It was to be the annus mirabilis of Olympic China, and ended as the annus horribilis of liberal capitalism. Hardly had the Beijing Games closed when a financial earthquake with New York as epicenter caused a bank run that was unprecedented in scale
While towers soar, stock markets crash. The completion of the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world, coincides with the bursting of the Gulf’s real-estate bubble, and in Spain the four new Madrid towers reach their final height as markets col
The buildings of Deusto University have always played a leading role in the shaping of the left bank of the river estuary, testifying in this way to the institution’s commitment to serve the city. For over one hundred years, Deusto has been not only
The buildings of Deusto University have always played a leading role in the shaping of the left bank of the river estuary, testifying in this way to the institution’s commitment to serve the city. For over one hundred years, Deusto has been not only
Many aspects converged in this project.?In the first place, the intrinsic nature of its program made reference to the creation of a space of illusions, to a world of fantasy; that is, to the imaginary as substance of the project. Secondly, the except
Located next to the central headquarters of the Caja Granada Savings Bank, a building by the same architect, right at the point where the River Genil and the Granada beltway meet, rises the new cultural complex of the financial institution. It is a c
The largest of David Chipperfield Architects’ projects currently under construction, the new law courts complex of Barcelona breaks down the 330,000 m2 programme into eight freestanding buildings, linked by a continuous atrium space. The project incl
The new headquarters of the Basque Health Department go up on a corner site of the capital of Vizcaya, the last plot that remained empty in the heart of the administrative and financial district of Bilbao. Until now, the institution’s staff was distr
The new parish center of Santa Mónica, in the Madrid town of Rivas-Vaciamadrid – 15 kilometers south of the capital –, is located on a plot of complex features, long and narrow, adjacent to a future shopping center, on a piece of land that the town c
The result of an open competition convened by the Archdiocese in the year 2000, the building is meant to fulfill the aspiration of the Pamplona neighborhood of San Jorge to have a new and updated religious facility, which it had been waiting for for
As with the Velodrome and Olympic Pool in Berlin, the Madrid Olympic Tennis Center aims to strengthen the Spanish capital’s candidacy for the Olympic Games. With a plot area of 16,5 hectares, the 100,000-square meter project includes three indoor cou
A triangular plot in a residential area of Manlleu and partially occupied by the municipality’s summer swimming pools is the site for a series of new facilities including an indoor swimming pool. The perimeter of the plot is delimited by a palisade b
Two concentric circles interrelate the different uses of the Sports Technification?and Leisure Center located in the municipality of Guijo de Granadilla. The complex includes a reception center, a residence for athletes and a center for the organizat
Built on one of the busiest fishing docks of the port of Cangas, on the banks of the Vigo estuary, in the northwest of Spain, this lightweight construction comprises a series of warehouses for the fishermen of this Galician town. Due to its proximity
Evoking the space of a forest, or of a group of bamboos on a surface of water, is the idea that has always been present in the project’s subconscious. On the one hand there is a desire to create a ‘building mechanism’ able to generate endless possibi
The profile of the new Congress Center, craggy and variable, ascending and descending, sets up a dialogue with the different spaces it contains. The colossal roof wraps the different volumes like a white and gleaming blanket, sheltering an extensive
Proposed as one of the main gateways to the premises, the Bridge-Pavilion connects the neighborhood of La Almozara, on the right bank of the Ebro River, with the Expo Zaragoza fair grounds. A hybrid combination of bridge and exhibition pavilion, the
Included in the corridor of the River Ebro, the park stretches along the Ranillas meander, which includes several infrastructures and facilities. The idea was to preserve the park’s use during the sporadic flooding of the river and, at the same time,
