Rafael Moneo believes good architecture must be innovative but rooted in its place. He graduated from architecture school in Madrid in 1961 and was influenced by his experiences working for Jørn Utzon and studying in Rome. Throughout his career, Moneo has designed several notable buildings while also teaching and writing about architecture. He emphasizes adjusting buildings to their sites, contributing to the fabric of cities, and expressing construction through materials rather than having a singular style.

1. Rafael Moneo believes good architecture must
be innovative but rooted in its place
Moneo, the first Spanish architect to win a Pritzker Prize, says buildings must
contribute to the fabric of the city and explains why his architecture does not have
a common language.
Rafael Moneo was born in Tudela in northern Spain in 1937. He graduated from
the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, ETSAM, in 1961. In 1963,
Moneo won the Rome Prize and spent two years at the Spanish Academy
in Rome where his meetings with leading historians and theoreticians such as
Bruno Zevi, Manfredo Tafuri, and Paolo Portoghesi had a strong and lasting
influence on his understanding of architecture as a historical continuity and
aspiration to rely on history as inexhaustible inspiration in his abstracted, yet,
nuancedly layered and intricately coded buildings. The architect opened his studio
in Madrid in 1965. Among his most recognised built works are Laboratories
Building for Columbia University in New York (2005-10), for which he
collaborated with Moneo Brock Studio; Prado Museum Expansion in Madrid
(1998-2007); Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles (1996-2002);
Murcia City Hall in Murcia, Spain (1991-98); National Museum of Roman Art in
Merida, Spain (1980-86); and Pilar and Joan Mirò Foundation in Palma de
Mallorca, Spain (1987-92).
Rafael MoneoImage Credit: Courtesy of
Massimiliano Polles

2. The architect’s practicing career always went hand in hand with being a devoted
educator and writer. After years of teaching at his alma mater and the Higher
Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona, Moneo was appointed Chairman of
the Architecture Department of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
(1985-90) where he continues to teach to this day as the Josep Lluís Sert professor.
His books include Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight
Contemporary Architects (MIT Press, 2004) and Rafael Moneo: Remarks on 21
Works (Monacelli Press, 2010). In 1996, Moneo became the first Spanish architect
to win the Pritzker Prize. He is also the recipient of the 2003 Gold Medal of
the Royal Institute of British Architects and the 2017 Praemium Imperiale.
The following interview was conducted during my recent visit to Moneo’s studio
in Madrid where he is currently working with a handful of collaborators on hotels
in Malaga and Havana, residential towers in Korea and Miami, and two urban
design interventions. One is the underground expansion of the Atocha Station in
Madrid, following his own 1984-92 and 2007-12 expansions. And the other –
in Berlin at Schinkelplatz next to the Museum Island where his 2013 competition-
winning proposal is being built across the street from the Neo Gothic
Friedrichswerder Church by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Moneo’s compact five-story
structure, like a keystone, is going to connect and complete three buildings into a
single U-shaped residential complex. The other two now under-construction
buildings are designed by Axel Schultes of Schultes Frank Architekten and
Hemprich Tophof Architekten.
Atocha
Station Expansion, Madrid, 1984-92Image Credit: Courtesy of Michael Moran for
Rafael Moneo

3. Vladimir Belogolovsky (VB): Right after graduation you worked for Jørn Utzon
in Denmark who you saw, ‘as the legitimate heir of the masters of the heroic
period’. What was his influence on you and what was it that you learned from him?
Rafael Moneo (RM): I graduated from ETSAM in 1961 and while still at school, I
was working for Francisco Sáenz de Oiza for three years. His residential tower,
Torres Blancas, here in Madrid, was one of the last projects I worked on there. It
was a fantastic experience, but in those days, Spain was still suffering many
hardships. Economically, it was behind other European countries. I followed many
publications at that time and was familiar with Utzon’s work. I thought it was the
most promising and optimistic architecture at that time. He seemed to be a figure
on the same level as Le Corbusier or Mies. He was also tall, handsome, like a
movie star, and very confident. Most importantly, his work was great. I wrote a
letter to him and he invited me to come. He worked at a small house in Hellebæk, a
tiny town north of Copenhagen with just six or seven people. I stayed working for
him from 1961 to 1962.
At that time, he was working on the Opera House roof shells that could not be
built. The problem with the design was that it was a hybrid and very complex roof,
but in order to be built it had to be systemised out of prefabricated units running
along a spherical curve. I was very much involved in that project and I was even
sent to meet Ove Arup in London. What I learned from Utzon was mainly his
attitude. He was such a heroic figure. He had no fear. He knew he was talented,
and he went toward his goal without compromise. As a young architect, I really
admired that courage.

