Pass away Antonio Fernández Alba, 1927 -2024
07/05/2024.
[MAD] Spain
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Antonio Fernández Alba has died today, at the age of 96, as reported by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), of which he was the first architect to be a part. With a long professional life, reviewing the extraordinary career of Antonio Fernández Alba, one can trace the history of contemporary Spanish architecture since the mid-20th century. He was born in Salamanca, on December 17, 1927, and died in the city that welcomed him at the age of 20, in Madrid, on May 7, 2024.
He was a cultured architect, one of the most recognized intellectuals, and always close to the avant-garde of his time. After he moved to Madrid from Salamanca at the age of twenty to study as a surveyor and in 1952 architecture, which he completed in 1957, he was part of a generation of architects linked to art, being part of the El Paso group as a painter and acting as an intellectual activator, establishing also friendship with Saura and Chirino.
He was a cultured architect, one of the most recognized intellectuals, and always close to the avant-garde of his time. After he moved to Madrid from Salamanca at the age of twenty to study as a surveyor and in 1952 architecture, which he completed in 1957, he was part of a generation of architects linked to art, being part of the El Paso group as a painter and acting as an intellectual activator, establishing also friendship with Saura and Chirino.
Pass away Antonio Fernández Alba, 1927 -2024.
Research Center for Geographic Sciences and Astronomy, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, 1995. Structural axonometry.
Prototype of a nursery school in Valladolid. Section and axonometry.
Complex of social housing in Espinillo, Madrid. Axonometry.
Spanish Trade Center administrative building, London. Perspective.
Library of the Institute of Ibero-American Cooperation, Madrid. Axonometric view of the expansion project.
Building for the Banco de Bilbao on Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid. Preparatory study. Elevation.
Antonio Fernandez Alba.
Antonio Fernandez Alba.
Antonio Fernandez Alba.
Antonio Fernandez Alba. Juan March Foundation courtesy RAE.
Antonio Fernández Alba tried to get to know international modernity in a time that was trying to emerge from the darkness of the postwar period during the fifties and sixties. He would travel to visit the work of Alvar Aalto and was able to meet Louis Kahn, architects and Architectures who would have a great influence on his work. After finishing his studies he would quickly be recognized with the National Architecture Prize, in 1963, for the project of the Convento del Rollo in Salamanca.
His career includes projects such as the School of Architecture of Valladolid, the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Campus of the Jaime I University of Castellón, the amphitheatre of the Park of Nations, Madrid, the Municipal Mortuary of the M -30 or the CSIC Biological Research Center, also in Madrid. Among his works, restorations such as that of the old San Carlos hospital stand out for its transformation into the Reina Sofía Museum.
Professor of Elements of Composition at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, he received an honorary doctorate from the universities of Valladolid, Alcalá de Henares and the Polytechnic of Cartagena.
Among his many awards, he received the National Restoration Prize in 1981, he was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando since 1986, he received the National Restoration Prize in 1980, the Gold Medal of the Menéndez Pelayo International University of Santander in 2001. , the Gold Medal of the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain, in 2002), and the National Architecture Award for professional career (2003).
Among his writings and books, an insatiable collection of creating poetry in architecture, culture and intelligence can be found: «El diseño entre la teoría y la praxis»,1971), «Domus Aurea. Diálogos en la casa de Virgilio» 1997, «De varia restauratione: intervenciones en el patrimonio arquitectónico»,1999, «Espacios de la norma. Lugares de invención», 2000, «La ciudad herida, 2001», «El Escorial, metáfora en piedra» 2004, «Las primaveras de Ilión» 2010, «Libro de Fabricas y visiones recogido del imaginario de un arquitecto fin de siglo 1957-2010», 2011.
His career includes projects such as the School of Architecture of Valladolid, the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Campus of the Jaime I University of Castellón, the amphitheatre of the Park of Nations, Madrid, the Municipal Mortuary of the M -30 or the CSIC Biological Research Center, also in Madrid. Among his works, restorations such as that of the old San Carlos hospital stand out for its transformation into the Reina Sofía Museum.
Professor of Elements of Composition at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, he received an honorary doctorate from the universities of Valladolid, Alcalá de Henares and the Polytechnic of Cartagena.
Among his many awards, he received the National Restoration Prize in 1981, he was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando since 1986, he received the National Restoration Prize in 1980, the Gold Medal of the Menéndez Pelayo International University of Santander in 2001. , the Gold Medal of the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain, in 2002), and the National Architecture Award for professional career (2003).
Among his writings and books, an insatiable collection of creating poetry in architecture, culture and intelligence can be found: «El diseño entre la teoría y la praxis»,1971), «Domus Aurea. Diálogos en la casa de Virgilio» 1997, «De varia restauratione: intervenciones en el patrimonio arquitectónico»,1999, «Espacios de la norma. Lugares de invención», 2000, «La ciudad herida, 2001», «El Escorial, metáfora en piedra» 2004, «Las primaveras de Ilión» 2010, «Libro de Fabricas y visiones recogido del imaginario de un arquitecto fin de siglo 1957-2010», 2011.
