This year 2006 Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura has been working on projects all over the world, from south to north, west to east, creating from sustainable social housing in Dakar, Senegal, to luxury properties in Beijing, China.
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