In the small town of Peñafiel, approximately 50 kilometers from Valladolid, the winery sits at the base of a small hill surmounted by a medieval castle that currently houses the Provincial Museum of Wine. The main objective of the project was to desi
In the project designed to protect the archaeological site of La Olmeda, ancient times coexist with modernity and architecture is set in contrast with the landscape. These concepts wish to make visitors aware of the unitary character that these fragm
The ‘Parador’ (state-owned hotel) of Alcalá de Henares occupies a magnificent building of the 17th century: the old convent-school of the Dominican Order of St Thomas, which along with the Hostería del Estudiante (student hostelry) – located in the o
A plot located amid the recently opened Del Prat Golf Club and the park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac, in Barcelona, provides the site for this new hotel complex with 186 rooms and complementary services such as restaurants, meeting rooms, confer
The Madrid neighborhood of Sanchinarro adds a unique building including 146 social housing units, conceived as an alternative solution to the traditional closed urban block type. It has been set forth as a construction system with a variety of formal
With a bold volumetry, the new building addresses three different aspects: firstly, its prominent position at the intersection of Gertrudis Gómez Avellaneda street with Ranillas avenue; secondly, its proximity with the Expo Zaragoza 2008 fair ground
Included in one of the new metropolitan plans of the city of Barcelona, the building groups 56 apartments, several shops and a parking garage in Lesseps square – in the De Gràcia neighborhood –, which has recently undergone an important redesign, in
Located in La Cala de?Benidorm, near the city’s center, the building is the final materialization of a project presented to a competition for the construction of two residential towers, one to be occupied by young tenants and another one for senior c
Daniel Cohn-Bendit suggests we forget 68, Dand it is a reasonable suggestion. Our world bears little resemblance to what it was forty years ago, and analyses made then can hardly be applied to a context marked by globalization and ecological crisis.
Half a century after the Brussels Expo, Hanother Spanish pavilion becomes part of the history of our architecture. In the shadow of the Atomium, José Antonio Corrales and Ramón Vázquez Molezún built a canopy of hexagonal umbrellas on slender shafts,
Why do the best architects build for the worst regimes? This is the question that Richard Lacayo raises in Foreign Policy. Illustrating his article with works of Norman Foster and Rem Kool-haas in Russia and China, the critic of Time magazine br
Expelled through the door, the sacred now Ereturns through the window. A small convent in Ronchamp and a large museum in Jerusalem illus-trate two opposed ways of resolving the conflict between the sacred and the profane in the contem-porary world. I
Jean Nouvel The Hyatt Foundation presents yearly, since 1979, the Pritkzer Prize, one of the most important international architectural awards. After the British Richard Rogers, 2007 laureate, the French Jean Nouvel has been the new recipient. A jury
Edward Cullinan After Archigram in 2002, the next British architect to receive the premier architectural award of the Isles, granted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), is Edward Cullinan. Born in 1931, Cullinan, best known as Ted, s
Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor began working as an architect and consultant at the Department for the Preservation of Monuments of the Swiss canton of Graubünden, later moving to Haldenstein, where, thirty years later, he still has his small studio. In
Renzo Piano “His work demonstrates the complete range of architectural concerns. It is sculptural, beautiful, technically accomplished and sustainable. He integrates the diverse disciplines that combine in contemporary building into cohesive, humane
Herzog y de Meuron The Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron add another award to their long list of achievements: after receiving the Pritzker Prize in 2004, and the RIBA?Gold Medal and the Praemium Imperiale in 2007, they have been
Frank Gehry The 11th Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by the Dutch critic Aaron Betsky under the title ‘Out There:?Architecture Beyond Building’, awarded its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Frank Gehry, for his role in the transformation
Accordia Housing Development That a residential complex should win the most prestigious prize given to a built work designed by a British architect is unusual, and even moreso when, as in the case of Accordia, three different studios participate in i
