During a recent visit to the construction site for the tourist project, which is being built on the island of Porto Santo, the archipelago of Madeira, Bofill said that the ""star system"" of the architects could be found in the capital of China, where the professionals there were showing themselves to be the most prestigious.

The architect believes that Beijing is the city which has changed the fastest throughout its history, and that it would create the same enthusiasm that we had towards Hollywood.

Bofill indicated that for his work he needed ""humanistic disciplines"" and ""speciality techniques"". He continued by saying that working with a Nippon philosopher helped him to understand the society of the Asian country, without which, working there would be very complicated.

He was awarded the prize for best architecture and urban integration in 1998, by the Lisbon Town Hall for the Atrium Saldanha building.

Bofill believes that it is the Mediterranean cities which have the best planning. ""They combine functions and social classes, where life in the street is more active. He confirms that it is essential to a city that it has its streets full of life, without which, it would merely be a suburb massed with people.

The Spanish architect''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s project in Porto Santo has an investment of 125 million euros, and includes a hotel, a casino, 193 apartments and 12 villas on the edge of a nine kilometre beach.

14.01.2006 - terra.es

It was announced today that work on the Villa Cultural de Prado, which will house the headquarters for the Symphonic Orchestra of Castilla and Leon, the High School for Drama, the Professional music conservatory and the Dance School, was making good progress. Ricardo Bofill, the architect of this complex said that the building is going to be unique, and that once it is completed the building will be a nice surprise. Bofill, accompanied by Silvia Clemente, the Councillor for Culture, and Francisco Javier Alvarez Guisasola of Education, visited the site today, which is now
three-quarters completed. Both Councillors commented on the complexity of such a project which combines culture and education all in the same place.

The architect did not want to give any clues regarding a completion date, although it is ear-marked for completion by the beginning of 2007. He went on to say that everything was now geared towards completing the building and getting it up and running. Bofill always likes to take some time once a project has been completed to oversee everything, and make sure that everything functions as it should.
He said ""you can not imagine how it will be, but that it will be a very pleasant surprise for all"". He assured us that the headquarters of the Symphonic Orchestra of Castilla and Leon (OSCYL), would have a high quality and special acoustic for each one of the music halls.

Regarding the design, Bofill emphasized the functional character of the building, saying it would be an emblematic building as it is not surrounded by other buildings which would condition the form of its construction, for which reason it is built very freely, designed to fit its functions, very minimalist, simple and pure.
He continued by saying ""it is a unique project, there will never be another like it as it cannot be duplicated"".

Alvarez Guisasola assured us that the opening of the complex would be as soon as everything was ready and working. Bofill finished by thanking the Junta of Castilla and Leon, saying that no-one, not even the politicians would dare to undertake a construction of such characteristics.
The building is situated between the ""Huerta del Rey ""district and ""Parquesol"" district. It has an estimated budget of 36 million euros. The Villa Cultural de Prado is an education centre, consisting of three individually designed buildings boasting independent entrances although the three are intercommunicated. This architectonic complex will house not only the OSCYL auditorium with seating for 2,200, and the camera music auditorium with seating for around 490, but also the headquarters for the Professional Music Conservatory, the Superior School for Drama Art and the Dancing High School. It will cover an area of 32,000 square metres and will be around 18 metres high.

02.02.2006 - lavanguardia.es

05.04.2006 -La Vanguardia

The developers of this unique and polemic hotel, in the shape of an open sail blowing in the wind, planned to be built by Ricardo Bofill have finally started work on the first stages of the towers'''''''''''''''' foundations after seven long and troubled years. The building will be 88 metres high, and not that of the originally planned 160 metres. The height has been reduced due to strong opposition from the Town Hall saying that 160 metres high would spoil the visual harmony of the seafront façade of the city.

The removal and compacting of the earth will be carried out by the temporary uniting of FCC Construction, Comsa, Sacresa and Obrascon Huarte Lain, to whom the APB in September 2003 awarded the concession of the construction and exploitation of the complex , after in May the APD had to declare the open bidding as a failure, and started a process of negotiations.