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Antonio Fernández Alba
Antonio Fernández Alba. (Salamanca, December 17, 1927 - Madrid, May 7, 2024) Architect from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid in 1957. His teaching career began quickly and he joined the same school as a professor in 1959, in the construction chair of Antonio Cámara, moving on in 1961 to be a Design teacher with Luis Villanueva and Javier Carvajal. Two years later he was assistant to the Chair of Elementos de Composición, in which architects such as Alejandro De la Sota, Francisco Javier Carvajal, Julio Cano Lasso, José María García de Paredes and Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza participated. In 1970 he would win the Chair of Elementos de Composición, in which he would remain until his retirement in 1997, becoming Professor Emeritus of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
He received the National Architecture Prize in 1963 for the construction of the Monastery of the Annunciation, Convento del Rollo in Salamanca in 1961, carrying out a journey of half a century in which he would carry out projects in which he carried out pedagogical facilities and university campuses (Colegio Mayor Hernán Cortés de Salamanca, School of Architecture of Valladolid, Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid, Campus of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real; Higher Polytechnic School of the University of Alcalá de Henares); passing through the restoration of monuments (Royal Astronomical Observatory, Greenhouse Pavilion of the Royal Botanical Garden, Restoration of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital in Atocha for its destination as the Reina Sofía Art Center, Plaza Mayor of Salamanca, Royal Clerecía of Salamanca, Ducal Palace of Pastrana), the cultural and research centers (Library of the Institute of Ibero-American Cooperation, House of Culture of Vitoria, Center for Biological Research of the CSIC in Madrid, Center of Genomics and Biotechnology of the UPM), spiritual centers (Convent of Carmelitas Descalzas), complexes and administrative buildings (Data Center of the National Geographic Institute), to housing projects, urban planning, healthcare and hospital centers or industrial, technological and commercial equipment, ending with stations such as Portillo in Zaragoza (2006) or the Puerta del Sol commuter train in Madrid (2009).
Among his publications are «El diseño entre la teoría y la praxis»,1971), «Domus Aurea. Diálogos en la casa de Virgilio» 1997, «De varia restauratione: intervenciones en el patrimonio arquitectónico»,1999, «Espacios de la norma. Lugares de invención», 2000, «La ciudad herida, 2001», «El Escorial, metáfora en piedra» 2004, «Las primaveras de Ilión» 2010, «Libro de Fabricas y visiones recogido del imaginario de un arquitecto fin de siglo 1957-2010», 2011.
The Premio Nacional de Arquitectura (1963), is joined by recognitions such as the Juan March Foundation scholarship (1972), the Premio Nacional de Restauración (1980), the Premio de las Artes de Castilla y León (1989), the Gold Medal from the Menéndez Pelayo International University of Santander (2001), the Gold Medal of the Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de España (2002), the Gold Medal of the city of Salamanca (2003) and the National Architecture Award for lifetime achievement professional (2003).
He was Director of the Research Center for New Expressive Forms (1978), Honorary Architect by the College of Architects of Bogotá, Colombia (1979), President of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid (1983) and Director of the Conservation Institute and Restoration of Cultural Assets (1986). He was a guest professor at various universities in Europe and Latin America.
Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Valladolid (1993), Professor Emeritus from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (1998), Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Alcalá de Henares (2002) and Doctor Honoris Causa from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (2007).
He was an Academician of the Royal Fine Arts of San Fernando since 1987 and in 2005 he entered the Royal Spanish Academy, in which he occupied the «o» chair.
He received the National Architecture Prize in 1963 for the construction of the Monastery of the Annunciation, Convento del Rollo in Salamanca in 1961, carrying out a journey of half a century in which he would carry out projects in which he carried out pedagogical facilities and university campuses (Colegio Mayor Hernán Cortés de Salamanca, School of Architecture of Valladolid, Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid, Campus of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real; Higher Polytechnic School of the University of Alcalá de Henares); passing through the restoration of monuments (Royal Astronomical Observatory, Greenhouse Pavilion of the Royal Botanical Garden, Restoration of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital in Atocha for its destination as the Reina Sofía Art Center, Plaza Mayor of Salamanca, Royal Clerecía of Salamanca, Ducal Palace of Pastrana), the cultural and research centers (Library of the Institute of Ibero-American Cooperation, House of Culture of Vitoria, Center for Biological Research of the CSIC in Madrid, Center of Genomics and Biotechnology of the UPM), spiritual centers (Convent of Carmelitas Descalzas), complexes and administrative buildings (Data Center of the National Geographic Institute), to housing projects, urban planning, healthcare and hospital centers or industrial, technological and commercial equipment, ending with stations such as Portillo in Zaragoza (2006) or the Puerta del Sol commuter train in Madrid (2009).
Among his publications are «El diseño entre la teoría y la praxis»,1971), «Domus Aurea. Diálogos en la casa de Virgilio» 1997, «De varia restauratione: intervenciones en el patrimonio arquitectónico»,1999, «Espacios de la norma. Lugares de invención», 2000, «La ciudad herida, 2001», «El Escorial, metáfora en piedra» 2004, «Las primaveras de Ilión» 2010, «Libro de Fabricas y visiones recogido del imaginario de un arquitecto fin de siglo 1957-2010», 2011.
The Premio Nacional de Arquitectura (1963), is joined by recognitions such as the Juan March Foundation scholarship (1972), the Premio Nacional de Restauración (1980), the Premio de las Artes de Castilla y León (1989), the Gold Medal from the Menéndez Pelayo International University of Santander (2001), the Gold Medal of the Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de España (2002), the Gold Medal of the city of Salamanca (2003) and the National Architecture Award for lifetime achievement professional (2003).
He was Director of the Research Center for New Expressive Forms (1978), Honorary Architect by the College of Architects of Bogotá, Colombia (1979), President of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid (1983) and Director of the Conservation Institute and Restoration of Cultural Assets (1986). He was a guest professor at various universities in Europe and Latin America.
Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Valladolid (1993), Professor Emeritus from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (1998), Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Alcalá de Henares (2002) and Doctor Honoris Causa from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (2007).
He was an Academician of the Royal Fine Arts of San Fernando since 1987 and in 2005 he entered the Royal Spanish Academy, in which he occupied the «o» chair.
