Alejandro Bernabeu   At his induction into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in January, Miguel Aguiló gave a discourse titled ‘Caring for Earth, Recreating the World,’ in which he tackled heritage, the landscape, and the planet. Three spheres of civil engineering that expl

Jorge Torres   The fact that Le Corbusier, peintre à Cap-Martin (Éditions du Patrimoine, 2015) has now been published in English is a further step in the reexamination of Le Corbusier that we have been seeing for some time now, and specifically situates his artisti

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Outdoor museums of vernacular architecture, initiated in Scandinavia in the late 1800s, proliferated in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum in Switzerland was inaugurated in 1978. Rolf Fehlbaum took over his family’s fur

Eduardo Prieto   “It is at the same time a monograph on the architectural, urbanistic and landscape work of Philippe Rahm, a manifesto for a climatic architecture to face global warming, and a theoretical and practical treatise on the art of building atmospheres.” Su

Eduardo Mangada   In the ruined Milan of the postwar, a distinguished group of architects committed itself in both theory and practice to the city’s physical and symbolic reconstruction. The likes of Gio Ponti, Luigi Moretti, Ernest Nathan Rogers, and Ignazio Gardella

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Liberal institutions, says Francis Fukuyama, act as the canaries in the coal mine, and warn about the threat of an authoritarian assault. John Gray is more pessimistic, believing that liberal civilization based on tolerance is history, because the st

Eduardo Prieto   Taxonomy by generations and the observance of centenaries are superstitions of statistical thought, but keep our memory and sense of justice awake, especially when honoring figures whom fashions consign to limbo. This is not fully the case of José Ma

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Both praised by Bill Gates, the Czech-Canadian scientist and political analyst Vaclav Smil and the Danish economist and political scientist Bjørn Lomborg propose a reality check: Smil’s How the World Really Works and Lomborg’s Best Things First invit

Andrés Trapiello   Stores in 50 Spanish provinces are used to paint a graphic and literary portrait of an urban landscape of traditional charm that deserves to be saved from oblivion.

Iñaki Bergera   From childhood we want to climb trees, reach the top of a tower, or stand on a cliff’s edge for thrilling views. Since the 19th century the modern city has been associated with verticality, the dream of ever taller buildings in defiance of structural

Ginés Garrido   This is a personal exploration of gardens that the author is drawn to, and her aim is to grasp the meaning of these somehow ‘unreal’ places without which “architecture feels incomplete.” She follows no clear order, preferring an erratic round of visi

If photographers are characterized by the qualities of their gaze, Alastair Philip Wiper would be described as a precise, ironic eye that fluttered around unfrequented, disturbing, unholy places. In Building Stories, his latest album, published like

Alberto Ballesteros   “The book’s better than the film” is an axiom that embroils us in debates. The matter goes way back to the dawn of humanity: word vs. image. Mary Beard is among those who believe that what we see is as important as what we read, though she put into a

Enrique Morillo   In the 1970s, John (Berger) overtook John (the Evangelist) and put the gaze before the Word. A half-century later, we are living a time of absolute visual supremacy, and many already perceive fury and fatigue in our sight. But amid all the whining, t

Luis Fernández-Galiano   In 17th-century Holland, the microscope and the camera obscura for evermore changed the way we behold. The historian Laura J. Snyder describes this phenomenal mutation in how we perceive things through two figures who coincided in time: Antoni van Le

Eduardo Prieto   A species in extinction, a fragile koala still existing even though the ecosystems it thrived in no longer do, architecture criticism has for a while now been facing the question of how to die. Some part of it will take leave of us discreetly, bequea

Eduardo Prieto   Does being modern mean adopting a style, taking on a certain attitude, continuing to exhaust the paths of the avant-gardes, ultimately finding new ways to do old things? Balkrishna Doshi (1927-2023), one of the fathers of architecture in India, is un

Marta García Carbonero   Few architects are as widely published as Miguel Fisac. Just when it seemed that little could be added, three new books suddenly expand the bibliography. Two monographs now accompany the ‘complete works’ published by Francisco Arqués, by Andrés Cánov

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Spain’s 20th century causes sighs of pain and relief. Fuentes and Rueda’s Diccionario de símbolos explores the tragic and festive images of a history which in its latest stretch incorporates events of the 21st, such as the 11-M terrorist attacks or t

During the lockdown imposed by the pandemic, archaeological photographer Luigi Spina had the opportunity to roam freely – and even to reside in – the ruins of the polis that was buried by the Vesuvius in the year 79 AD, including visits to some of th

Luis Fernández-Galiano   Norman Foster has published three books which are great works. Their colossal dimensions belie the intimate attention given to every page, because the architect’s hand and gaze is all over. Taschen’s monumental two-tome monograph is signed by Philip

Jorge Sainz   “I love books.” What better way to begin. The author proceeds to specify his adoration: “In particular I love architecture books.” Then: “I love illustrated architecture books.” So it is that John Hill took up the tricky challenge indicated in his su

Alberto Ballesteros   There are marvels to be found in the corners of maps. “Here be dragons” was the warning on a Renaissance globe regarding the Pacific’s still unexplored coasts, in line with early cartographers’ custom of filling their maps with fantastic creatures ex

John Hill   100 Influential and Inspiring Illustrated Architecture Books