Ricardo Bofill

Ricardo Bofill Leví (Barcelona, December 5, 1939 - Barcelona, January 14, 2022) was a Spanish postmodernist architect.

In 1963, he founded a group made up of architects, engineers, sociologists and philosophers, laying the foundations for what is today the Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, an international team with more than 40 years of experience in urban design, architecture, designs of parks and gardens, and interior design. With this team, Bofill tackled projects of a diverse nature in different parts of the world, adapting them to the cultural realities of each place. In 1978 he opened a second office in Paris.

Throughout his career, Bofill received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Cross of Sant Jordi awarded by the Generalitat of Catalonia in 1973. In 1985 he was elected an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. Bofill was Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Metz, France (1995), and Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, from the French Ministry of Culture (1988). He was a member of the jury for the Catalonia International Award.

Life

Ricardo Bofill Levi was born on December 5, 1939 in Barcelona, the son of Emilio Bofill y Benessat, a Catalan nationalist bourgeois, architect and builder, and María Levi, a Venetian woman of Jewish origin. His sister Anna Bofill Levi is musician and architect. He is the grandson of the doctor and librarian José María Bofill y Pichot.

He studied at the Escola Virtèlia and later at the Barcelona School of Architecture, from where he was expelled in 1957 for his political activities. He continued his studies at the School of Architecture in Geneva, Switzerland.

He was married to the Italian actress Serena Vergano, with whom he had his son Ricardo Emilio Bofill Maggiora-Vergano in 1965. From his relationship with the French artist Annabelle d'Huart, their son Pablo Bofill D' Huart in 1980.

Ricardo Bofill Architecture Workshop

Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura is a prestigious international studio in the field of architecture, urban planning and design. Its main office is located in Barcelona and it was founded in 1963 together with musicians, poets, architects and photographers, who sought to change architecture, doing research and looking for alternatives for social housing. In the initial team were his sister Anna Bofill, Salvador Clotas, Ramón Collado, José Agustín Goytisolo, Joan Malagarriga, Manuel Núñez Yanowsky, Dolors Rocamora and his wife Serena Vergano.

Organization

The team is led by Ricardo Bofill and his two partners, Peter Hodgkinson and Jean-Pierre Carniaux. It currently has a staff of around sixty people of twelve different nationalities, including urban planners, architects, researchers, designers, model makers, interior and furniture designers, and graphic designers, who work closely together.

Urban design

The firm is responsible for prominent urban design projects, such as Place de l'Europe (Luxembourg), Nova Karlin (Prague), Port Praski (Warsaw), Nueva Castellana (Madrid), Tarragona's new seafront, Nova Bocana (Barcelona), the original project of Puerto Triana (Seville), Central Artery (Boston) and the remodeling of Kobe in Japan. Antigone, in Montpellier, France (four million square meters built) is an entire neighborhood that has been designed and built by the Taller de Arquitectura for twenty years.

Barrio Antigone at night, Montpellier, December 2021.

Barrio Antigone at night, Montpellier, December 2021.

These projects are based on the conviction that the city should be made up of streets and squares, in opposition to the model adopted in the construction of isolated blocks separated by wide open spaces. The resulting model is that of a sustainable Mediterranean city, with well-defined public spaces, and in which its inhabitants have all the basic services within a reasonable distance from their homes.

Public buildings

In the field of large transport infrastructures, in 1991 the Taller de Arquitectura designed the expansion and remodeling of Barcelona Airport (now known as Terminal 2), as well as its most recent extension, Terminal 1, completed in 2010, which received the award for Best Airport in Southern Europe. Other notable public projects include the National Theater of Catalonia in Barcelona, the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid, the Arsenal Auditorium in Metz (France), the Shepherd School of Music for Rice University in Houston, the Villa Cultural del Prado in Valladolid, and the Convention and Exhibition Center of La Coruña (Spain).