A Multi-million Investment.
The project not only includes the hotel, but also an adjacent triangular building intended for offices, services and an underground car park with a capacity for 900 vehicles. The forecasted investment being 157 million euros.
After resolving the discrepancies which emerged from the Town Hall, the building has had to be adapted due to the new state port laws. These laws require that all constructions on the coastline are at a minimum of no less than 20 metres from the seafront. The release of this space has not affected the architectonic configuration, but has reduced its size somewhat, making the project more compact.

Allegations.
The special plan for which construction is permitted for the new river mouth project comprises of a surface area of 130.000 square metres of which 90.000 is buildable area with 42,000 assigned for the hotel, 25,500 for the office block and 4,500 for recreational installations. The allegations presented by the Town Hall regarding the project, forced the promoters to modify their initial plan.
Work on the project begins to become reality almost seven years after Bofill presented his plan for it on 13 July, 1999. He had the support of APB, Pere Macias the adviser for public works and Jordi Pujol, who was the President of the Generalitat at the time. The initial idea received that very day criticism of the vice mayor, Xavier Casas, who described the hotel as too overwhelming.

29.05.2006 - El Periódico

Even being inaugurated in 1993 it is now when it really looks hot. The Hotel itself is the anthisesis of the concepts of luxury and interior design: architecture flows into interior design: clean lines, generous spaces, and absolutely natural light and green multiply here the sensation of a great SPACE, sober but highly detailed and comfortable. The metals and noble materials, the modern works of art, and brand furniture by Bofill is highly relaxing, a cool counterpart to the binome steel-glass used as structure for this delightful contemporary palace.

05.12.2006 Carmen Casas. Avui

Between Heaven and Earth, Terminal South becomes the Gates of Catalunya, a spectacular new Barcelona Airport at the Prat by the world famous architect and his Taller de Arquitectura, now is a Terminal that interests the biggest airline network in the world, Star Alliance, from where to offer an integral service to connect the flights from the different airlines and create an Inter-modal transportation (hub) that demonstrates the international vision and vocation of Catalunya and Barcelona as a globalized city.

The international alliance of airlines Star Alliance has presented this morning in Barcelona its plan of expansion for the new South Terminal, which is planned to be inaugurated in 2009. This plan would make Barcelona the principal place of inter-connexion in South Europe, which would mean having direct flights between Barcelona and the main cities in Eastern Europe, like Budapest, Bucharest, Moscow, or Saint Petersburg; the Middle East, like Kuwait, Dubai, Riad; North Africa, like Casablanca, Tripoli, Algiers, Abu Dabi: or Asia, like Istanbul, Bangkok or Singapur.

The hub is a place or inter-connexion between planes, high-speed trains, other trains, underground, taxis, cars, cargo, etc. This airport is the world pioneer for this typology, which later Beijing has used for its own Terminals for the Olympics 2008.

The new South Terminal of the Barcelona airport, signed by Ricardo Bofill, y starting to get into shape after having to solve some technical difficulties.

“The presence of water has obligate us to build a wall 7 kilometres long and 22 meters deep around the entire perimeter” explains Josep Canet, engineer of the AENA Plan, the group that supervises the job.

Another problem has been the instability of the delta terrain “that we have solved with sand dunes 8 meters high that we have been moving over the land to make it compact” he confirms.

25 million users
The south Terminal will serve more than 25 million passengers a year but it is not clear when it will be functioning for the public.

South Terminal, “will be four times bigger than the existing terminals”, alone capable of absorbing 25 million passengers per year with peaks of 8.500 users per hour.

The news infrastructure is formed by 3 parts clearly differentiated. The central building or processor of users where check-in, baggage claim, and a retail area: the central docking area of 654 meters long and 36 wide, for the passengers; and the great inter modal hall where different transportation systems flow.

It will also have more than 10 thousand covered parking spaces and 2 thousand at grade, 40 bus station-spaces and 150 taxi at exit position. The project is costing more than a thousand million euros.

11.12.2006 Julio Bravo

The project, estimated around 150 million dollars, has a central element 35 to 40 floors height that becomes the landmark in the pedestrian area of Welton Park, says Alexey Dobashin, director of the real estate developers Krost who already signed the letter of agreement with Bofill.

It is the second time Bofill tries to do a project in Moscow. In the 80s he was unable to do it because of the unstable investor climate but now it seems that the obstacles are part of the past.

