Rafael Moneo

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Rafael Moneo bigraphy, stories - Spanish architect

Rafael Moneo : biography

9 May 1937 –

José Rafael Moneo Vallés (born 9 May 1937) is a Spanish architect. He was born in Tudela, Spain, and won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003. He studied at the ETSAM, Technical University of Madrid (UPM) from which he received his architectural degree in 1961. From 1958 to 1961 he worked in the office in Madrid of the architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza. In 1963 he received a two year fellowship to study at the Spanish Academy in Rome, which had a great influence on his later work. After his return to Spain in 1965, he taught as an adjunct professor at the ETSAM in Madrid (1966-1970). In 1972, became Professor of Elements of Composition at the ETSAB, for which he moved to Barcelona. He has taught architecture at various locations around the world and from 1985 to 1990 was the chairman of Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is the first Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture.. Harvard Graduate School of Design. Accessed 14 May 2013. He became Academic Numerary in the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid in May 1997.

Spanish constructions of his design include the renovation of the Villahermosa Palace (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) in Madrid, the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida, an expansion of the Madrid Atocha railway station, the Diestre Factory in Zaragoza, Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Majorca the headquarters of the Bankinter (again, in Madrid), Town Hall in Logroño. He also designed the annex to the Murcia Town Hall, which was completed in 1998.Gonzalo Herrero Delicado. . Galinsky. 2006. His latest works are the enlargement of the Prado Museum and the extension of the Bank of Spain, an almost totally mimetic reproduction of the existing building.

Some of Moneo’s prominent works in the US include the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, the Davis Art Museum at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and the Audrey Jones Beck Building (an expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). Moneo also designed the Chace Center, a new building for the Rhode Island School of Design. Moneo’s most recent work is the Northwest Corner Building (formerly the Interdepartmental Science Building) at Columbia University in New York City, which first opened in December 2010.

In 2012, he is awarded with 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. According to the jury, Moneo is a Spanish architect of universal scope whose work enriches urban spaces with an architecture that is serene and meticulous. An acknowledged master in both the academic and professional field, Moneo leaves his own mark on each of his creations, at the same time as combining aesthetics with functionality, especially in the airy interiors that act as impeccable settings for great works of culture and the spirit..

Gallery

Image:Murcia CathedralSquare1.jpg|Murcia Town Hall on the Cardenal Belluga Plaza Image:San Sebastian Palacio Kursaal.JPG|Kursaal Palace in San Sebastián (Spain) Image:Moneo Atocha Extension.jpg|The extension to Atocha Railway Station, Madrid Image:Museo de la ciencia valladolid2.JPG|Valladolid Science Museum, Spain Image:Lacathedral.jpg|Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles Image:Housmfa.jpg|Audrey Jones Beck Building, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas