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Criticalista

Rants and reflections on architecture, cities, and politics

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Diving Deep

[Originally published in Frame Magazine #118] In creating Tunateca Balfegó Espai Gastronómic, a restaurant dedicated exclusively to dishes prepared with Atlantic…

Barcelona, El Equipo Creativo, Frame, Gastronomy, interior design, Restaurant

Archispeak in Political Propaganda

The Catalan independence movement has for years been churning out a great deal of propaganda in order to win over…

architecture, Catalonia, independence, politics, propaganda

La globalización de los mercados municipales

[publicado originalmente en BCN MÉS #63] Cualquiera que haya pisado uno de los recién remodelados mercados municipales en barcelona se…

Barcelona, BCN MÉS, globalization, infrastructure, leisure, market, tourism

Disappearing Act

[Originally published in Baumeister 9/2017] As the place where Ancient Greeks first set foot on the Iberian peninsula, the archaeological…

archaeology, Baumeister, camouflage, concrete, countryside, Empúries, garden, land art, landscape, ruin, tourism

Loop the Loop

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #69] Solo Houses is the name of a project that’s intended to include more than…

countryside, development, leisure, loop building, Mark Magazine, Office KGDVS, Solo Houses, Solo Office, tourism, wilderness

At Home: Santa Clara 1728

[Originally published in Azure Magazine, June 2017] Nestled within a labyrinth of narrow streets, small squares and gracefully aged buildings…

Aires Mateus, Azure, craftsmanship, detail, hotel, Lisbon, materiality, rehabilitation

Earthy, Corpulent and Well-Structured

[Originally published in Baumeister, June 2017] The Costa Brava’s Empordà region has a long history of exporting wine. Empúries, an…

agriculture, Baumeister, brick, countryside, structure, vernacular, Vidal & Rahola, winery

Destination Architecture

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #68] Barcelona may be well known today as an urban tourism destination, but it was…

architectural tourism, architecture, Barcelona, Mark Magazine, modernity, tourism, touristic architecture, urbanism

Interview with Daniel Mòdol, Architect and Politician

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #68] In Barcelona, architect and independent politician Daniel Mòdol was recently appointed city councillor for…

Barcelona, Daniel Mòdol, heritage, Mark Magazine, politics, tourism, urbanism

Out-of-Doors House

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #67] This remarkable house cost under €900 per m2 to build. Admittedly, mentioning the cost…

affordable architecture, architettura povera, Calders, countryside, house, Mark Magazine, Narch, sliding doors, small town

Award Politics

Architecture’s top award is the Pritzker Prize, as we all know. Often referred to in the media as the “Nobel…

awards, celebrity, E.U. Mies Award, politics, Pritzker Prize

Vacation Ruin

Ruins are as sad as they are beautiful. Building abandonment is never a happy occurrence, but when it precedes building inhabitation, it’s…

Cala d'en Serra, countryside, Ibiza, Josep Lluís Sert, resort, ruin, seashore, tourism

Monomateriality

Material purity is highly valued in contemporary architecture. The ideal that buildings should be materially consistent inside and out seems…

building materials, Green Village, Ibuku, materiality, monomateriality, RCR, total design

Why Be Normal

Recently, I visited two buildings that provoked me to seriously question everything I learned in school. One is a student residence…

architecture, building industry, complexity, dataAE, Energy, Harquitectes, sustainability, technology

Experitecture

Empirical experimentation has always been intrinsic to architecture. Attempting to build something that has never been built before in terms of form, height,…

Coque Claret, Daniel Calatayud, design-build, Energy, Ressò, science, solar decathlon, STEM, sustainable design

Vernacular Precedent?

When I first saw an image of De Rotterdam, by OMA, I knew I had seen something vaguely similar before…

architecture, Brazil, building typology, multiple discovery, OMA, vernacular

Rem Koolhaas, Mythologized on the Big Screen

[Originally published in Azure Magazine Nov. / Dec. 2016] Filmed, produced, directed and edited by Tomas Koolhaas over the course of…

Azure, film, globalization, OMA, REM documentary, Rem Koolhaas, Tomas Koolhaas

Three Roles Played by Architecture in Three Recent Films

[Originally published in O magazine] Buildings are as ubiquitous in films as they are in our lives. Even in the most…

Aloys film, architecture, film, High Rise film, Koolhaas, O Magazine, REM documentary

Scatological Cantilever?

Unlike so many contemporary cantilevers whose only purpose, seemingly, is to out-do other cantilevers in depth, height or width, the tiny…

cantilever, Catalonia, ruin, scatology, small town, vernacular

Hyperbolic Holiday Greetings…

…and may the funicular be with you in 2017

Gaudí, sketch

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Criticalista collects Rafael Gomez-Moriana's writings on architecture and the built environment. All photographs by the author unless indicated otherwise.

©2014 Rafael Gomez-Moriana. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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