Rafael Moneo

The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale went to Rafael Moneo (Tudela, 1937). In the words of the curator of this year’s event, Hashim Sarkis, the Spanish architect has been one of the most transformative figures of his generation, and “throughout his long career, Moneo has maintained a poetic prowess, reminding us of the powers of architectural form to express, to shape, but also to endure. He has also been tenaciously committed to architecture as an act of building.” In addition, Sarkis highlighted Moneo’s facets as a crtic, educator, and theorist, and spoke of the importance of buildings like the Kursaal, Atocha Station, and the Cathedral of Los Angeles, praising his “ability to respond to contingencies of site and program while transcending them.” The Spaniard’s was not the only important award bestowed at the Biennale themed ‘How will we live together?”: the jury also conferred a posthumous Golden Lion on the Italian-born Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992), who in Sarkis’s view “embodies most fittingly the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2021.”