Tuesday, December 9, 2014

David Mackay 1933 - 2014

Photo © Mercè Taberner from La Vanguardia

The British-born architect David Mackay, who died on Novembe 12th at the age of 80, was a partner since 1962 in the Barcelona practice MBM, with Oriol Bohigas and Josep Martorell, who survive him. According to all accounts, he was very much  team player in the firm, contributing an English pragmatism and, especially in his early years, a fresh whiff of modernity for an isolated Francoist Spain.

Beth Galí wrote a warm, personal note on Mackay in the Barcelona edition of El País, "Un català de retruc" (November 12, 2014). The title comes from Mackay's own memoir, and means, I think, something like "A Catalan by Default" or "On the Rebound".  In Spanish.

Peter Buchanan writes on Mackay in the December issue of The Architectural Review, although little of Mackay himself emerges from the accomplishments of Bohigas and MBM in architecture and urban planning.

Llàzter Moix, the architecture critic for the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia, writes perhaps the fullest obituary, "La segunda M de MBM", November 13, 2014. In Spanish.

My closest contact with Mackay has been through his book Modern Architecture in Barcelona, 1854-1939, published in English by Rizzoli in 1989.

I also recall a few glimpses in the memoirs of Oriol Bohigas, in two volumes, Desde los años inciertos and Entusiasmos compartidos y batallas sin cuartel  (Spanish edition, Anagrama, Barcelona 1989 and 1996

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Barozzi - Veiga: Building the Void

All photos: Philharmonic Hall, Szczecin, Poland  © Mariela Apollonio


I am happy to claim the cover of this month's Architectural Record with a feature on the Barcelona-based studio of Barozzi - Veiga, chosen for the annual Design Vanguard issue (link).

Another Spaniard featured in the issue is Andrés Jaque, who currently teaches at Princeton. His article can be found here.

Fabrizio Barozzi is Italian, and studied at the Venice School of Architecture before finding himself in Seville on an Erasmus scholarship. That's where he met Alberto Veiga, originally from Galicia, who studied architecture in Pamplona.
"To convey the spirit of these quiet volumes for their competition entries, Barozzi and Veiga spend months preparing exquisite black-and-white renderings, seeking to capture every nuance of light, shadow, texture, scale, and density of mass."








Barozzi / Veiga
Design Vanguard
Architectural Record, December, 2014
Cover

More blog entries on Barozzi Veiga

Barrozi Veiga: A Question of Character
Jan. 17, 2017  

New Kids on the Block: Estudio Barozzi Veiga
Based on in interview in The Architectural Review
May 1, 2013