PHILOSOPHY OF RAFAEL MONEO
Rafael Moneo, is the first Spanish Architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1996. He is an architect who is acknowledged for both his teachings and designs. His works are one which are defined by context of history and surroundings.
Rafael Moneo gave importance to time. His works are in a relationship with time. He says, “Architecture doesn’t happen in time, Time happens in Architecture.” Rafael Moneo’s work philosophy was to create something that future generations admire. He wanted his designs to be evergreen, that won’t go in and out of fashion. The extension of Madrid’s Prado Museum is an example of this philosophy of Moneo. He used straight line in this contemporary extension and brought this city’s oldest buildings into the 21st Century.
Moneo’s approach to design was history. He believed history as a set of knowledge for architects already tested by others. This belief was reflected in his work, and using solutions applied previously by other architects such as Rossi, Venturi and Stirling.
Rafael Moneo is known for designing Public Buildings. His designs are clean, straight lines which run in grid-like or parallel formations, which shows his interest in academics that lets him produce graphical buildings. Moneo created his unique design concepts. His fusion design concepts mixed contemporary with traditional Nordic style and materials. An example of this fusion is La Cathedral de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles in LA (1996–2002), where he used wooden blocks on his modern Cathedral.
Apart from History and Theory of Architecture, he focused on practicing in context of surroundings. His buildings are known for their relationship with their surroundings in an urban context. Two of his projects, extension of Prado Museum and Museum of the Roman Theatre of Cartagena are a good example of his buildings in relation to its surroundings. Contextual changes can be seen in both projects, in which he adapted to already present architecture and simultaneously blending the context with the building.
Bibliography:
http://www.enforex.com/culture/rafael-moneo.html
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/rafael-moneo-an-architect-in-context/
http://www.hkdi.edu.hk/hkdi_gallery/2016/rm/introduction.html