A few days ago, Bofill gave in the Russian capital a master class in the international framework of IM Events, dedicated to global architecture tendencies and real estate development.

02.12.2006 RNA. Russian News and Information Agency.

Bofill is creating symbols in places where cities are often broken and without meaning, dealing with complex mix-use projects of urban scale, architecture harmony, ecological and energy saving systems, engineering and technology transfer, special water-saving gardens, often full or total designs of “new centralities”, “new towns”, or projects as ambitious as the new capital of a country like Algeria.

The Bofill brand makes landmarks by providing “a story”, the plot, the title, the concept, and the architecture details that will lead to excellence in construction. An example is “The Gates of Beijing”, the Upper East entrance symbol to all visitors and citizens arriving or departing the Olympic city. The two tuscan red “tectonic twin towers” elevate 100 meters into the sky united at the base by a transparent space.

In 2006 Ricardo Bofill has continued to globalize by actively and in-depth cooperating with local public institutes and/or private architect and engineering companies, forming teams to design and build landmark projects.

The Taller teams have tackled in 2006 some complex construction problems, as for example the one million square meters Barcelona Terminal Sur, a Hub built on the waters of a delta, with a 7 kilometer 20 meter deep wall all around it to make the Terminal “float”, an industrial cathedral like-space of crystal, metal and stone, and a skylight with a roof that moves with its own special spatial geometry.

Another complex Bofill project in Barcelona is the W hotel; sail imagery captures the shape reminding a boat at sea, by the Mediterranean, a public building with a public plaza conceived as the ending of the beach on the port, and a balcony over the sea, together with a marina and parking facilities. Under construction also, is the Villa Nacional del Prado, Valladolid, due to inaugurate on Febuary 15, 2007.
The Villa is the biggest cultural centre in Europe that will bring great cultural activity to Valladolid and its region, with dance schools and music conservatories for all types of music, dance, theatre, film and multimedia, all new activities for this vast modern “academy of culture”.

With projects for new cities in countries all over the world, Bofill is dealing with vast planning for territories in la Costa Esmeralda, to new social cities in Venezuela, to the most-fashionable shopping centre in Kawasaki, Japan, to the most expensive luxury loft in 5th Avenue, NYC, Taller de Arquitectura has worked with the most professional architects, engineers, developers, investors and public authorities in the world.

Bofill is designing from new mix-use buildings in the historic center of Saint Petersburg and new towns in Ucraine, to complex project landmarks in the north east of Moscow.

Ricardo Bofill is proud of its network and know-how to execute visionary ideas for territories, cityscapes, gardens, avenues, corners… For us, Architecture is SPACE, a place with a name and a sense of harmony, a language and a style of writing.

20.12.2006 Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura

“The cities that really exist are either by the sea, or are crossed by rivers. If not, they simply do not exist” the world-wide famous architect from Barcelona explained today while presenting his project Corso II in the former industrial quarter of Karlin, adjacent to the river Moldava.

According to Bofill’s opinion this affluent of the Elba “must become the city’s spinal column within 20 or 30 years”.

The major of Prague, Josef Nosek, has planned the regeneration and transformation of the industrial zone with different housing projects and office buildings as well as retail and leisure space together with the collaboration of international investors. “I like industry. I like chimneys mixed with high buildings” pointed out Bofill who lives and works in a rehabilitated old cement factory.

For Ricardo Bofill it is also important “to have the historic memory of Karlin’s past industrial features that emerge in his office buildings”

The Project Corso II includes 47.00 square meters of office space, between the Vitkov hill and the river, with a first phase of 14.000 square meters with an investment of 17.5 million euros that will be inaugurated in 2008.

23.01.07 - EFE | La Vanguardia

In 2001 the team Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura won the competition for the project under the motto “Waves”, with reference to sound waves suggested by the undulating steel roofs that shape the building and define its logotype.

The building, wrapped in a glass walls, absorbs the red colour of its structure in harmony with the ochre shades of the Plaza Mayor of Valladolid and reflects the colours of the surrounding meseta landscape.