Barking and Dagenham, London Awarded every two years and given jointly to the institution that promotes the project and to its author, the European Prize for Urban Public Space, organized by the CCCB with the Cité of Paris, the NAi of Rotterdam, the
Teodoro González de León Since 1984 and every three years, the UIA (International Union of Architects) awards its Gold Medal to one architect, highlighting a lifetime of work devoted to architecture conceived as a social and artistic tool. In the 23r
Social Housing in Barcelona Awarded since 1958 by the institution Fomento de las Artes Decorativas to works completed during the year in Spain and Portugal, the FAD Awards have celebrated their 50th anniversary. The present edition, sensitive to the
José Cruz Ovalle The Finnish Wood Association grants since 1999 the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award, aiming to promote on an international level those buildings that use this natural material, the main one in Finland’s building tradition. Aw
Juan Navarro Baldeweg The architect, painter and sculptor Juan Navarro Baldeweg has received the Gold Medal of the Spanish Architectural Association. Presided by Carlos Hernández Pezzi, the jury noted that Navarro “acknowledges the place and history
(1938-2008) With the death of Papadakis, postmodernism has lost one of its main figures. The Cyprus-born architect, based in London since 1956, published over two decades, first from Academy Editions and later from the magazine Architectural De
(1939-2008) “It is an axiom of the trade that all editors will one day be ex-editors” said Pawley in the ironic editorial ‘Morituri Te Salutamus’, in the last issue of Ghost Dance Time, the weekly publication he founded at the Architectural Ass
(1935-2008) A member of the third generation of editors of the centenarian Barcelona-based publishing house that played a key role in the dissemination of architecture and design publications in the Spanish-speaking world, Gustavo Gili Torra di
(1918-2008) A year before his death, Jørn Utzon had changed his Majorcan refuge of Can Feliz for this native Denmark. He had already turned 90 and had been detached from professional practice for decades, though he still collaborated with his s
(1920-2008) The Air Force Academy Chapel in Colorado Springs – an expressionistic volume whose spires evoke rockets about to take off – is the most representative work of this tall and thin Chicago architect, who departed from the orthodox Mies
(1916-2008) Son and father of architects, Barba Corsini died at 91 after a long illness, leaving behind a distinguished professional career with several residential projects. Belonging to a generation of architects that overcame the strict post
(1912-2008) The first Spanish female architect, Ucelay graduated in 1936 right before the Civil War began.?After almost forty years of professional practice, she would finally earn recognition for her career in 2004, when she received the Natio
(1936-2008) Educated in Iran, Turkey and the United States,?Nader Khalili was a socially committed architect, as much with sustainable architecture as with the need for emergency shelter for refugees. Since 1982 he researched on the possible us
(1930-2008) The expansive vitality of Fernando Higueras and his hedonistic character found their way into his architecture of concrete, whose geometric rigor was a reflection of his musical sensitivity. Born in Madrid, he studied at the progressive
(1933-2008) The mecca of mass tourism, Benidorm would never have been an economic success without the visionary contribution of Pedro?Zaragoza, mayor of the city during seventeen years (1950-1967). This city in Alicante left behind its impoveri
Balance del año Summary of the Year
Luis Fernández-Galiano
Un sismo en el sistema A Shock in the System
El vértigo vertical Vertical Vertigo
2008, una antología 2008, an Anthology
Cultura urbana Urban Culture
TEA, Santa Cruz de Tenerife TEA
Herzog & de Meuron
Biblioteca de la Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao Deusto University Library
Rafael Moneo
Teatros del Canal, Madrid Canal Theaters
Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Museo Memoria de Andalucía, Granada Andalucía Museum of Memory
Alberto Campo Baeza
Vocación ciudadana Civic Role
Ciudad de la Justicia, Barcelona City of Justice
David Chipperfield & b720 Arquitectos
Sede de Sanidad del Gobierno Vasco, Bilbao Basque Health Department Headquarters
Coll-Barreu Arquitectos
