His contributions to the world of architecture led him to be awarded the Cross of San Jordi by the Generalitat de Catalunya and he holds the title of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, from the French Ministry of Culture.

For us, RBTA is undoubtedly one of the references in architecture for the city of Barcelona and they still have a lot to express in the coming years with the vision they have for the architecture of tomorrow.

If you liked this biographical article about referents in the world of architecture. You can not miss this article about Ramon Esteve, we are sure you will love it 🙂

See you next time 🙌🏼

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