Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao ignited an architectural craze when it was completed in 1997. Called by Philip Johnson “the greatest building of our time,” the sculpted assembly of expressive elements revolutionized the role of architecture. The economic excess suggested …
Category: Spain
(sporst– flickr/creative commons license) Carlos Ferrater designed the Hotel Rey Juan Carlosi 1992, and it was inaugurated by the King and Queen of Spain for the opening of the “1992 Olympic Games” in Barcelona. It also won the National Architecture …
(Á. M. Felicísimo– flickr/creative commons license) Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos designed the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Mérida, the conference centre and exhibition hall for Merida, Spain. It sits near a Santiago Calatrava bridge on the Guadiana River on a …
Rafael Moneo designed the Kursaal Convention Center and Auditorium in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. The two cubes include a 1,800-seat auditorium, 600-person chamber hall and other exhibition halls. The “stranded rock” is deformed geometry in the context of Mounts Urgull and …
(plusgood– flickr/creative commons license) The Cathedral of Valcia’s Tower of Miguelete was completed in 1429, built by Andrés Juliá and others. It housed a 10 ton bell cast in 1532, which was replaced by speakers. The current building replaced a …
Iñigo Ortiz y Enrique de León designed the Torre Mapfre at Port Olímpic in Barcelona, completed in 1992. Hotel Arts stands nearby. At 44 floors, it is 505 ft tall. The international style skyscraper has stainless steel and granite exterior …
Antón García Abril designed the Escuela de Altos Estudios Musicales Santiago de Compostela in Galicia Spain, completed in 2003. Traditional gray Mondariz granite makes up the facades, with spacing between blocks for thin windows. The ancient technique for splitting the …
Javier Manterola designed the Pont de Príncep de Viana near Catelonia, Spain, completed in 2010. It was built as part of an urban development scheme for Lleida with a high speed rail. A tetrapod structure is suspended by steel cables. …
Ricardo Bofill of Taller de Arquitectura designed the W Barcelona hotel, completed in 2009. It rises like a metallic sail on the point of a jetty at the entrance to the port. Public functions at ground level are accommodated in …
Santiago Calatrava designed the Torre Telefónica telecommunication tower in Barcelona, completed in 1992 for the Summer Games. The twirly tower meets the ground very delicately at a pin-point, seeming to float in the air like a twisted paper clip. The …