4. Laboratories Building
for Columbia University in collaboration with Moneo Brock Studio, New York,
2005-10Image Credit: Courtesy of Michael Moran for Rafael Moneo
VB: From early on, parallel to practicing, you were very active in writing about
architecture. You even founded a magazine Arquitectura Bis. What was it that you
wanted to address in your writings?
RM: For me to be critical helps to find the way to explain what you do as an
architect. And extending this approach, I like to establish a dialogue with my
colleagues' work. I always wrote essays on buildings by many architects. This is
the way for me to understand architects’ works and intentions. I like to explain
projects by discovering ideas and identifying problems. Architecture is important
as a part of history, but also as a critical discipline. I wrote a book Theoretical

5. Anxiety and Design Strategies where I discussed theoretical positions, technical
innovations and design contributions of eight leading contemporary architects.
I believe architecture schools must pay close attention to the contemporary scene.
This helps to establish a productive dialogue within the profession.- Rafael Moneo
Cathedral of
Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, 1996-2002Image Credit: Courtesy of
Michael Moran for Rafael Moneo
VB: Could you talk about your design process and what particular issues you try to
address in your work?
RM: I would like to keep a critical and reflective mind. It is about adjusting a
particular building type to the site. The context is important, and I never dismiss
context, but I would argue that my work is not simply contextual. I am always

6. looking beyond context. I am curious. I am working against and with context.
That’s what I mean by adjusting to the site – adjusting the building’s volume to
specific site particularities. Looking for what the site needs and what the building
wants to become – playing with rhythms, proportions, spacing between various
elements, emphasising clarity of construction means. It is important to tie the new
building with the street, to connect it to the city around it. Good architecture is able
to absorb the context and become something else – innovative but rooted in its
place. Every new building should contribute to the existing fabric of the city, to
become an integral part of it.
Pilar and Joan Mirò Foundation, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 1987-92Image Credit:
Courtesy of Michael Moran for Rafael Moneo
To me constructability and materiality, and how they meet is very important. In
other words, forms must be expressed through materiality and means of
construction. This is what constitutes architecture for me, not simply drawing an
outline of something but to be able to construct it out of real materials. Also, you
can never simply rely on your knowledge. That’s not enough. You have to keep
learning all the time, you have to keep accumulating knowledge by travelling,
visiting projects, reading history and criticism, exchanging ideas with colleagues
and students. You have to be intuitive, creative, and you must question what you

7. already know all the time. And, the most important thing – I never tried to develop
a singular mode or a style, so to speak. I always expanded and used a mixture of
strategies.
I never wanted to develop a language that you may use again and again from
project to project. Every project is different. I don’t have a fear of not having a
common language.– Rafael Moneo
Prado Museum
Expansion, Madrid, 1998-2007Image Credit: Courtesy of Michael Moran for
Rafael Moneo
VB: What would you say your architecture is about?
RM: It is hard for me to examine my own work, but what I want it to be the most is
to be an absolutely integral part of cities where I have opportunities to build.
Buildings must grow with the cities where they are built. Buildings live in cities;
they don’t live alone. They must be a part of culture and larger life of cities. That’s
why I never try to insist on a particular form. I adjust, I look for something
appropriate every time. Architecture should pay deep respect to what surrounds it.
Architects should think about not only the current moment but also about both past
and future. I see cities as layers of materiality.

8. National
Museum of Roman Art in Merida, Spain, 1980-86Image Credit: Courtesy of
Michael Moran for Rafael Moneo