A critical look at the life, work, and influence of the important and award-winning Spanish architect Rafael Moneo The Spanish architect Rafael Moneo (b. 1937) has won numerous awards (including the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize), yet this publication is the first to offer a critical study of his career as a whole--not only his many built works and projects but also his contributions to teaching and his writings. The book begins with a comprehensive biography, covering Moneo's education, teaching appointments, and encounters with historians and architects in Europe and the United States, such as Peter Eisenman, J rn Utzon, and Bruno Zevi. Also included is a discussion of some of the buildings that he has designed, notably the Prado Museum extension and Atocha Station in Madrid. The following section examines in more detail seven key buildings chosen to illustrate crucial developments in Moneo's thinking, from the Bankinter, Madrid, to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles. The last and most extensive section considers his architectural philosophy: his design approach, his idea of the canon, his theory of composition, his notion of form, and his confrontation with reality--in construction and context.

This book is a compilation of lectures given to students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design on the work of contemporary architects.

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 include: 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.

In recent years there has been a remarkable evolution in the design of hotels, with mainstream hotel chains rejecting characterless functionalism in favour of style-led individualism. This book gathers together over 40 of the best examples of hotel architecture and interiors from around the world, illustrating the impressive diversity of styles and forms. Identifying the latest industry trends, Riewoldt makes plain how both chains and independents have adopted individual design strategies to enhance their brand image in an increasingly global marketplace. It featuers the work of Michael Graves, Jean Nouvel and Philippe Starck amongst other big names.

A timely look at the ways in which glass is utilized in some of today's most beautiful and experimental building designs For centuries, glass has provoked fascination with its properties as a versatile material that permits light to enter buildings in spectacular ways. Much of modern architecture has been conceived by using glass to create increasingly minimal structures, to promote the notion of lightweight construction solutions, and to allow maximum daylight into buildings. New Glass Architecture showcases the changing ways that aesthetics and methods for using glass have been developing since the 1990s. The book begins with an introduction that traces the history of key moments in glass architecture--from the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral to the Crystal Palace of 1851, and early constructions by John Soane, Bruno Taut, Le Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe. Author Brent Richards explains the importance of glass artists in the second half of the 20th century and describes developments in glass technology over the last twenty years. Beautifully illustrated with newly commissioned photographs by Dennis Gilbert, the book features twenty-five case studies of recent glass constructions from around the world by such leading architects as Foster and Partners, Frank Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron, Steven Holl, Toyo Ito & Associates, Jean Nouvel, Raphael Viñoly, and Peter Zumthor. Each building is illustrated in full color and accompanied by detailed drawings. New Glass Architecture features these buildings and more: - Chapel of Ignatius, Seattle - Condé Nast Café, New York - DZ Bank, Berlin - Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia - Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria - Laban Dance Centre, London - Torre Agbar, Barcelona