Moneo, Rafael

Moneo, Rafael (José Rafael Moneo), 1937–, Spanish architect, b. Tudela, Navarre. He received undergraduate (1961) and doctoral (1965) degrees from the Madrid School of Architecture, worked (1960–61) with Danish architect Jørn Utzon, and studied (1963–65) at the Spanish Academy in Rome before opening (1965) his own architectural practice in Madrid. His buildings are usually executed in masonry, and each unique structure is marked by a kind of timeless modernity that acknowledges and reinterprets historical forms in precise contemporary geometrics. The majority of his works are in Spain, e.g., the Diestre factory, Zaragoza (1967), his first commission; the National Museum of Roman Art, Mérida (1986), built atop an ancient necropolis; the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation, Palma, Majorca (1992); and the Prado Museum extension, Madrid (2007). Among his other works are the Davis Art Museum, Wellesley College (1993); the Stockholm Museum of Modern Art and Architecture (1998); and the massively angular Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles (2002). Moneo, who founded (1968) Arquitectura Bis magazine, is also a noted theorist, critic, and teacher. He has taught in Spain and at such American institutions as Princeton and Harvard, where he was (1985–90) head of the graduate architecture department and remains a professor. Among his many awards is the 1996 Pritzker Prize.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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