Centro parroquial, Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Madrid) Parish Center
Vicens & Ramos
Iglesia y centro parroquial San Jorge, Pamplona Church and Parish Center
Tabuenca & Leache
Deporte en seco Dry Sports
Centro Olímpico de Tenis, Madrid Olympic Tennis Center
Dominique Perrault
Piscina cubierta en Manlleu, Barcelona Indoor Pool in Manlleu
RCR, Aranda, Pigem & Vilalta
Centro de Tecnificación Deportiva, Cáceres Sports Technification Center
José María Sánchez García
Almacenes de pescadores en Cangas, Pontevedra Fishermen Warehouses in Cangas
Irisarri & Piñera
Encuentro sostenible Sustainable Gathering
Pabellón de España en la Expo 2008, Zaragoza Expo 2008 Spanish Pavilion
Francisco Mangado
Palacio de Congresos, Zaragoza Congress Center
Nieto & Sobejano
Pabellón Puente, Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion
Hadid & Schumacher
Parque del Agua, Zaragoza The Water Park
Alday Jover & L’Atelier du Paysage
Paisajes turísticos Touristic Landscapes
Bodegas Protos, Peñafiel (Valladolid) Protos Winery
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Alonso Balaguer
Villa Romana de La Olmeda, Palencia La Olmeda Roman Villa
Paredes & Pedrosa
Parador de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid Parador of Alcalá de Henares
Aranguren & Gallegos
Hotel La Mola en Tarrasa, Barcelona La Mola Hotel in Terrasa
b720 Arquitectos
Alternativas residenciales Residential Alternatives
Edificio Celosía en Sanchinarro, Madrid Celosía Building in Sanchinarro
MVRDV & Blanca Lleó
Edificio de viviendas Expo 2008, Zaragoza Housing in Expo 2008
Basilio Tobías
Viviendas en la plaza Lesseps, Barcelona Housing in Plaza Lesseps
OAB, Ferrater & Asociados
Viviendas tuteladas para ancianos, Alicante Housing for Senior Citizens
Javier García-Solera
Un año en el mundo A Year in the World
Luis Fernández-Galiano
Doce meses en portadas de prensa Twelve Months in Press Covers
Crónica de cuatro estaciones Chronicle of Four Seasons
2008 en doce edificios 2008 in Twelve Buildings
Premios y pérdidas Distinctions and Disappearances
Luis Fernández-Galiano
It was to be the annus mirabilis of Olympic China, and ended as the annus horribilis of liberal capitalism. Hardly had the Beijing Games closed when a financial earthquake with New York as epicenter caused a bank run that was unprecedented in scale and scope, toppling the stock markets and forcing government to bail out affected companies by injecting large sums of money, which nevertheless did not prevent the crash of big banks like Lehman Brothers or even entire countries like Iceland. The financial catastrophe immediately brought on economic recession, and the bailout plans cast the shadow of a fiscal crisis, putting the capitalist system on the edge of the cliff: exceeding the limits of a cyclic crisis, the earthquake that began in the central economies spread to the emerging countries, placing the planet on the verge of a systemic breakdown, further aggravated by the absence of leadership in the American superpower, where Barack Obama’ s election in November was a flicker of hope in a dark year.
The detonator of the crisis were the subprime mortgages, that surfaced when the real estate bubble burst, provoking a plunging of the building sector that was all the more acute in countries, such as Spain, where the boom had reached the highest levels. This depression of the real estate market gives a gray tinge to an architectural year that had its center in two festive events, the Olympic Games in Beijing and the Expo on Water in Zaragoza. The Chinese capital was the scene of a huge planetary spectacle that left in its wake the extraordinary ‘bird’ s nest’, the stadium designed by the Swiss partners Herzog & de Meuron, in collaboration with the artist Ai Weiwei, as a titanic tangle of steel; the swimming pools conceived as a ‘water cube’ by the Australian firm PTW; and the airport carried out by the British architect Norman Foster, the elegant lightness of which does not prevent it from being the world’s largest construction. In turn, in the Aragonese capital, an international exhibition centered on water and sustainable development (though also linked to the second centenary of the Peninsular War, in the outbreak of which Zaragoza played a leading role) gave rise, amid the usual whirlpool of ephemeral constructions, to some noteworthy buildings, from the bridge-pavilion of the Anglo-Iraqi Zaha Hadid to the congress center of the Madrid-based Nieto & Sobejano, and an exceptional work, the Spanish Pavilion, a precise and lyrical forest of ceramic columns by the Navarrese Francisco Mangado.
