Rafael Moneo

Born 1937 · Spanish · 11 buildings on the wall

Rafael Moneo (born 1937) is a Spanish architect from Tudela who graduated from the Technical University of Madrid in 1961. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1996, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003 and the Venice Biennale's Golden Lion in 2021. The jury of the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award called his architecture "serene and meticulous", with interiors that act as settings for great works of culture.

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The National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida (1986) was built to show finds from Augusta Emerita, the Roman colony that is one of Spain's largest archaeological sites. The Kursaal in San Sebastián (1999) is two "cubes" by the sea, each an inner structure wrapped in double panels of translucent glass, with a terrace between them looking over Zurriola beach and the river mouth. In Los Angeles, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (2002), chosen from 38 entries, replaced a cathedral damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and drew controversy over its design and cost. He also extended the Prado Museum in Madrid (2007). Rafael Moneo's projects are studied for how new buildings can sit calmly beside old ones.

See the 11 buildings ↓