Hotels and shopping malls

Five-star hotels designed by the firm include the Shangri-la Hotel in Beijing (China), the Costes K in Paris (France), the Colombo's Resort in Porto Santo (Portugal), and most recently the W Barcelona (Spain). The Architecture Workshop has successfully completed the construction of shopping malls such as Atrium Saldanha in Lisbon, Funchalcentrum (Portugal), and Lazona Kawasaki Plaza in Tokyo (Japan).

Residential projects

The four bars of the Catalan vineyard (2009-2010), Hotel W Barcelona, Plaza de la Rosa de los Vientos 1, Barcelona.

Barcelona Airport T1.

United Airlines and United Continental Holdings Headquarters.

The Taller de Arquitectura stands out among international architecture studios for having developed a large part of its activity in residential projects, including social housing. He has designed more than 2000 housing units in France, 1500 in Spain, 400 in Sweden, 350 in the Netherlands, also in "Les Villes Nouvelles" in the Paris region, such as the Espaces d'Abraxas in Marne-la -Vallée, Les Arcades du Lac de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Le Belvedere St. Christophe in Cergy-Pontoise, Echelles du Baroque (France), Monchyplein in The Hague (Netherlands) the Pa Soder project, also known as Bagé Bofill, in Stockholm (Sweden), and, more recently, the mixed-use projects in Savona (Italy).

The study of precast concrete elements or molds for in-situ formwork, motivated by the need to obtain a large number of different shapes from the combination of a very limited number of units, has contributed in the decade of 1980 for the Workshop to affirm the validity of classical forms and geometry in contemporary architecture.

Landscaping

From "garden cities" to the large green urban areas that become the backbone of cities, the Taller de Arquitectura has created over a hundred designs for parks ranging from Puerto Rico to Beijing. Many landscaping projects designed by the Workshop imply the presence of the river and the sea: the section of the Turia gardens that overlook the Palacio de la Música, built on the bed of the Turia river in Valencia, the design of the banks of the Lez river, in Montpellier, the Manzanares Park in Madrid, the Riouxa Park in Vigo, etc.

Urban Impact

Many of the Workshop's projects have become familiar and symbolic landmarks in their respective locations. However, at the time of their creation they were considered radical, generating occasional controversies.^{[citation needed]}

Partial list of projects

• 77 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, United States, 1992
• Barcelona Airport T2, Barcelona, Spain, 1988–1991
• Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport T2, Malaga, Spain, 1991
• Antigone, Montpellier, France, 1978–2000
• Arsenal, Metz, France, 1985-1989
• Bofills båge, Stockholm, Sweden, 1992
• Cartier, Paris, France, 2003
• Casablanca Twin Center, Morocco, 1999
• Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, Valladolid, Spain, 2001
• Château Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac, France, 1986
• Citadel Center, Chicago, United States, 2003
• Corso, Prague, Czech Republic, 2000
• Shiseido Building, Tokyo, Japan, 2001
• Jardines de Turia, Valencia, Spain, 1988
• Les Colonnes Belvedere Saint Christophe, Paris, France, 1986
• Les Echelles du Baroque, Paris, France 1985
• Les Temples du Lac, Paris, France, 1986
• Red Wall, Calpe, Spain, 1973
• Palacio de Congresos de Madrid, Spain, 1993
• Sanctuary of Meritxell, Andorra, 1974
• Shepherd School of Music, Houston, United States, 1988
• National Theatre of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, 1997
• The Golden Number Plaza, Montpellier France, 1984
• Les Espaces d'Abraxas, Paris, France, 1982
• Tower Sweden, Madrid, Spain, 1993
• W Barcelona (u «Hotel Vela»), Barcelona, Spain, 2009
• Walden 7, San Justo Desvern, Spain, 1974
• Residential complex Weidert, Luxembourg, 1999.

