[Originally published in Azure, October 2013] Gràcia, with its narrow streets and the atmosphere of the former village still intact, … More
Author: Rafael Gomez-Moriana
Architect, educator and writer. Partner at ArqEstructura. Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. Blogger at criticalista.com.
How Much Does Your Conscience Weigh, Mr. Koolhaas?
Mr. Koolhaas, you designed a daring and ambitious building for CCTV, China’s state-controlled television broadcaster. But it is from this … More
Adam’s House in Paradise
The courtyard house may be ancient, but it is still contemporary and modern. This became apparent to me on a … More
A Barcelona Hotel gets Graphic
[Originally published in Azure, September 2013] For Pau, its new hotel in Barcelona, the Room Mate group sought an interior … More
Learned from Las Vegas: DHUB Design Museum, Barcelona, by MBM
[Originally published in Mark Magazine #45] This building is important. It occupies a prominent site at the intersection of three of … More
Step Right Up. Architectural Monumentality. Three Boxer Shorts for Only 6€.
Flea markets are normally found under bridges, in empty parking lots, or in old industrial sheds. This flea market (which … More
Remembering Marshall Berman
I think it was in 1985. I would have been in my second year of study at University of Waterloo’s … More
Product Placement / Emplazamiento publicitario
Product Placement [Originally published in Arquitectura Viva #153 under the title “Marcas y contextos”. Translation: Eduardo Prieto] “Designed by Apple … More
Architecture Road-Tripping: Marseille
Earlier this August, I went on a roadtrip through southern France and spent two nights in l’Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, … More
La Grande Motte Revisited
I first saw La Grande Motte in the summer of 1978, more than a decade before I would graduate from … More
The Forest Metaphor
The Drassanes Reials (royal shipyard) of Barcelona has recently reopened after a lengthy renovation by architects Robert and Esteve Terradas. … More
Bullshit Island
“Barcelona Island will be an out of this world experience for all guests of ‘Mobilona Space Hotel’ who wish they … More
Making Bullshit Mountains out of Buildings
“If architecture is landscape, buildings are mountains.” -Vicente Guallart, chief architect of the city of Barcelona and general director of Urban … More
Provocative Architecture?
In “Little Frank and his Carp”, a 2001 video of a performance by artist Andrea Fraser, architecture, replete with its … More
NO a la LSP
Spanish architecture is respected the world over, if the number of exhibitions, publications, Gaudí fans, and archi-tourists who visit this … More
Architects’ Struggle
Today, I ran into a small protest: a squadron (herd? platoon? pack?) of young architects protesting dismal working conditions. Other … More
The Vancouver Model versus El Modelo Barcelona: Trevor Boddy talks, Francesc Muñoz responds.
The Canadian port city of Vancouver has entered centre stage of the global debate about future directions for cities in the sustainability … More
A Whimsical Water Tower in…Barcelona?
I spotted this fantastic water tower the other day while walking around Poble Nou, Barcelona’s industrial graveyard. Claes Oldenburg and … More
Fashion Victim
You know green walls have become trendy when a designer fashion label puts one up that’s made of plastic. Kinda … More
Construction as Spectacle: Mercat dels Encants
The construction of the new Mercat dels Encants / Fira de Bellcaire (Barcelona’s flea market), by b720 Arquitectos, is not only spectacular … More
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