The financial straits and social tensions produced by the rise of unemployment took attention away from the climate and energy crises – the price of oil reached US$150 per barrel, to drop to US$40 at year’s end – but the economic roller coaster did not curb the progressive ecological deterioration of the planet, a historic challenge for humanity that clamors for a global governance of resources and, in the field of architecture, a renewed emphasis on sustainability. Few works express this attitude better than the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, built by Renzo Piano with a green undulating roof that amounts to an ethical and aesthetic manifesto, in a year when the Genoa architect also made the news for his AIA Gold Medal and his projects in Ronchamp and the Kimbell, in dialogue with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn.
Other names that stood out in the course of the year were the French Jean Nouvel, who accepted the Pritzker Prize in Washington, D.C. and finished an auditorium in Copenhagen; the Swiss Peter Zumthor, who won the Praemium Imperiale and opened a moving chapel in Mechernich; the Mexican Teodoro González de León, who received the UIA Gold Medal at its congress held in Turin and completed an art museum in Mexico City; the Santander-born Juan Navarro Baldeweg, who earned the gold medal for Spanish architecture and wrapped up the Teatro del Canal in Madrid; and the Californian Frank Gehry, honored with the Golden Lion of a disappointing Venice Biennale and the object of a tough controversy – fiercer than that sparked by the Foster and Hadid projects in Mecca – with his Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, the symbolic center of a Near East that again went under fire in December with the invasion of the Gaza Strip. Other outstanding works were Snøhetta’s opera house in Oslo, Giancarlo Mazzanti’ s library in Medellín, Grafton’s university in Milan and José Cruz Ovalle’s in Santiago de Chile, Santiago Calatrava’s bridge in Venice, Nieto & Sobejano’s museum in Moritzburg, and two large constructions in Seoul and Luxembourg by a Dominique Perrault whose full career was recognized with a major exhibition at the Pompidou Center.
In Spain, the year’ s victories in sports were not matched in architecture, though the most acclaimed buildings were, besides David Chipperfield’s City of Justice in Barcelona, museums like the one in Tenerife by Herzog & de Meuron – who also won the competition for the BBVA headquarters in Madrid – or those by Rafael Moneo or Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra in Cartagena, and wine cellars like Richard Rogers’s in Peñafiel; while the most awaited completion was that of the four towers now punctuating the north of the capital, by Henry Cobb, César Pelli, Rubio & Álvarez-Sala, and Norman Foster, amid which the foundation stone was laid for the Convention Center designed, in the form of a wheel, by Mansilla & Tuñón, who, incidentally, also won the competition for the main building of Soria’s Eco-City with a hemisphere-based proposal. These tall completions were the counterpoint in a year in which the credit crisis unleashed a chain of skyscraper project cancellations everywhere, from the United States – where it affected Calatrava in Chicago and Nouvel in New York – to Russia, where Foster saw his Moscow tower vanish into thin air, and even the Gulf Emirates, which did not prove themselves immune to recession.
Apart from that, the year that celebrated the centenaries of Oteiza and Max Bill or the 500 years of Palladio also paid tribute to Paul Rudolph in connection with the restoration of his Yale School of Architecture, continued the cult of Le Corbusier with a huge body of publications and events, and lamented the inevitable list of deaths, headed by two somehow ill-fated masters, the great Dane Jørn Utzon – who will be remembered for his Sydney Opera House and the church at Bagsvaerd – and our own Fernando Higueras – always associated with his mythical ‘crown of thorns’ – and which also includes the architects Walter Netsch, Nader Khalili, Joaquim Guedes, Federico Barba Corsini or Matilde Ucelay, the critic Martin Pawley, the publishers Andreas Papadakis and Gustavo Gili, the civil engineers and entrepreneurs José María Entrecanales and Rafael del Pino, as well as the former mayor of Benidorm and pioneer of urban planning for tourism Pedro Zaragoza: a defender of skyscrapers in their year of agony and ecstasy, condemned as icons of reckless capitalism and celebrated in their last hurrah just before the real estate and financial debacle.
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