Exhibitions

• «Ricardo Bofill Workshop on Architecture, Projectes and Buildings». Museu Casa da Luz, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, September 2001
• «Ricardo Bofill Architecture Workshop. Three Cities, Three Projects». Pristasvni Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic, July-August 2000
• «Le architetture dello spazio pubblico». Barcelona Airport, Trienal de Milan, Italy, 1997-1999
• «Project for Bologna Central Station». Municipality of Bologna, Italy, 1995
• «Ricardo Bofill Workshop of Architecture». Canton, China, 1993
• «Architecture " Sacred Space in Modernity». Venice Biennale, Italy, 1992-1993
• «Ricardo Bofill Architecture Workshop: Memory-Future, Project Recent». The Chicago Athaeneum, USA. 1992
• «Barcelona: the City and the '92». Venice Biennale, Italy, 1992
• "Barcelona: ciutat i el 92". IMPU, Water Deposit, Barcelona, Spain, 1990
• "Urban Furniture, Rotterdamse Kunst Stichting". Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1989
• «Catalonian Art in New York (Design " Arts " Fashion)». Armory, New York, USA. 1990
• "R. B. Workshop of Architecture". Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, 1989
• "R. B. Workshop of Architecture". Stichting de Beurs Van Berlage, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1989
• «The Coruña, the sea and the city». Municipal Exhibition Palace, Kiosco Alfonso, La Coruña, Spain, 1986
• «R. B. Workshop of Architecture. The City, Classicism and Technology». Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA. UU, 1985
• «Ricardo Bofill and Leon Krier, Architecture, Urbanism and History». New York, USA. UU, 1985
• "Architecture espagnole (annnées 30-80)". Europalia '85, Brussels, Belgium, 1985
• «Domaine Clos Pegase Winery Competition». San Francisco, USA, 1985
• "Spaanse Kunst 1984". Gallery Nouvelles Images, The Hague, The Netherlands, 1984
• «Follies: Architecture for the Late XXth Century Landscape». J. Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, New York, USA. UU, 1984
• "Follies". Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism, Madrid, Spain, 1984
• «First week of video and architecture». Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism, Madrid, Spain, 1984
• "Architecture of land." Palau Lonja de Valencia, Spain, 1984
• «Les Places d'Europe-Histoire et Actualité d'un Espace Public». Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 1984
• "Image et imaginaire de l'Architecture". Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 1984
• «Architecture et industrie. Passé et avenir d'un mariage de raison». Pompidou Centre, Paris, France. 1984
• «Follies: Architecture for the Late XXth Century Landscape». Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA. UU, 1983
• «The Turia Jardi. Metamorphosi della citta tra cultura e natura. A spagnolo epic." Palazzo Braschi, Rome, Italy. 1983
• «Modern Islamic Architecture». 1982 Biennial, Venice, Italy, 1982
• «El Jardí del Turia», Palau Lonja, Valencia, Spain, 1982
• «The Presence of the Past, The International Architecture Exhibition from the Venice Biennale». Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, USA. UU, 1982
• «Présence de l'Histoire». Chapelle de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France, 1981
• «Projets Français 1971-1981 — La cité: histoire et technologie». Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, France, 1981
• «Ricardo Bofill Workshop of Architecture». Architectural Association, London, United Kingdom. 1981
• «La Strada Novissima». Biennale of 1980, Venice, Italy, 1980
• "Architectural Workshop". Centro de Arte y de Cultura, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1976
• «Mostra di Architettura». 1976 Biennial, Venice, Italy, 1976
• «Les Halles». Hotel de la Ville, Paris, France, 1976
• «The city in space». Gallery Mente 4, Madrid, Spain, 1969.

Image Gallery

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  Hotel W Barcelona.

• 

  UPC Campus Nord, building Nexus II, Barcelona, Spain.

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  77 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, USA. U.S.

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  National Theatre of Catalonia (1987-1997), Barcelona.

Movies

Films directed and produced by Ricardo Bofill