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Arquitectura Viva 208 Singular Buildings

Arquitectura Viva 208 Singular Buildings

In Short. Several activities in Madrid mark the birth centennial of Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza; Antonio González Cordón passes away; the ICO Museum opens a show on Francis Kéré; Kengo Kuma completes Scotland’s Victoria & Albert in Dundee; David Chipperfield builds the Amorepacific main offices in Seoul; Temperaturas Extremas wins the competition for Spain’s pavilion at the Universal Exposition of Dubai; BCQ designs the Spanish Civil War Museum in Teruel, and Foster an office building in Madrid; a House in Rota, a posthumous project of Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas, is completed; and Thomas Reese writes on Ventura Rodríguez to celebrate his recent tricentenary.

Paris, London, Milan. Architecture of institutional and corporate headquarters was during modernity as optimistic as it was self-absorbed, whether asserting itself on cities through scale or semiotics, or withdrawing to the domain of suburbia and willing itself an urban utopia. Without losing their validity, these models tend to be enriched with equally rigorous proposals when addressing the particular needs of clients, but are perhaps now more sensitive to the historical and material contexts of the surroundings. Three such approaches are featured in detail in this issue, commissioned by leading entities to major architectural practices, located in three important European cities, and explained by a trio of prestigious architectural critics: the Palace of Justice courthouse in Paris by Renzo Piano, covered by François Chaslin; the Bloomberg headquarters in London by Norman Foster, dissected by Jonathan Glancey; and the Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan by Herzog & de Meuron, discussed by Fulvio Irace.

Urban Masters. It is the birth centenary of two dissimilar masters: Paul Rudolph, author of powerful pieces of architecture built in the USA in the 1960s, whose work is presented by the historian Kurt Forster; and Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza, champion of Spanish modernity, whose personality and oeuvre are brought to life by a former collaborator, now a professor, Gabriel Ruiz Cabrero.
Crossed Narratives. Luis Fernández-Galiano reviews John Elliott’s intertwined tales of two nationalisms. The texts of Gropius edited by Medina Warmburg and an essay by Prieto on the life of matter, both with a foreword by Marchán, are subjected to crossed critiques. In addition, Manterola’s history of bridges and a monograph on the photographer Marvin Rand.

Dossier: Haute Cuisine. Traditionally kept out of sight from diners, the kitchen is no longer in the eyes of the chef just a necessary evil. Increasingly aestheticized, it has transcended its heretofore merely practical function to take on unprecedented prominence in fine restaurants. Here are three outstanding examples: Enigma for the Adriá brother team, located in Barcelona and designed by RCR arquitectes; Cocina Hermanos Torres, also in the Catalan capital, by Carlos and Borja Ferrater; and the new Aponiente in San Fernando (Cádiz), a fruit of a project spearheaded by chef Ángel León himself, in collaboration with the firm BIA.

To close, Peter Eisenman, as his contemporary and ‘rival’ in American architecture, evokes Robert Venturi, who has died at the age of 93.

SINGULAR BUILDINGS I Sedes singulares
Piano in Paris, Foster in London, H&deM in Milan
Dossier: Haute Cuisine

News
Ode to the Master
González Cordón, in memoriam
Museo ICO, Kéré exhibition
Kengo Kuma in Dundee
David Chipperfield in Seoul
Expo 2020: Spanish Pavilion
BCQ/Foster: museum and office
House in Rota by J. Torrecillas
On Ventura Rodríguez

Buildings in the City
Three European Examples

François Chaslin
Totem of Law
Renzo Piano
Cité Judiciaire, Paris

Jonathan Glancey
Urban Altarpiece
Norman Foster
Bloomberg HQ, London

Fulvio Irace
Civic Geometry
Herzog & de Meuron
Fondazione Feltrinelli, Milan

Art / Culture
Kurt Foster
Dreams of Concrete
Paul Rudolph, 1918-1997

Gabriel Ruiz Cabrero
Genius and Figure
Saénz de Oíza, 1918-2000

Books
Scots & Catalans
Complex Modernity
In Praise of Matter
Bridges: A History
California in Images

Technique / Construction
Eduardo Prieto
Palaces for the Chef
The New Professional Kitchen

RCR arquitectes
Enigma Restaurant, Barcelona

Carlos y Borja Ferrater
H. Torres Restaurant, Barcelona

BIA arquitectos / Ángel León
Tide Mill, San Fernandoo

Products

Peter Eisenman
Learning from Everything