Portrait of Rafael Moneo – © Germàn Saiz.
Architecture – Rafael Moneo was nominated by Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 curator Hashin Sarkis as “one of the most transformative architects of his generation.” Sarkis curated also an exhibition inside the Book Pavillon at the Giardini featuring a selection of plastic models and emblematic pictures of the buildings realised by the Spanish architect, that can be seen as an answer to the question How will we live together?, the main theme of the Biennale.
- RELATED STORIES: read more about Venice Biennale 2021 on Archipanic…
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, LA, 1996-2002 – © Micheal Moran.
“As a practitioner, and through his broad array of buildings, like the Kursaal Auditorium, The Prado Museum, the Atocha Train Station, and the Los Angeles Cathedral, he has highlighted the ability of every architectural project to respond to contingencies of site and program while transcending them.” Continues Sarkis.
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, LA, 1996-2002 – © Micheal Moran.
“As an educator, he has rigorously guided several generations of architects towards architecture as a vocation. As a scholar, he has combined his visual prowess and analytic rigors to help reinterpret some of the most canonical historic buildings with fresh eyes.”
Kursaal Convention Center in San Sebastian, Spain, 1990-1999 – Photo by Michael Moran.
“As a critic of the contemporary scene, he has written on emerging phenomena and key projects and has established some of the most important dialogues on the present scene of architecture with colleagues from around the world.”
Kursaal Convention Center in San Sebastian, Spain, 1990-1999 – Photo by Michael Moran.
“Throughout his long career, Moneo has maintained a poetic prowess, reminding us of the powers of architectural form to express, shape but also to endure. He has also been tenaciously committed to architecture as an act of building.”
The acknowledgment will be awarded to Rafael Moneo on Saturday, May 22, 2021 together with the the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in memoriam to Lina Bo Bardi, during the awards ceremony and inauguration of the Biennale Architettura 2021.
Museum of Roman Art in Merida, 1980-86 – Photo by Luis Casals.
All photos: courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
Northwest Corner Building in New York, USA, 2005-2009 – Photo by Duccio Malagamba.
