Barcelona Meeting Point

Ricardo Bofill was born in Barcelona in 1939 and studied at the School of Architecture in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1963 he founded a group made up of architects, engineers, sociologists and philosophers, creating the basis for what today is the Taller de Arquitectura (Architectural Workshop) with offices in Barcelona and Paris. This international team takes on projects of city planning, amenities, transport, housing, offices and the interior design.
City design, as applied in the European cities of Luxembourg, Bordeaux, Bologna, and Madrid, as well as in Boston and in the japanese city of Kobe, is a constant challenge for the Taller de Arquitectura. The 'Antigone' neighbourhood in Montpellier is a tangible example of a project on a grand scale, a part of the city which has been designed and constructed by this team during the 80's and is still under development.
In the field of great infrastructures stands out the new Barcelona Airport, the Madrid Congress Palace, the Olympic Swimming Pool of Montpellier, the 'Metz Auditorium' in France, the 'National Theatre of Catalonia', in Barcelona, and in the United States the 'Shepherd School of Music' for Rice University in Houston.
Housing or apartment buildings is another area intensely studied by The Taller de Arquitectura, specially the great projects carried out in the 'Villes Nouvelles' near Paris: 'Les Espaces d'Abraxas', 'Les Arcades du Lac', 'Les Colonnes de St. Christophe', 'Les Echelles du Baroque' in Montparnasse. The construction of a group of apartment buildings in Stockholm and in the Hague reinforces the team's presence on the European housing scene.
The Taller de Arquitectura has had the opportunity to demonstrate its know-how in carrying out several office building projects, the most relevant examples of which are the new headquarter for the 'Swift' banking company, near Brussels, as well, in Paris, the prestigious Rochas, Christian Dior, Decaux companies offices and the headquarter of Paribas in the Place Marché Saint Honoré, in Chicago 'Donnaly Building, the first skyscraper signed by Ricardo Bofill, and in Tokyo the Shiseido headquarter. Nowadays they are working in La Villa Cultural del Prado (2.800 seats) in Valladolid and in the Auditórium-Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones in A Coruña.

RICARDO BOFILL
Awards & Honorary Mentions


1996 Named honorary fellow of the Bund Deutscher Architekter (BDA) Bonn, Germany

1995 Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa, Metz University, France

1989 Awarded Architect in Belgium, Ordre des Architectes Conseil du Brabant, Brussels.

1989 Chicago Architecture Award, Illinois Council/American Institute of Architects/Architectural Record, Chicago, USA

1989 Awarded by the Académie Internationale de Philosophie de l´Art , Bern, Switzerland.

1985 Named honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

1984 Awarded Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Degree, Ministry of Culture, Paris, France.

1980 Awarded Ciudad de Barcelona Prize of Architecture for renovation of the cement factory in Sant Just Desvern, Barcelona, Spain.

1979 Awarded Architecte Agrée Degree Ordre National des Architectes, Paris, France.

1978 Awarded A.S.I.D. (American Society of Interior Designers), International Prize, New York.

1968 Awarded Fritz Schumacher, Honoris Causa Degree, University of Hamburg, Germany.