The Freedom of the Architect: The Raoul Wallenberg Lecture

by Rafael Moneo, John Miller (Contributor)

In The Freedom of the Architect , Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo speaks on form, language and history, broadly, and as represented in examples of his own work. He elaborates on how architects today have disassociated their work from the environment, creating autonomous landmarks with little relationship to their surroundings and how the architect as individual challenges the role of history in the built environment. Moneo's reflections on his own work the City Hall of Murcia, Spain, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastian, Spain, and the acclaimed Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles. Spanish born, Madrid-based Moneo's work unites tradition and innovation. He has developed an extensive body of work as an architectural critic and theoretician and his writing has appeared in Oppositions and Lotus . He is a committed educator, having chaired the Harvard Graduate School of Design and lectured internationally.

Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

José Rafael Moneo Vallés is a Spanish architect. He was born in Tudela, Spain, and won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003. He studied at the ETSAM, Technical University of Madrid (UPM) from which he received his architectural degree in 1961. From 1958 to 1961 he worked in the office in Madrid of the architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza. In 1963 he received a two year fellowship to study at the Spanish Academy in Rome, which had a great influence on his later work. After his return to Spain in 1965, he taught as an adjunct professor at the ETSAM in Madrid (1966-1970). In 1972, became Professor of Elements of Composition at the ETSAB, for which he moved to Barcelona. He has taught architecture at various locations around the world and from 1985 to 1990 was the chairman of Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is the first Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture.He became Academic Numerary in the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid in May 1997.
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