Seven buildings by Praemium Imperiale – Architecture, RAFAEL MONEO

The 2017 Praemium Imperiale is a prestigious art prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association. Rafael Moneo is one of this year's five winners, alongside Latvian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour, Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat and Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui.

Madrid Atocha railway station, 1992, Madrid. Image courtesy of Praemium Imperiale

Following the news that Rafael Moneo has been awarded as the architecture laureate for the 2017 Praemium Imperiale, here's a look at seven of the Spanish architect's interesting projects. Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, whose beautifully-designed structures complement their settings while establishing unique identities.

Rafael Moneo, 80, was born in Tudela, Navarra. He studied architecture in Madrid, obtaining his degree in 1961. After graduation he left Spain for Denmark, where he briefly worked for Sydney Opera House architect Jørn Utzon.

In 1963 he received a two-year fellowship to study at the Spanish Academy in Rome, where he developed an interest in classical architecture. After opening his office in Madrid in 1965, he completed his first building – the Diestre Factory in Zaragoza, Spain (1967).

His design of the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida (1986) gained his studio international recognition and he went on to work on projects both home and abroad.

In 1996 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize followed by the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003. The the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2012, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in 2012, and the Soane Medalin in 2017. Current projects include a pair of luxury condo towers for the Miami waterfront.

Seven of his best buildings, below.-

Kursaal, Auditorium and Conference Center, San Sebastián © Michael Moran/OTTO. Image courtesy of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Atocha. Photography © Michael Moran / Rafael Moneo Courtesy of Fundación Barrié. Image courtesy of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Kursaal, overview. Photograph © F.O.A / Rafael Moneo Courtesy of Fundación Barrié. Image courtesy of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, 2002 Los Angels Courtesy of Rafael Moneo Architects. Photograph © Michael Moran. Image courtesy of Praemium Imperiale

Gregorio Marañon Maternity and Pediatric Hospital, 2003, Madrid. Image courtesy of Praemium Imperiale

building site of the laboratories of Columbia University in the City of New York. Photograph © Duccio Malagamba. Image courtesy of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

National Museum of Roman Art, Merida. Photograph © Michael Moran. Image courtesy of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

National Museum of Roman Art, Merida. Photograph © Michael Moran. Image courtesy of Praemium Imperiale

Extension to the Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1998-2007. Photographer Michael Moran. © Rafael Moneo. Courtesy Fundación Barrié. Image courtesy of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

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More information

José Rafael Moneo Vallés

José Rafael Moneo Vallés (born May 9. Tudela, Navarra,1937) is a Spanish architect. He was won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996. 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 with the architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza in Madrid and from 1961-62 in Hellebaeck, Denmark with Jørn Utzon. In 1963 he was awarded a fellowship at the Spanish Academy in Rome. Upon his return to Spain in 1965, he opened his office in Madrid and began teaching at the Escuela Técnica Superior of Madrid.

In 1970 he won a teaching chair in architectural theory at the Escuela Técnica Superior of Barcelona. From 1980 to 1985 he was chaired professor of composition at the Escuela Técnica Superior of Madrid. 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. In 1991 he was named Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he continues to lecture as Professor Emeritus. He became Academic Numerary in the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid in May 1997.

Spanish constructions of his design include the renovation of the Villahermosa Palace (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) in Madrid, the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida, an expansion of the Madrid Atocha railway station, the Diestre Factory in Zaragoza, Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Majorca the headquarters of the Bankinter (again, in Madrid), Town Hall in Logroño. He also designed the annex to the Murcia Town Hall, which was completed in 1998. His latest works are the enlargement of the Prado Museum, the extension of the Bank of Spain, an almost totally mimetic reproduction of the existing building and the extension of the Madrid Atocha railway station 2011.

Some of Moneo's prominent works in the US include the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, the Davis Art Museum at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and the Audrey Jones Beck Building (an expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). Moneo also designed the Chace Center, a new building for the Rhode Island School of Design. Moneo's most recent work is the Northwest Corner Building (formerly the Interdepartmental Science Building) at Columbia University in New York City, which first opened in December 2010.

Moneo is in possession of prestigious international awards including the Prize of architecture Arnold W. Brunner Memorial (1993) of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Schock Prize in Visual Arts (1993) in Stockholm, the Pritzker Prize (1996), the Antonio Feltrinelli (1998) of the National Academy of Lincei in Rome and Mies van der Rohe (2001) of Barcelona.

Biography Dates

	1937	Born in Tudela, Navarra Spain
	1958-61	Worked at the office of Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza
	1961	Obtained degree from the Escuela Técnica Superior, Madrid
	1962	Worked at the office of Jǿrn Utzon, Denmark
	1963	Spent two years at the Spanish Academy, Rome
	1967	Diestre Factory, Zaragoza, Spain
	1976	Bankinter (Bank) in Madrid
	1981	City Hall of Logrono, Spain
	1985-90	Dean at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
	1986	National Museum of Roman Art, Mérida, Spain
	1987	L’Illa Diagonal, Barcelona, Spain, in collaboration with Manuel Solà-Morales
	1990	Kursaal Auditorium and Congress Center, San Sebastián, Spain
	1991	Murcia City Hall Extension, Spain San Pablo Airport, Seville, Spain
	1992	Madrid Atocha railway station The Pilar and Joan Miro Foundation, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
	1996	Pritzker Architecture Prize Souks, Beirut, Lebanon
	1998	Moderna Museet and Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, Stockholm, Sweden
	2000	Audrey Jones Beck Building, Houston, Texas
	2001	Iesu Church, San Sebastián, Spain
	2002	Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, California
	2003	RIBA Royal Gold Medal
	2005	Northwest Corner Building, Columbia University, New York, USA, in collaboration with Moneo-Brock Studio
	2007	Museo del Prado extension, Madrid, Spain Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, Princeton University, USA
	2009	New Library of the University of Deusto, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
	2012	Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts
	2015 2017	Museum University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain Praemium Imperiale