Barcelona Meeting Point

Luís Alonso, Architect, Associate co-founder and General Manager of Alonso-Balaguer y Arquitectos Asociados


Luis Alonso founded this association with his friend and partner Sergi Balaguer in 1978, as they finished their studies in Architecture.

At present, their office consists of a staff of 100 people, 50 of them architects. The internationalization of the office has led them to set headquarters in Barcelona, Madrid, Granada and Dubai, and at present there is in study the opening of a new delegation in Warsaw.

Their specialities comprise two big areas: that of Sports Centers, where they have projected and constructed 52 buildings for the whole Spanish and South American geography (O2, Wellness Centers, Duet Sports, Metropolitan, Arsenal, Holmes Place, Balthus, etc.), as well as buildings of great height, 3 of them already finished and 9 more in project and/or construction, in Spain and Central Europe.

In 1999, they established a joint venture with the prestigious British architect Richard Rogers, recent Pritzker Prize of Architecture, with whom they have developed the Hotel Hesperia Tower (L’Hospitalet, Barcelona) and are currently working in Protos's new wineries in Ribera del Duero (Valladolid), as well as the restructuring of the former Plaza de Toros de Las Arenas (Barcelona) into a leisure and commercial centre.

Next year, they will open a new centre of Integral Design in Barcelona, with a surface of more than 6.000 m2, where they will centralize the different areas of performance of their multidisciplinary office (graphical design, interior design, landscape painting, industrial design, etc.).

Among their newest projects, the most remarkable ones are the New Nàstic de Tarragona Stadium, Iberdrola’s Business and Formation Campus in Madrid, the 4 new skyscrapers located in the former Repsol deposits area in Malaga, Tecnoparc complex in Reus, the new txakoli wineries of the Arguiñano group in Zarautz and a Sports Center in Kazakhstan.

Their work has been selected for the Venice Biennal of 2004, five times selected for the FAD Prizes, has won the Quatrium Prize to the most innovative building in Catalunya, Rehabitec Prize 2005 for the best restored work in Spain, as well as the recent Prize to the best Social House in Spain 2007 by Asociación de Promotores Constructores to the building located in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, former Ciba.

Their current projects spread around the world: Poland, Albany, Morocco, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania, Chile…

A few days ago, the studio presented their last publication, “Architecture in Transit”, showing through their last 50 projects their project and conceptual philosophy as well as their interest towards the creation of a great Catalan office with international vocation.