Renowned Spanish architect and urban planner Ricardo Bofill has died at the age of 82. As a legacy, he leaves around a thousand works in 40 countries. Among the most significant are the Red Wall in the Spanish province of Alicante, the National Theater of Catalonia, and the Barcelona Airport. The media reports that his death was due to complications from the coronavirus.
Bofill was an internationally renowned architect with a long career in the field of architecture, design, and urban planning. He was born in Barcelona in 1939 and initially studied at the Barcelona School of Architecture. However, he was expelled in 1957 for political reasons and completed his training in Switzerland.
Among its urban design highlights are the Place de l’Europe in Luxembourg, the Nueva Castellana in Madrid, also in the capital, the IFEMA Municipal Palace, or the Manzanares Park. Also in France, the Antigone neighborhood in Motpellier, the Nueva Bocana in the port of Barcelona, or the remodeling and expansion of the airport in the Catalan capital, where he also screened the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and the Hotel Vela.
Architecture with engineers, sociologists, and philosophers.
Ricardo Bofill founded, in 1963, an unusual architecture studio. His team had engineers, something relatively common, but it also brought together sociologists and even poets and philosophers. In his manifesto ‘Towards a formalization of the city in space’, Barcelonan showed his tendency to constructivist utopias.
Reactions to the death of Ricardo Bofill.
The news of the architect’s death has caused numerous reactions in the world of culture and business. “Rest in peace. Your work will always keep you alive in our memory,” said the Minister of Culture and Sports of the Spanish Government, Miquel Iceta, who has shared his sadness through social networks.
Some of its most emblematic buildings.
Its architectural legacy is unquestionable. Among his most popular creations, always with a differentiating cosmopolitan and quality stamp, are, among others, Les Espaces d’Abraxas, in Paris. It is an icon of the Ville Nouvelle de Marne-la Vallée, very popular and photographed by all the lucky ones who visit it.
In his hometown, in Barcelona, Ricardo Bofill was the architect of different buildings well known by the inhabitants of Barcelona and by its tourists, such as the Hotel Vela or the Walden. Both are two of the gifts that the late architect leaves his fellow citizens after his goodbye.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
