Luis Fernández-Galiano   The current critique of meritocracy questions merit itself. Until very recently, the rejection of technocracy censored the one-dimensional character of its politics, but did not question technique itself; today, the attack on meritocracy rejects not

The first thoughts of Steven Holl (Bremerton, Washington, 1947) are always captured in thick paper notebooks with sure brushstrokes in watercolor; deft essays on forms and spaces that the architect visualizes, in which color and light are never mere

Steven Holl   United States   On the banks of the East River, a branch of the Queens Public Library addresses a call for community space in an almost exclusively residential neighborhood. The building, low and compact, takes up little ground, and makes the much used riverside par

Steven Holl   United States   With new studios and rehearsal spaces on the banks of the Potomac River, the Kennedy Center ensures itself a place at the forefront of the federal capital’s cultural scene. Striking a contrast with the bold building designed by Edward Durell Stone, t

Steven Holl   United States   Presenting undulating facades and roofs, the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building adds gallery space for the collection of one of the largest museum institutions in the United States. The building consolidates the campus formed by the original edifice, the

Jorge Gorostiza   An old Alfa Romeo Giulia makes its way through Tokyo under the rain. The driver is Ryue Nishizawa, and behind sits Louise Lemoine. In the passenger seat rides the viewer, who sees and hears all that happens from morning til night on 25 April 2019, th

Richard Ingersoll   In the past three decades, Luis Fernandez-Galiano, editor-in-chief of this magazine, has produced an exceptional treasure of texts on contemporary architecture. I know of no one in the field who is so thoroughly aware of facts and trends of the momen

Jacques Herzog For a young architect at the beginning of his career it is a challenging moment to see the widely admired work of established colleagues, often with a mixture of disdain and admiration. For my generation this moment was in the 1980s, a

Luis Fernández-Galiano   The painting of a wild pig that was recently discovered in an Indonesian cave, believed to have been made 45,500 years ago, pushes back to that time the beginnings of figurative art; the history of art, however, is but a few centuries old. For Christ

Miguel Fernández-Galiano   The inevitable presence of reality in architecture and photography alike is ultimately the main reason why a parallel discussion of both disciplines is productive and necessary. Philip Ursprung’s suggestion of a realist current in contemporary archit

Iñaki Bergera   This is a homage to photography and to a city which, paradoxically, plays a secondary role in a visual account. In Madrid, a human landscape lords over the urban one, actors take center stage against the backdrop of props. Madrid – with its popular a

Luis Fernández-Galiano   The archaeologist Luis Monreal, now General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva, has behind him a distinguished career in culture administration, but will most be remembered as a photographer. His latest book, which pays homage to Hen

In his sarcastic evocation of Spain, Mario Praz described it as an anti-romantic “pentagonal peninsula,” in a geometrical metaphor that could be completed in this way: “Pentagonal peninsula whose center and sides are full, but which is otherwise bare

Magén Arquitectos   Spain   Illueca is a town located in the western part of Zaragoza, and is the administrative center of Aranda, one of the least populated areas of Aragón. To prevent depopulation and provide leisure activities, the town council called a competition to build

CSO Arquitectura   Spain   Designed by CSO Arquitectura, headed by Antón Freile, this expansion of the elderly residence which the same Madrid firm built in 2005 in Camarzana de Tera (Zamora), at kilometer 127 of the road linking Benavente to Vigo, has been shortlisted in the

Óscar Miguel Ares   Spain   On Calle Aluminio of the San Cristóbal industrial park in Valladolid are new facilities of the company Cortes Metalúrgicos Oviedo, designed by Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez (Valladolid, 1972). The 7,500-square-meter project was conceived from the section

Bizna estudio   Spain   Founded by Rocío García (Bilbao, 1998) and Pedro Torres (Albacete, 1987), Madrid-based Bizna studio has designed this meeting space for residents of Noviercas, a municipality in the comarca of Moncayo, in Soria province. Shortlisted in the Architectu

Ocamica Tudanca arquitectos   Spain   In this intervention, for which they have won the 2020 FAD Award for City and Landscape, Iñigo Ocamica and Iñigo Tudanca reinterpret the Castile-León landscape with different types of aggregate concrete for Plaza de la Fuente.

Arturo Franco   Spain   "A traction house within a compression house.” So goes the description of an old farmhouse in a small village within the municipality of Mazaricos, in A Coruña, at the foot of Mount Pindo, referred to as the ‘Celtic Olympus.’ The anthropomorphic s

Rem Koolhaas   Italy   In these times of pandemic and social distancing, technological tools have tried to address the restrictions imposed on in-person activities through digital alternatives that can help prevent our lives from stagnating altogether. In a locked-down Mil

Junya Ishigami + associates   Japan   A semi-exterior void forms a public square for the enjoyment of students of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology, a university center which had no hesitations assigning this new project to the architect who had completed some dazzling workshops on th

The Paseo de la Castellana reflects both the fortes and the flaws of Madrid. The strengths of an urban axis that has efficiently provided a backbone for the growth of the city, prioritizing the pragmatic over the iconic and infrastructures over build

Adif has publicly named the teams selected to go on to phase two of the competition to transform the Madrid–Chamartín station: UNStudio with b720; RSHP with Luis Vidal; Souto de Moura with Francisco Mangado and José María Ezquiaga; Grimshaw with Carl

Madrid is undertaking an ambitious transformation of its urban perimeter with a forest crown connecting all the natural zones existing in the city. This involves a re-landscaping of 14,200 hectares, with native plant species sure to be instrumental i

b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, Diller Scofidio + Renfro   Spain   The proposal of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos and Gustafson Porter + Bowman is the winner in the invited competition to revamp the AZCA area in Madrid, a private initiative promoted by Renazca, an association formed by com

Kazuyo Sejima & Associates   Japan   Atop a hill in the Osaka University of Arts campus, this construction seeks to meld with the topography and natural environment besides harnessing views of the landscape and city. Hence Kazuyo Sejima – founder, with Ryue Nishizawa, of the firm SANAA

Christian de Portzamparc   China   On the shores of Lake Tai, in the city of Suzhou’s Wujiang District, known for its canals and located 110 kilometers from Shanghai, stands this cultural center by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc, surrounded by a 500-meter-long steel-and

Salgado e Liñares   Spain   The client asked for a unique hotel project in Albeida, on a beautiful location at the source of the Muros i Noia estuary, in the parish of San Cosme de Outeiro, which is part of Outes, a municipality of A Coruña province. The project adds nine woode

Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter - RRA, ASP Architecture   France   Raised high over the Swiss village of Breitenbach, near the German border, this hotel is designed as a reinterpretation of a traditional Scandinavian place of retreat in nature. Wooden volumes dot the hillside and are diluted in the Alsatian landscap

At the foot of the imposing Sciliar massif in the Dolomites, the popular Parc Hotel Florian has been expanded, with ten new suites grouped in a stand-alone two-floor complex that emulates tree houses. In order not to break the continuity of the surro

Manuel Arias-Maldonado   What does the Covid-19 pandemic tell us? In what way does it affect our perception of reality and how we relate with it? What lessons can be learned from this extraordinary episode? I will simply extract two teachings of the pandemic, and by distill

MAD Architects   China   The practice established by Ma Yansong in 2004, MAD Architects, which runs offices in Beijing, Los Angeles, Rome, and Jiaxing, was commissioned by the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum to design this venue for its annual summits in Yabuli, in the nort