El Norte de Castilla 18/4/07

RB: The Abertis building is a part of a whole new edge-landscape, three buildings with a continuous façade to the Ronda Litoral, form an interior plaza that conforms a patio protected from the highway.

A: Why is the interior plaza red?

RB: The interior world is soft, contrasting with the double glass wall. In the patio we recover the elements of Mediterranean and Catalan architecture as the stucco, in red, in this particular case, we used a technique developed in the Arabic countries, famous tac-lac.

A: ¿You combine construction technologies?

RB: We always learn something new, for each project we develop and use a specific methodology. Our aim is to create an architectural design appropriate for every particular space, place, function, client, technology. This is our work, to design and build the best project possible within a cost-effective operation.

A: Cost-effective?

RB: Yes, there is a strong tendency to reduce price and quality.

A: You mean that your clients have more benefits?

RB: Yes, of course, ask some of them, for example, Dior, Cartier, Rochas, Shiseido, Parisbas, Swift, JP Morgan, AXA and Chateau Lafitte Rothschild: all these companies have multiplied the final value of their buildings.

A: Because of the brand-name Ricardo Bofill?

RB: Evidently, Bofill is an architectural brand known world-wide.

A: Let’s go back to Abertis headquarters and its façade…

RB: The double skin façade was proposed some years ago, and has been used in many projects. Even though it was inspired, only ideally, in the great Egyptian or Medieval historical walls, the double glass façade has in common with these walls the element of thickness, acting as container, as barrier. We don’t find these components in the single glass walls.

The double skin was used in several buildings that we have built, in the 1992 Airport for Barcelona. The double skin façade has been approved as an important energy saving, acoustic and thermic isolation feature.

A: In the case of Abertis headquarters you have chosen the glass-angles…

RB: Our starting point was the strong presence of the traffic on the highway, the edge-condition. The approach here was different to my previous projects in the Parc Logistic.

In this new phase three buildings conform an angled façade towards the highway, a dynamic, solid and transparent façade, in an attempt to capture the paradoxes of a new urban landscape.

A: Tell us about the distribution

RB: It is an optimized ground plan; with a feature, a central greek-cross shape open space. This space allows access from the lobby to the flexible working zones.

A: Is this ground plan comparable to the one of your Chicago tower by the river?

RB: Yes, it has some elements in common, the efficiency ratios exist from the beginning, these are the relationship between the gross and the usable space is the efficiency ratio, the result of studies on economical and architectural functionality for a building.

Architecture needs to incorporate all parameters.

La Vanguardia. 2-10-2007

During the presentation of the project in Konstantinovsky, the Property Manager of the President’s Business Administration Directorate of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Kozhin, announced that Ricardo Bofill was the winner of the international competition to build the project. The site has more than 20 hectares and the cost of the project has been valued at 350 million euros.

The new Arts and Congress Center is an avant-garde, modern building inspired in the European classical tradition, with a multi-functional program that incorporates the latest technologies, especially in the scenography, acoustics, lighting and mobility. The main hall, with a capacity for 2500 seats, will be used for congress events, forums, banquets, concerts, shows and ice skating performances.

The complex includes a smaller chamber hall for 700 seats, an art exhibition space, as well as a negotiation area, press rooms, and a business center.

“Star Way” will have a total area of 100.000 square meters.

The project is financed by Russian oil company Lukoil, the metallurgical company Novolípetsk, Gazprom Bank, Bank of Russia and VneshTorgBank.

07.10.07
EFE
Moscow

Designs by the Spaniard Ricardo Bofill, amongst others, are now in New York MoMA next to works of art created by the great masters in history, such as Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer, Eileen Gray, Richard Sapper, Achille Castiglioni, Enzo Mari...

Other Spanish architects included in the collection are Antoni Gaudí, Enric Miralles and Santiago Calatrava.
These recent Spanish acquisitions by MoMA for its collection of architecture and design are open since December 21st in the Leonard Dobbs room on the third floor.

El PAÍS - 30/12/2007

According to AENA, the purpose of the bidding is the preparation of the construction project of the satellite building and complementary facilities, designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura.

The new satellite building of 200,000 sqm will include arrival and departure piers, waiting and retail areas, and the hall of the station for the automated people-mover.

The project includes the construction of boarding bridges and service and evacuation passages.