Architect Ricardo Bofill dies at the age of 82

Ricardo Bofill, the most international Barcelona architect, He died this Friday in the hospital, in his hometown, at 82 years old leaving behind memorable works such as the Hotel Vela and the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC) in the Catalan capital, the Walden building in Sant Just Desvern or the Manzanares Park in Madrid.

Born in 1939, Bofill was expelled in 1957 from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB), where he was studying, due to “redness”, a political militancy that would persecute him, since Carlos Arias Navarro, the last president of the Government of the Franco dictatorship , prohibited him from building again in Spain. It was then that Bofill went to work in Paris, and he did so for 30 years, which would give him his international projection.

He finished his studies in Switzerland and, in 1963, founded a multidisciplinary group with architects, engineers, sociologists and philosophers, including the literary critic Salvador Clotas, the poet José Agustín Goytisolo and the economist Julia Romea. With him, he laid the foundations for the international team that today is Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, with which the architect diversified works all over the world, getting involved in urban design, parks and gardens or interior design and adapting to the realities of each place. .

works all over the world

In addition to its innovative collective housing complexes from its early years, such as the Walden 7 building in Sant Just and the Red Wall, works were added such as the Place de l’Europe in Luxembourg, the Nueva Castellana and the Parque del Manzanares in Madrid, the Antigone neighborhood in Montpellier (France), the headquarters of the INEFC and the Nueva Bocana of the port of Barcelona, ​​the remodeling and expansion of the Prat airport, the Túria gardens, in Valencia, the Casablanca Twin Center in Morocco, the corporate headquarters of Shiseido Ginza in Tokyo and Cartier’s in Paris, or the Cita Center complex in Chicago. Also more current projects, such as the Mohammed VI University with headquarters in Ben Guerir and Rabat.

Bofill stood out for questioning the dominant thought in architecture, a philosophy from which around a thousand works arose in 40 countries, characterized by their roots in the place and by a strong component of innovation and risk.

Last September, Bofill, who was still active, had been awarded doctor ‘honoris causa‘ by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in the church of Santa Maria del Mar. During his speech he spoke as he always did, without caring what they say and after stating that “Gaudí has ​​been the greatest genius in the history of architecture” he criticized the work of Le Corbusier for his lack of stature as an urban planner claiming that “he hated the city, especially the Mediterranean”.

Bofill, son of Emilio Bofill, an architect and builder of the Catalan nationalist bourgeoisie and of the Venetian María Leví, was married to the Italian actress Serena Vergano, with whom he had his son Ricardo Emilio Bofill Maggiora-Vergano in 1965. Of their relationship With the French artist Annabelle d’Huart their son Pablo Bofill D’Huart was born in 1980.

homage act

Bofill leaves various projects in progress and his two sons, Ricardo Emilio and Pablo, will continue, as they had been doing a few years ago, in charge of the Taller de Arquitectura office, where a team of more than 100 professionals from 30 countries works. According to the architect’s children, this human team is his true legacy.

The family will say goodbye to Bofill on January 26 and 27 in a tribute ceremony with friends, relatives and admirers of his architecture at the headquarters of his studio.

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Bofill’s death comes not long after that of Oriol Bohigas, the other great Barcelona architect of reference, last November.